Opinion / Interviews
Happy with wrong Zimbawe spelling
06 Dec 2017 at 16:08hrs | Views
Dear Editor,
I felt a surge of happiness when I noted that "Zimbabwe" had been spelt as "Zimbawe" on the new plaque at the renamed Tongogara Barracks. The new plaque was written Zimbawe Defence Forces instead of Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
What was the source of my happiness? Countless times we have mentioned that advertising agencies, companies and universities are deliberately failing to spell a simple Ndebele word like "Amhlophe". Our cries have been falling on deaf ears as a meaningless and incorrect word spelt as "Amhlope" is being used notwithstanding that there is no such word.
The list of offending companies and advertising agencies deliberately misspelling Amhlophe is so long that the latest congratulations messages could have been mistaken for a competition to misspell this word. It was so livid and find this trend provocative.
It is so offensive to the owners of the language and soon we will name and shame these companies and advertising agencies that are so dull that for all the years they have been unable to understand that in all Nguni languages (Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa and Siswati) leaving or adding "an h" is so significant that the meaning is never the same.
For example we say isixhosa but we do not say isixosa or ixhoxho. Therefore it was so good to see this culture of careless spellings and recklessness being displayed at national level. Such a shame. Such an embarrassment. Such an abomination.
It was a laughing matter when Amhlophe was being spelt wrongly and look today we have people who cannot spell the name of their country. It is a bad culture allowed to fester because it was Ndebele names being misspelt and deliberately so. I can only say "ababuyisi baphambili".
Regards,
M Dube
I felt a surge of happiness when I noted that "Zimbabwe" had been spelt as "Zimbawe" on the new plaque at the renamed Tongogara Barracks. The new plaque was written Zimbawe Defence Forces instead of Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
What was the source of my happiness? Countless times we have mentioned that advertising agencies, companies and universities are deliberately failing to spell a simple Ndebele word like "Amhlophe". Our cries have been falling on deaf ears as a meaningless and incorrect word spelt as "Amhlope" is being used notwithstanding that there is no such word.
The list of offending companies and advertising agencies deliberately misspelling Amhlophe is so long that the latest congratulations messages could have been mistaken for a competition to misspell this word. It was so livid and find this trend provocative.
For example we say isixhosa but we do not say isixosa or ixhoxho. Therefore it was so good to see this culture of careless spellings and recklessness being displayed at national level. Such a shame. Such an embarrassment. Such an abomination.
It was a laughing matter when Amhlophe was being spelt wrongly and look today we have people who cannot spell the name of their country. It is a bad culture allowed to fester because it was Ndebele names being misspelt and deliberately so. I can only say "ababuyisi baphambili".
Regards,
M Dube
Source - M Dube
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