For fans of one- or two-hit wonders from the 1980s, Men at Work can still inspire a few head nods whenever those buffs hear “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under,” the catchy tunes from their debut album, “Business as Usual,” that topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1982 and 1983, respectively. The latter song has always appealed to yours truly, though it will never convince me to try a vegemite sandwich, and encouraged me to learn a bit about Australia and its vast, often carefree, culture. While the lyrics told me of the group’s country as a place “Where women glow and men plunder,” they also made me aware of the commonwealth’s “land down under” nickname. That is an easy moniker to remember, but it recently proved a difficult one to stitch correctly, as a manufacturing gaffe has left Sydney residents and visitors to don a “Dwon Under” hoodie.
Along with the geographic sobriquet, Australia has gained publicity for the ubiquity of kangaroos, whose population, according to government data, is twice that of human inhabitation of the country. While the Chinese entity responsible for producing the garment acknowledged the marsupial by putting an image of one below the word “Australia,” it left the animal to hop on a typo.
The miscue, while drawing a few funny reactions from inhabitants of Australia’s largest city, has meant marked down costs for consumers, with the Daily Mail reporting that retailers received word from the manufacturer to hawk the erroneous apparel for $10. Human nature being what it is, the publication’s chronicling of the blunder featured comedic comments from people outside of the metropolis, too, with a Northern Virginia dweller referencing “Crocodile Dundee” by stating, “I want one that says on the front ‘That’s not a Nife’ and on the back ‘That’s a Knigh.”
Looking at the flawed hoodie, or “jumper” among the natives, I immediately felt compelled to check to see if “Dwon” has any correct application, and, wouldn’t you know it, I found something on babynamesencyclopedia.com. Nobody will ever achieve perfection, so I am going to give the manufacturers a pass on this. Hey, at least they didn’t make the item say “Down Nuder.” Who could bear that sort of bare proofreading mishap?
