Let's have an award for the worst-spelt road signage

Reading and deciphering the intended names and information on road signs across India make for an amusing pastime, as their English spellings and grammar are quite unique. These gaffes are either due to a mistaken understanding of their pronunciation — a phenomenon that is bound to occur in a country with as many diverse accents as India — or plain loss in translation. Britain’s excuse for not knowing its Queen’s language, however, is inexcusable on any grounds, even if it proudly reveals at some point that it has more non-English-speaking residents than suspected. Indeed, there is enough evidence to suggest that before spellcheck lulled an entire generation into complacency, non-native speakers and users of English had a greater inclination to get spellings and grammar right than born anglophones.

The institution of an award in Britain last year to highlight the spelling and grammar blunders of official agencies in particular has evidently not shamed them into changing their erroneous ways as the second year has also yielded a good crop of candidates. The initiative is commendable, though, as it shows that the creators of the world’s most useful language have not yet divested themselves of the responsibility to guard it. If road signs are an indicator of a national direction, even India should consider some remedial action.