What a difference an accent can make?
As the result of a council’s grammatical error, for nearly a decade, the large sign greeting visitors as they step off of the ferry and on to the Isle of Bute in Scotland has actually being welcoming them to “the Beauty of Penis Island.”
Bhòid is the Gaelic word for Bute but Bhoid – pronounced bod – is what appears on the sign. That is the Gaelic word for the male body part.
A photo of the sign was recently posted online, resulting in an outpouring of comments from Gaelic speakers.
“It makes us look bloody stupid,” Bute councillor Len Scoullar told The Scotsman. “I’m not a Gaelic speaker but I would apologize to people who are Gaelic speakers and we will rectify it right away. I’m sure it’s the big sign the council put up many, many years ago. It would probably be about nine years ago, the exact day I don’t remember. I will make enquiries as to who ordered the sign.”
Àdhamh Ó Broin, a Gaelic dialect coach for the TV series outlander, further explained: “Bhòid is Bute but Bhoid is penis. You would need the accent over the ‘O’. It says ‘Welcome to the doorway to the beauty of Penis Island’. You know when people speak Chinese the wrong way and they end up saying ‘Your mother is a dog’ instead of ‘The rice is nice’? It’s like that.”
The Isle of Bute is located off the coast of Scotland and is only accessible by ferry from the mainland.
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