Billboard spelling error creates embarrassment

wsbt ^ | 09/20/10 | dianne daniels

[hoosierboy]

SOUTH BEND — If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and State Road 23 between Thursday and Monday morning.

The ad urged people to go to the "southbendon.com" website for a look at the "15 best things about our pubic schools." That's right, the billboard said "pubic" instead of "public" schools. The letter "L" had been left out of the word public.

Lee MacMillan of South Bend said his wife spotted the error on Saturday while sitting in traffic.

"She got home and said, ‘I can't believe it said what I think it said,’" MacMillan recalls.

"So we were out driving around yesterday and sure enough, it had that typo in it. So we took a picture and the rest is history, as they say," MacMillan adds.

MacMillan posted the picture he took on Facebook. He also emailed it to his neighbor, South Bend School Superintendent Jim Kapsa.

Responsibility for the spelling error has been claimed by the Blue Waters Group. The company does work for the city of South Bend's redevelopment commission to promote the city.

"I feel terrible. It's a mistake we made and we're guilty of it, and responsible for it. and we take full responsibility for the error," said Patrick Strickler, president of the Blue Waters Group.

"Four people looked at it, eyeballed it and didn't see the mistake, and those people all work for me,” Strickler explained. “We take responsibility for it. We simply blew it. We did not see the missing "L."

He says he became aware of the problem Monday morning.

"We jumped on it and immediately had it taken down by Burkhart. They took it out of rotation and began to repair it," Strickler said.

"We're the ones who made the mistake, not the city or the school," Strickler emphasized.

As of late afternoon on Monday, a representative from the Blue Waters Group indicated the content of the billboard had been fixed and the digital message was up and running again.

[hoosierboy]

[behzinlea]

You can’t make this stuff up.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Hope nobody got crabby about this hairy situation...

[NohSpinZone]

Self-fulfilling prophecy...

[max americana]

Hilarious...reminds me of another imbecile who said America has 57 states.

[Boogieman]

I’m sure it’s on failblog.org already!

[Mobties]

Your tax dollars at work.

Nonsense on stilts, and right before the election, too!

I love it!

[CAluvdubya]

I fail to see the problem..... meh ;P

[highlander_UW]

Hilarious...reminds me of another imbecile who said America has 57 states.

And just today his VP said he was 2nd in line for the presidency. I guess Pelosi was pulling a trick on him in case Obama is impeached.

[wintertime]

Hm?...So why are “pubic” schools using tax dollars to market their product? Hm?

[FlingWingFlyer]

I’ll bet a teacher wrote it out for the billboard guys.

[Fresh Wind]

Spelling error? Yeah, right.

[abner]

The really horrible thing about this is that it took 5 days for someone to report the error.

[Texas resident]

You can’t make this stuff up.

Years ago, my wife took a teaching job in New Jersey. She got a letter from the State of New Jersey on her acceptance to teach in that state.
The letterhead on the stationary was: State of New Jersey: Derpartment of Eduction.

NO FOOLIN.

[max americana]

LOL, no way! Biden said that? hahahaha..

[paudio]

Pubic schools. Only happens at South Bend.

[sinanju]

Surprised it didn’t cause a crash.

[highlander_UW]

LOL, no way! Biden said that? hahahaha..

There is a link on Drudge under a photo of Biden with that as a quote. I'm guessing it was from some Biden speech.

[dufekin]

Obama himself is first in line, if he dares to claim it, which, for better or for worse, he did.

[South40]

If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make

[FourPeas]

"Four people looked at it, eyeballed it and didn't see the mistake

Okay....

[Tucker39]

The missus and I went away for a few days and had our mail held while away; with delivery to recommence today. NO MAIL! When I phoned the P.O. they checked and told me the mail carrier FORGOTEN. So I drove down and picked it up myself. As I drove to the Post Office I was thinking: “So these are the people you want to handle your healthcare?!

[highlander_UW]

Obama himself is first in line, if he dares to claim it, which, for better or for worse, he did.

Obama is president, rather he acts the part or not...the VP is first in line, and the speaker of the house is 2nd in line.

[AlexW]

Freudian slip, but I use the term PUBIC schools all the time.

[bleach]

Wonder what they call the school mascot?

[Keith in Iowa]

If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make

Not only that, capitalization matters too... just one capital letter between bestiality and helping your uncle Jack off his horse.

[Grams A]

More truth in this than not! Health clinics in high schools now hand out birth control pills and have explicit sex education classes including the proper donning of a condom.

[353FMG]

Huh? I don’t notice any misspelling.

[TYVets]

>Wonder what they call the school mascot?

KEYWORDS: billboard; bush; bushschools; bushsfault; bushymascot; hairyschools; humor; obama; pubicschools; publicschools; schools; Click to Add Keyword

The number of Keywords is almost limitless

[Joe 6-pack]

[B4Ranch]

No surprising at all.

[gitmo]

I really wanted to steal the road sign at the University of Georgia. It said “Daed End”.

My wife saw a McDonald’s sign advertising their new Anus Burger.

[Bobalu]

When I was a kid living in a small Midwestern town our local paper, which was legendary for printing typos, ran an ad for a local church. The ad was supposed to say the church was holding a pot luck supper that sat night in their basement.

They replaced an L with an F, it was epic. :-)

[dfwgator]

I really wanted to steal the road sign at the University of Georgia. It said “Daed End”.

Let the Big Dawg Read.

[dayglored]

> Wonder what they call the school mascot?

I don't know, but school spirit must be high -- I heard that nearly every boy in the place stands up for his school.

And I can't believe nobody has yet mentioned that this is clearly "BUSH'S FAULT"!

[Joe 6-pack]

[dayglored]

> My wife saw a McDonald’s sign advertising their new Anus Burger.

"I can't believe I ate the hole thing" ???

[Let's Roll]

I have heard, however, that there are 57 islamic states ...

[bleach]

And they compete in the Bush league.

[386wt]

When I was a kid I thought (for a long time) that it was public hair.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I worked as a typesetter with the comp department of our local newspaper many years ago. An ad for an “organ recital” ran for about two weeks before someone noticed that the ad was actually announcing an “organ rectal.”

[WKUHilltopper]

I’m sure that wasn’t intentional-—NOT!

[Irish Eyes]

That’s public schools for you. It is really bad out there.

[WKUHilltopper]

Just missed spelling it right by a hair...

[tet68]

VP said he was 2nd in line for the presidency.

Biden also said, “Don’t compare us to the Almighty, compare us to the alternative.”

[windsorknot]

It is not a spelling error.

[dragnet2]

“Four people looked at it, eyeballed it and didn’t see the mistake, and those people all work for me,”

The really horrible thing about this is that it took 5 days for someone to report the error.

Indiana?

[highlander_UW]

Biden also said, “Don’t compare us to the Almighty, compare us to the alternative.”

You have to give Biden credit, he may not be smart, but he is honest.

[South40]

I’m sure that wasn’t intentional-—NOT!

Oh it wasn't intentional; he's a Republican so they meant to say 'House Nigger'.

[decisis]

Wow, MSNBC calling a black guy the N-word, imagine if Fox did that the FCC would pull their license. Of course since it’s MSNBC we know it had to be a mistake. But then again, it says he is a “Republican Consultant” so maybe it wasn’t a mistake . . . . . . . .