A Nova Scotia highway sign pointing to Marine Atlantic’s ferry terminal has some heads shaking over an obvious misspelling.
The sign is on Route 305 in North Sydney near the intersection of Pleasant and Blowers streets.
The lone sign points drivers towards an exit ramp to the Newfoundland and Labrador ferry terminal.
The trouble is, the sign points to the Nlfd ferry. That’s capital “N” followed by an “l” then and “f” and a “d”.
Which is not even close to being right.
The official abbreviation for Newfoundland and Labrador is NL. The province officially changed its name to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001.
Canada Post changed the official two-letter code for the province NL around the same time, and that became the official abbreviation.
Before that the most commonly used abbreviation was NFLD. But that abbreviation has been discouraged since the name change.
Using the incorrect abbreviation can be a sore point for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, just as failing to use the full and correct name.
It should also be noted that just a few metres away from this sign is another pointing to the ferry terminal from Gannon Road.
That signs directs drivers to the NFLD ferry.