Oxford press apologises to Indians for dictionary errors

LONDON: The Oxford University Press (OUP) apologised on Friday for offending the people of Bangalore with errors in one of its dictionaries, saying it was freezing warehouse sales and making corrections.   

The 2005 edition of the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Place Names reportedly made mistakes about the language and history of Bangalore.   

The OUP said it was "deeply sorry" for the errors.   

"We have frozen stock and stopped selling from our warehouses, and will be pulping the remaining copies," it said in a statement.   

"We sincerely apologise for the offence that this error has caused and we would like to assure all concerned that we will be putting this right as a matter of extreme urgency," the OUP said.   

The statement did not say how many copies of the dictionary had been sold and printed or whether it would reimburse those who have bought them.   

The dictionary says Bangalore is a land of Bengalis who took their name from a local chief called Banga.   

Bengali is in fact the language spoken mainly in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, while Kannada is the principal tongue of Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the capital.