Dangerous Incorporated
10-19-2006, 09:19 AM
Kazakhstan Misspells Word On New Money
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/88/boratwg2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This may sound like a Borat skit but sometimes truth really is funnier than fiction. The Kazakhstan central bank has misspelled the word "bank" on its own country's new notes.
Even after the error, the bank plans to put the misprinted notes into circulation in November and then gradually withdraw them to correct the spelling.
The move has drawn the ire of the state's politicians who say the notes should be trashed.
"The mistake ... is not just a spelling problem -- it has political undertones", a letter from one of the members of parliament says. "We urge you to tell the National Bank not to put out the notes with a mistake in the Kazakh language."
Language is a contentious issue in Kazakhstan as Kazakhs were encouraged to speak Russian, during Soviet times but since independence in 1991, the country has seen the Kazakh language as a national symbol.
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/88/boratwg2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This may sound like a Borat skit but sometimes truth really is funnier than fiction. The Kazakhstan central bank has misspelled the word "bank" on its own country's new notes.
Even after the error, the bank plans to put the misprinted notes into circulation in November and then gradually withdraw them to correct the spelling.
The move has drawn the ire of the state's politicians who say the notes should be trashed.
"The mistake ... is not just a spelling problem -- it has political undertones", a letter from one of the members of parliament says. "We urge you to tell the National Bank not to put out the notes with a mistake in the Kazakh language."
Language is a contentious issue in Kazakhstan as Kazakhs were encouraged to speak Russian, during Soviet times but since independence in 1991, the country has seen the Kazakh language as a national symbol.