July 23, 2007

Slips and bad words

In the time when typewritten Dhaka University question papers were printed using cyclostyle, it were not unusual, but rare, to come by words such as pubic and sodom, which are in fact public and seldom. The occurence of pubic, definitely a case of mistyping or rather missing out on the l (ell) in typing, was there in copy as 'the ministry is going to spend pubic money...' That fits in with government officials who have grown on a habit of thinking public money of having no worth, said an editor, in reply.

Another report said that a senior leader failed when he tried to reach another leader, who is female, 'over telephone or physically.' Admitting, in public, to reaching such a woman physically might not sound sound in the case of such a man. It should have been 'in person,' with a tinge of Latin, or 'personally.'

Bombs either explode or are exploded. But they can also walk about and do the daily chores as the police, in some reports, 'seize active bombs' which are later detonated or defused.

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