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Chasing Down the #Ghandifoul

A new Twitter feed goes after those who commit the common crime of misspelling Mahatma Gandhi’s last name.

By Siddhartha Mitter

There’s a terrible transgression out there, one so persistent and widespread that we—by which I mean people of Indian descent, and all people who believe it’s basic courtesy to spell someone’s name right—have all but given up fighting it.

It’s too annoying to dignify with our energy, but it’s even more infuriating to watch it endure. I refer to what’s been called the “Ghandifoul”—the common misspelling of the last name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

Whatever we think of the Mahatma’s life and legacy, we are united in this peeve. Each time some well-intended person attributes some uplifting sentiment to “Ghandi,” we grit our teeth, but what we really want to do is snap out of our pose of enlightened non-violence and scream: “The H goes after the D, motherfucker!”

So I’m happy to report that offenders can no longer commit their Ghandifouls with impunity, at least online. A welcome corrective has appeared. And it’s hilarious:

Right? So here’s a public vote of thanks to the wise creator of this Twitter feed. And so far, the job hasn’t been entirely thankless. Here’s a particularly gracious reply:

On the other hand, there’s always this:

Yeah dude. Not content with misspelling the man’s name, you’re going to speak for him, too. Bless (and follow) @gandhinotghandh1, braving the fools and setting them straight.