Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Steven Harper Gaffe
A bumble by the Prime Minister's Office has residents of Nunavut alternately chuckling and cringing.
A news release sent out Monday outlined Prime Minister Stephen Harper's itinerary as he began a five-day Arctic tour.
The release repeatedly spelled the capital of Nunavut as Iqualuit - rather than Iqaluit, which means "many fish" in the Inuktitut language.
The extra "u" makes a world of difference.
"It means people with unwiped bums," said Sandra Inutiq of the office of the Languages Commissioner of Nunavut.
"It's not exactly a nice term."
Whoops! How embarassing. Back to Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic for Mr. Harper. He must have been home sick the day the importance of correct spelling was discussed in the classroom.
Posted by
Pippa
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Can;t open email right now - wanted to send link - right up your alley!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111624469&sc=fb&cc=fp
Linguistically fascinating that they have a word for an unwiped bum. Don't know of a warmer clime culture that does. Guess that is one more thing that is harder to do in frozen/cold areas.
I had another brainstorm, P. Wonder if it's possible to have a chat area on the front page. I'm thinking you may get more participation that way (and aware you may not want it).
Post a Comment