The word Consul holds a special meaning to a lot of people. To some it’s a title that’s so prestigious that the holder of it should be approached with due respect for the position he holds. For others, it’s some obscure word that they really don’t know how to spell or pronounce. For yet another group of people it’s something attached to an object that’s so rare and special that serious collectors are forever looking for the perfect specimen of the “consul” they desire.

Yes, consuls collect all kinds of objets d’art because they are just like other people in this regard. Vintage Consul typewriters are one such item. Whoever named these portable machines when they were first manufactured in Czechoslovakia, sometimes in the 50s, must have recognized the prestige that the word Consul holds. It was all about marketing already then.

I’m no longer a collector of anything, but as a writer and former consul I think I could get emotionally attached to a Consul typewriter. Seeing the word Consul in front of me as I type would remind me that we still need to educate our internationalists in the correct usage of this important title.

For starters, time to fight back against wrong spellings like counsel, council, and counsil. In a previous post I draw attention to a teacher of corporate English who blogged about this herself: http://writejudi.wordpress.com/?s=counsel So you see, I’m not the only one paying attention to things like this. Corporate America is, too!