Its Colombia not Columbia

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)

  • lima4078
    Participant

    In a recent edition of Business Traveller – in Trave Tales – the country of Colombia was spelled Columbia!

    As a frequent traveller to Colombia it is amazing to me that a prestigious travel magazine could make this mistake. Local Colombians get very annoyed about this and many airports sell, mugs, T Shirts, Baseball hats with the wording “Its Colombia not Columbia”


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Afternoon.

    It’s a simple mistake. It’s been pointed out already and indeed there will be a letter and comment about it in the March edition.

    Have a lovely day

    Tom Otley


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=845341]In a recent edition of Business Traveller – in Trave Tales – the country of Colombia was spelled Columbia!
    As a frequent traveller to Colombia it is amazing to me that a prestigious travel magazine could make this mistake. Local Colombians get very annoyed about this and many airports sell, mugs, T Shirts, Baseball hats with the wording “Its Colombia not Columbia”
    [/quote]

    Who cares? I don’t.

    Colombians should be grateful that BT took the time to showcase their country.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    We see so many bad spellings that we become almost inured to it (not necessarily in BT, just in general)
    Stanstead/Standsted/Standstead for Stansted
    Rumania for Romania
    Argentinia for Argentina


    penfold69
    Participant

    I’d be more worried about the journalist getting Colombia mixed up with say Chile, or Mexico. If every Stephen got annoyed when their name was spelled Steven, we would have a world full of very angry Stephen’s.


    canucklad
    Participant

    Agreed that it’s not a big deal, originally from BC it’s amazing how often the South American country seemed to become British and moves itself onto the Pacific west coast.

    On the other hand , I know a lot of people who become apoplectic when they are referred to as Scotch rather than Scottish and worse Americans calling Scotland “Scotchland” ……Brilliant


    PeterCoultas
    Participant

    Penfold69 (is that correct) my brother, Stephen, twitched when it was spelt wrong…now my son in law notices when it is incorrectly spelt stefan!!!…. what fun for those of us that enjoy causing minor propblems…


    stevescoots
    Participant

    [quote quote=845379]Penfold69 (is that correct) my brother, Stephen, twitched when it was spelt wrong…now my son in law notices when it is incorrectly spelt stefan!!!…. what fun for those of us that enjoy causing minor propblems…
    [/quote]

    I am a Stephen, dont mind being shortened to Steve, but hate Steven or Stevan She who must be obeyed calls me Stefan when i am in the dog house


    Inquisitive
    Participant

    It is a responsibility for everyone to try their best to spell proper nouns correctly, so agree with OP.
    If in the workplace someone call the posters – who say don’t care – with twisted names; how it will be felt?
    I am amazed to see the enthusiasm of some posters regarding compulsion to comment on almost every post.


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Thank you. It’s a responsibility we are aware of and take seriously. That’s why we employ sub-editors.

    The great thing about the forum is people enjoy having fun while helping one another out with information about business travel or just chatting. Sometimes they even arrange to meet up (a recent event was in Bangkok).

    It’s quite ironic you post about people posting, but we’re glad to have everyone here.


    canucklad
    Participant

    I’ve put a bit more thought into this and I’ve got to say that the republic of Colombia gets of lightly. BT made a typo, and have rectified it, but at least we refer to Colombia as Colombia.

    A pet hate of mine, is pandering to our own (First language) laziness by not calling place names by their real name.

    Rome instead of Roma
    Londres instead of London
    Germany instead of Deutschland
    Edinburgo instead of Edinburgh
    Etc, etc, etc……

    If the characters of the language are the same, why not be respectful and use its proper given name.
    If anybody out there knows a good reason not to call place names by their given name, I’d genuinely be interested.

    It might put an end to the PSG quandary, basically football commenters referring to the team as Pareee San German, a team based in Paris!!


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    [quote quote=845362]On the other hand , I know a lot of people who become apoplectic when they are referred to as Scotch rather than Scottish and worse Americans calling Scotland “Scotchland” ……Brilliant[/quote]

    Or even worse, when people refer to the Scots as “English”. 😉


    canucklad
    Participant

    Indeed LP, and as someone who’s been double whammied, being called both English and American, I’m very conscious of guessing New Zealand rather than Australian when faced with an antipodean accent/dialect quandary.

    What I find indefensible is when I mention that I’m originally from Vancouver, BC , I get the daft question, “ Where in America is that?. ”

    And worse, it’s not just geographically ignorant people on this side of the pond that pose the question, many a time in my travels in the US have I been asked the same question. .

    As for the Scotland v England thing, a reference to Brave, Shrek or Braveheart seems to do the trick pinpointing the difference.


    esselle
    Participant

    I was once in a hotel lift in Norfolk, Virginia with a colleague who has a VERY Glaswegian accent. I sound a bit like a BBc newsreader from the 60’s.

    A very colourful preacher got it the lift, heard us talking, and asked “Where in Australia are you guys from?”


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=845422]It is a responsibility for everyone to try their best to spell proper nouns correctly, so agree with OP. If in the workplace someone call the posters – who say don’t care – with twisted names; how it will be felt? I am amazed to see the enthusiasm of some posters regarding compulsion to comment on almost every post.
    [/quote]

    Let’s responsibly quote some facts, then…..

    – The FCO advises against all travel to the ports of Buenaventura in the department of Valle de Cauca and the port of Tumaco in the department of Nariño
    – FCO advises to avoid all but essntial travel in about 50% of Colombia
    – There is a risk of Dengue (break bone) fever infection
    – There is a moderate risk of Zika infection
    – The Colombian Government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced a temporary ceasefire from 1 October 2017 to 9 January 2018 – so, from tomorrow the truce is ended and violence may reoccur

    So when considering travels, remember this place is called

    COLOMBIA

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