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Hanukkah greeting ad flummoxes NYT readers

Clothing chain’s Hebrew holiday wishes for customers in Sunday’s Times accidentally refers to dead earlobes instead

Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Illustrative photo of a decorated earlobe. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
Illustrative photo of a decorated earlobe. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

A Hanukkah greeting printed in the Sunday New York Times contained an error that changed the meaning into a bizarre message about a deceased earlobe.

Sharp-eyed readers noticed that the advertisement, from fashion outlet Lord & Taylor, had missed the mark by confusing one letter for another three times.

The message, in Hebrew, was supposed to read “Happy Hanukkah holiday,” but by consistently printing the letter ת or tav instead of the letter ח or het, the text instead translated roughly as “the tag of her earlobe that died.”

Web users quickly shared the faux pas on social media sites.

https://twitter.com/dimireider/status/673762005535342592/photo/1

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah began on Sunday night and continues for eight days.

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