Thursday, August 20, 2009

Today's Government Spelling Lesson

Another great moment in government communications...

Here in Canada, the Prime Minister's office recently issued a press release about his five-day Artic tour. The press release was supposed to repeatedly make mention of Iqaluit, the capital of the province of Nunavut, and a word which means "many fish" in the Inuktitut language.

Instead, the press release repeatedly spelled the city name Iqualuit, a somewhat different word. "It means people with unwiped bums," said Sandra Inutiq of the office of the Languages Commissioner of Nunavut.

Making the whole thing even more governmental, the Prime Minister's office has issued a completely humorless statement about the press release, stating:
"Hopefully this unfortunate typo, which we have corrected, will inform the greater public that there is no (extra) 'u' in Iqaluit... We obviously strive to have the highest possible standard in terms of spelling and grammar... When typos do occur, and we notice them, we either issue a revised advisory or immediately correct it."

Hopefully, it will also inform the greater public about the importance of wiping their bums.

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