Pubic typos: Why they’re hideous, distracting and very embarrassing
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin speaks at a summit in Iowa in 2015. A judge in Alaska sued after the governor, Sarah Palin, wrote him a letter thanking him for his “pubic service”.
What you need to know:
- The pubic typo, which amounts to improper use of the word, can be very embarrassing.
- It can also blunt the meaning of a sentence. Besides, it can also cost the maker or land them in legal trouble.
- Of course, whether a pubic typo causes confusion, misunderstanding or bemusement depends on the context.
I thank readers who take the time to point out “pubic typos” in Nation articles.
Pubic is a very private word. It refers to things of or near sexual organs—such as pubic hair, pubic lice, pubic area and pubic bone.
The pubic typo, which amounts to improper use of the word, can be very embarrassing.
It can also blunt the meaning of a sentence. Besides, it can also cost the maker or land them in legal trouble.
I don’t know of any pubic typos that did that in Kenya. But in America, there are media reports of such pubic typos.
A judge in Alaska sued after the governor, Sarah Palin, wrote him a letter thanking him for his “pubic service”.
He claimed the typo led to his being harassed and ridiculed by people saying he got the appointment by performing oral sex on the governor.
He also claimed people were suggesting he was the biological father of her son.
Ottawa County, in the state of Michigan, paid the equivalent of about Sh4.5 million to reprint 170,000 election ballots that contained the word “pubic” instead of “public”.
The University of Texas at Austin reprinted—at an undisclosed cost—hundreds of its 2012 graduation ceremony brochures because they cited one of its schools as the “Lyndon B. Johnson School of Pubic Affairs”.
The pubic blooper occurs when one leaves out the letter “l” while typing the word public.
Computer spellcheckers cannot catch the typo because “pubic” is in the dictionary. And the writer misses the typo because his brain sees what he meant to write.
The typos happen to the best of us, from news writers to signwriters. But they are most glaring on billboards and TV screens.
During the presidential debate of David Waihiga Mwaure on July 26, 2022, Citizen TV carried a chyron (headline), which has since been corrected, on its screen reading: “TOPIC: PUBIC QUESTIONS”.
CNN picked up the typo and re-broadcast it to the rest of the world.
Even judges, who carefully choose their words, fall prey to the shaming typo. Kenya Law Reports (KLR) have pubic typos like “pubic interest”, “pubic importance”, “pubic duty”, “pubic participation”, “pubic trustee”, “pubic officers”, “Pubic Procurement and Disposal Act” and “Director of Pubic Prosecutions”.
The typos are unforgivable, unfortunate and undignifying. While many of us may want to be, say, a Cabinet secretary in the ‘Hustler Nation’, probably none would want to be CS for Pubic Health, Pubic Works or, for that matter, chairman of Pubic Service or engage in public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Following complaints from readers, I looked into stories published in Nation.Africa and other NMG digital platforms.
I was shocked. The number of pubic typos, similar to those in KLR, numbered more than 100.
Let’s briefly review a sample of sentences containing pubic typos. “Health workers who include...pubic health officers, the PS noted, are not well remunerated.” This is contained in the story, “Pay raise for health workers in hardship areas”, archived in Nation.Africa.
Readers may wonder, among other things, if these officers specialise in pubic medicine—sexual or psychosexual.
“And speaking at a public rally in Tana North Sub-County...Garsen MP Danson Mungatana urged Mr Wamalwa to properly explain the impact of the project to allay pubic fears.”
This is in the Nation.Africa story, “Leaders walk a tightrope over water tunnel”. Readers may wonder whether Tana North people fear drinking the water will cause infertility to women and impotence to men.
“The community gave a pubic pledge of ‘Yangu kumi, ya Ruto kumi (10 years of Kenyatta rule and10 of Ruto’s)”. This sentence is contained in a story headlined “Mountain people who will miss UDA lifeboats risk sinking”, in Nation.Africa.
Readers may wonder what kind of pledge or oath the Mountain people took that they risk death by drowning. Did they swear by eating goat’s testicles or drinking menstrual blood?
Of course, whether a pubic typo causes confusion, misunderstanding or bemusement depends on the context.
In most contexts, it would be clear the word that was intended is “public”. In others, anything is possible.
* * *
Postscript: NMG editors have embarked on a clean-up of these unsightly typos.
The Public Editor is an independent news ombudsman who handles readers’ complaints on editorial matters including accuracy and journalistic standards. Email: [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264
