Humanizing Rules

CHAPTER 21RULE NUMBER FOUR

Have You Ever…?

If there's one thing guaranteed to make me smile during a long flight, it's those entry forms you must complete to be allowed into your destination country. You know, the ones that ask long lists of yes/no questions and provide boxes that are either disproportionately over‐ or undersized for the answers you're being asked to give. Enjoy them while you still can because many countries are replacing them with online pre‐approval processes, and in doing so, they're removing many of the most entertaining questions.

Sadly, my personal favourite from all my years of travelling, US Visa Waiver Form I‐94W, has already been retired. The more recent version was also a bit too sensible for my liking. It's the classic edition from the early 2000s that I really enjoyed. Readers who travelled to the US at that time may remember it as the green form that asked some wonderfully odd questions, like:

B. … are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

C. Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?

Has anyone, I used to wonder to myself, ever answered “yes” to either question? If so, it's very likely they either did so by mistake or because they're auditioning to be the subject of the next Dunning and Kruger research project (see Chapter 6). Though, come ...