Signature Wit: The Door Dilemma

The Door Dilemma: A Love Letter to the Letter P

It’s funny how often we find ourselves embarrassed not by complexity, but by a door.

We stand there, momentarily frozen — hand halfway extended, confidence crumbling — because two words, both beginning with the same innocent letter P, decided to mess with human cognition.

Push and Pull.

Twin siblings separated only by intent, united by the same cursed consonant.

They both start strong, assertive, optimistic — P! — but one demands force while the other begs finesse. The brain, in a hurry, doesn’t parse meaning; it just sees the shape, the starting letter, the rhythm. If only the words began differently — if one started with a soft curl of an E or a hard snap of a K — perhaps our instincts would win before our embarrassment does. But no, both had to start with P, like identical twins wearing different moods.

Maybe designers should take a hint from languages that don’t make such linguistic traps.

In Hindi, we could write “Dhakka” (धक्का) for push and “Kheench” (खींच) for pull — sharp, distinct, unmistakable. In Kannada, “Dhakke” (ಧಕ್ಕೆ) and “Ele” (ಎಳೆ) sound worlds apart — no confusion, no hesitation. The hand would know before the head.

Every misread “P” is a reminder that good design shouldn’t need instructions.

So here’s my proposal:

Let’s retire “Push” and “Pull” from the door business. Let’s give our brains a break and our hands a hint. Let the signs say “Dhakka” and “Kheench”, or better yet, let the doors say nothing — and let their design do the talking.

Because in the end, the real problem isn’t the door — it’s that both actions begin with P.

And no one ever walked confidently into a room that confused their cognition at the threshold.