While on the road the other day, I came across this sign, recently put up by Maatz, the Israeli government agency responsible for road upkeep.
Ironically, whoever authored the sign, got both the English and the Hebrew wrong. Since the sign refers to the shoulder only on one side
Check this out:
http://www.beofen-tv.co.il/cgi-bin/chiq.pl?chiq:???_??????_??????
Apparently only the English is wrong.
Ma’atz (in English, formerly the PWD, for Public Works Department), btw, changed its name to the Israel National Roads Company in September 2003.
May your road through life be sufficiently clear, and your car in good repair, such that you never need to use the shoulder.
I remember this word, i.e. Shulayim, is used only in plural when it refers to a road shoulder – shulei hakvish.
Well, their business is roads, not English.
There is definitely a singular “shul”, it’s in the dictionaries, it’s in the laws, it’s in police reports. And it’s used correctly here (in Hebrew) because, as you said, you can drive on one “shul” only at any time.
Nahum, ??? does exist in the dictionary in singular, but both Sapir and Alkalai suggest the plural when used in this context.