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Writer's pictureRoss Edwards

A Costly Responsibility

Updated: Jun 18, 2019

Recently, after printing 400 million copies of their new $50 banknote -- and with 46 million of them already in circulation -- the Reserve Bank of Australia learned they'd made a monumental error.


An excerpt of a speech by Edith Cowan (the first woman to serve in Western Australia Parliament, and whose portrait graces the front of the banknote), was printed with not one but three typos.


All were of the same word: "responsibility."


As one Australian rare currency dealer said, "I'd say that's a very serious and embarrassing error for everybody responsible. The buck stops with those who are producing it. It's a joke for Australia, isn't it?


Remember: Always pay extra attention to words ending in "ility" -- "ability," "culpability," "fungibility," etc. All those vertical-stroke letters in a row need to be looked at individually.


Or hire someone like me to do it for you. Otherwise, your mistakes might circulate in public view for years.


UPDATE: June 18, 2019 -- The Reserve Bank of Australia is being very chill about the error, with their manager of banknote production saying, "No one died."

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