THE CITY THAT ISN’T

English is international. People know English. Sometimes they think they know it too well. That's when non-native users of English can make mistakes. Big mistakes!

For example, there were the people hired by the Jerusalem city administration to give the city a much needed publicity boost. In 2006 the city hosted a music and culture show. The administration decided this was a good opportunity to put the city back on the international tourist map. Not an easy job.

Jerusalem is an important city for three of the world's major religions- Christians, Muslims and of course, Jews. It has been the focus of conflict for eons.

To overcome the city's poor reputation the city administration hired a public relations company to design and write a brochure advertising the cultural event. But more importantly, the PR company was set the task of promoting Jerusalem as a tourist destination to an international audience.

The PR company was asked to come up with a snappy, catchy slogan for the brochure. They did, but not in the way they intended.

Idiom is difficult to master in any language and English is trickier than most. If you want to say that something or somebody is very special, unique, you can say 'there is none better' i.e. it is the best. Or you can say 'one of a kind', or 'There is no city like it'. This was the idiomatic phrase the PR company writers were probably thinking about when they came up with their memorable slogan: 'Jerusalem: There is no such city!' Thousands of glossy brochures had to be recalled and angry Jews, Christians and Muslims placated.

The city could, of course, have saved much embarrassment and cost if they had given the brochure to a native user of English to proofread before it was published!