KUALA LUMPUR: A snapshot of an electronic billboard welcoming US President Barack Obama has shot to fame for all the wrong reasons.
The billboard stating "Welcome to the President of USA Barack Obama" has been slammed by Malaysian netizens for its poor use of English.
The posting, which surfaced on Friday in time for Obama’s arrival in the city for the 27th Asean Summit and related summits drew widespread ridicule.
“Heard they used Google translate…” quipped a Facebook user , while another mocked “ Asean English bro...” on the same thread.
One Facebook user took a dig, posting “English is so much fun…when idiots is in charge”.
However, the user was swiftly corrected by another netizen who pointed out that ‘idiots’ was plural, which must be followed by ‘are’.
Mayor Datuk Mhd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz confirmed the picture of the board used to display traffic was not a doctored image.
“We have changed it. It was to welcome Asean leaders. Hopefully it doesn’t switch back,” said Amin.
Meanwhile, retired English teacher Elsie Ong said authorities charged with the licensing of signages and boards should ensure such embarrassing mistakes did not recur.
“The sentence is wrong, it can never be ‘welcome to’ unless it’s an invitation, a greeting is always welcome. ‘Malaysia welcomes US President Barack Obama’ would be more appropriate, “she said, adding that ‘the’ in the greeting was also wrongly used.
“They should definitely be stricter on the use of the language and do their homework,” she said.
“But no one in City Hall sees the point. In fact English has gone to the dogs and it’s not only in Malaysia,” she added.
Ong said there was no point in being a grammar snob about the whole thing.
“A mistake is a mistake... you improve on it and there is no need to be ashamed of.”
“People are sometimes just pretentious as they are not used to changes even though they don’t know proper English usage.”