Not smart enough to spell well

I find few discussions as pointless as those about why we fared badly in the Eurovision Song Contest. At least this year we didn't send a male back-up dancer with gilded nipples cavorting behind the main act. Since the Maltese entry didn't make it past the semi-final stage our discussion will probably fall-back on that other perennial topic. No - not the Labour leadership contest (there's only so much interest value you can squeeze out of it) but the Royal Opera House issue. Should we rebuild it, and how? As per the original Barry plans, or in a manner which is somewhat more daring? It is a topic which is guaranteed to generate reams of letters from concerned citizens, as everybody chips in with his pet project for the site.

I sympathise with the desire to recreate a thing of beauty from the ruins of a once-handsome edifice. I can see how the restoration of the site has acquired a significance which goes beyond that of rebuilding the opera house. It is no longer just about that but about creating a focal point, an outstanding feature which will be synonymous with Valletta, as the Eiffel Tower is with Paris.

However, I can't go along with the idea that the rehabilitation of the Opera House site is the most important makeover that the city needs. It's not. That dubious honour goes to City Gate and Freedom Square - an ugly entrance which leads onto an even uglier square, bereft of architectural embellishments, historical interest or aesthetic value. A project which includes the development of the Opera House site which does not incorporate the bleak gate and horrid main square would be a waste of time and money, and would not do much to improve the overall aspect of the capital.

The lovely TV presenter Mireille Bonello is one of the testimonials of the Smart City project which is being touted as the future of the country. Together with other local personalities, she tells us how ICT is going to change our life for the better.

The idea of having people from different walks of life trot out a few lines about the wonders of the Worldwide Web is not a bad idea, but Bonello's testimonial, which is the first that viewers get to hear, hits a bum note. That's because she starts off by informing us that "A career in technology is not for men alone" and reassures us that "there is a place for anyone who's smart".

At first I thought that these lines betrayed the unspoken assumption that men were the technological wizards doing exciting things online while their womenfolk occupied themselves with thickening the minestra and ensuring that their husbands' shoes bore absolutely no scuff marks.

Then, I realised that whoever drafted the testimonial wasn't really a male chauvinist pig who had unwittingly revealed his previously concealed belief that women couldn't handle a mouse and a monitor. He was simply referring to the gender digital divide, but doing so rather clumsily.

Talking about a career which is "not for men alone" sounds condescending to women. It's like saying, "A career in business/medicine/law is not for men alone" or "Voting rights are not for men alone". Clearly they're not, so why continue saying so as part of a national publicity campaign?

Actually, I'm not surprised at the unhappy wording of that particular testimonial. There are others which are awful literal translations from Maltese. Take the one where actress Claire Agius Ordway says that "Internet need not impoverish you".

What is meant here is that Internet service need not cost an arm and a leg. The drafters of the testimonial could have said so instead of translating from the Maltese "mhux ħa jffaqqrek", not realising that the word "impoverish" means to "reduce to poverty and indigence" - a situation which is not usually brought about by subscription to an internet service. Then there are the spelling mistakes. Just before the election, when you couldn't take two steps without coming face to face with a Smart City ad, I would amuse myself by spotting bloopers in the ads. There was the one where Peppi Azzopardi sporting as much gel as Labour MP Silvio Parnis, told us that he uses his "electoric card". I don't know if that was before or after the ad where Go chairman Sonny Portelli enthused about "Malta being conneted online with the rest of the world".

Now someone is sure to e-mail to tell me to stop being such a pedant, and that those mistakes where just typos. Well, typos they may be, but they don't look very good in a national publicity campaign (funded by the taxpayer) which is intended to showcase our communication talents and professional outlook.

Those typos show that we're not 'smart' enough to engage ad design people who know how to spell or who have a spell-checker. They show that nobody vetted them or removed them from the ministry website. Some four months after the spelling mistakes appeared emblazoned in half-page ads in national newspapers, they're still there online, revealing our linguistic ineptitude and carelessness to the rest of the world. Not smart at all.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt