The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Sunday found itself in a bit of a soup after Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong, pointed out a significant spelling error in the name of his country on a signboard installed near the high commission.
A sign board installed by the MCD at the High Commission premises read “Singapur High Commission instead of the correct “Singapore High Commission”. However, the NDMC quickly fixed the ‘Singapur’ issue by using some white tape.
Earlier in the morning, the diplomat took to X and shared a picture of the signage which read ‘Singapur High Commission’ instead of ‘Singapore High Commission’. Wong also shared a picture of himself where he can be seen donning a tee with ‘SINGAPORE’ (the correct spelling) inscribed on it. “It is always good to spell check first,” sharing the photos he wrote.
Wong, who discovered the gaffe while on his morning walk and asked the MCD to do a ‘spell check’ before installing the signage.The post featured a picture of signage and Mr Wong. The Singapore In India Twitter handle also tagged the MCD and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) Official in the post on X. The board also contains the name of Embassy of Vietnam. The said Commission is located at Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri in New Delhi, 110021 (pincode).
The post has amassed more than 212000 views on X within just four hours. The post received a barrage of comments on social media with many users sharing their thoughts in the comments section. Some users chimed in with their own stories of similar experiences with signage errors.
A user wrote, “A big oops moment hope @MCD_Delhi fixes it ASAP.”
Another user wrote on X, “Good advice...but then where will our smiles come from?”
“It is what happens when people translate from Hindi word to English... Common mistakes in all regional languages,” the third user commented. The fourth user wrote,” This is nothing. Most of the Punjabi translations of signages in Delhi are outright wrong. Have complained multiple times, but nothing changes”.
Another user wrote, “But we in India always wonder how it became “.. PORE” in the first place from the original “PUR”.
“Kanpur, Nagpur, Singapur, right?!,” another user commented.
However, the NDMC quickly fixed the ‘Singapur’ issue by using some white tape. Following this, Wong expressed his gratitude to the municipal bodies. “I appreciate the rapid fix. HC Wong @tweetndmc @MCD_Delhi,” Wong posted on X. Reacting to Wong’s second post, a social media user wrote, “Not a good pasting job India. I’m sure we can do better.” This post also viewed over 1534000 on X ( formerly twitter).
Meanwhile, another user wrote, “High Commissioner, while one must admire the MCD for its quick response - on Sunday no less - the fact is that the matter has not been fixed. If the photo is a genuine representation of the road signage, it reads with a 0 (zero), not O!!”
Another user wrote, “That was the fastest grievance redressal ever Wish every government department responds with such alacrity”.
“Good they changed . But the O in Singapore seems very different from the O s in Commission.,isn’t..? Seems that the numeric 0 has been inserted there. It was always thought that if it is anything connected with Singapore - ita high quality & high precision with effort,” wrote another user.
Earlier, High Commissioner of Singapore in India Simon Wong danced with folk artists at a G20 meeting in West Bengal’s Darjeeling.
