But isn't he American?

Today on the blog we're going to look at a couple of spelling errors that are really quite adorable. As you well know, I have no interest in mocking individuals. We're here to make fun of the multiple gatekeepers who allow errors to pass, and not private citizens who just don't know any better. As a result, I'm not able to bring you the FB status where someone just used the word excepted instead of accepted. However, sometimes, private citizens charm me a bit too much with their earnestness, and, well, I have to share it with y'all.

So, today's first submission comes from loyal reader and internet buddy RP, who previously brought us the joy that was the Dali Lama. I'll just let RP explain this one:

Much of Calgary is a grid city: numbered avenues running east/west, numbered streets running north/south, in four different quadrants.  It wasn't always this way, though: there used to be a "Lincoln Ave" in the city's NW.  This was memorialized - or, at least, a memorialization was attempted - in concrete in the sidewalk.  (This particular sidewalk is at what is now the intersection of 7th Ave NW and 1st St NW)

Photo by RP

RP provided a link to the wikipedia article explaining this, which is really interesting, if you're at all a history geek like I am. He highlighted this bit:

"Sidewalks at intersections in areas outside the downtown core are often stamped with the name of the cross-street, especially in older districts. As this was once done by hand by municipal employees who were not always literate, some street names are misspelled or the letters reversed."

And that, my friends, is how we've arrived at Linclon Ave. I think this is just fascinating. They just wanted to remember what was once here! Not everyone has that sense of history. And so, Potentially Illiterate Calgary Municipal Employee, we salute you for trying. It was probably very scary to be expected to do this if you couldn't read, so good on you, sir. We know what you meant.

(Thanks, RP!)