Regret the Error

A large Lego giraffe greets visitors at the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Center in Germany. And if you believe a Reuters report from this morning, people can’t help but steal the giraffe’s penis. The story had a bit of fun with this:

BERLIN (Reuters) – Visitors to a tourist attraction in Berlin have been making off with an unusual memento — the 30 cm long penis of a Lego giraffe.

The Lego phallus belongs to a six metre tall model that has stood outside the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Centre on Potsdamer Platz since 2007.

"It’s a popular souvenir," a spokeswoman for the centre said Tuesday. "It’s been stolen four times now …"

The penis is made out of 15,000 Lego bricks. It takes model workers about one week to restore the long-necked animal’s manhood at a cost of 3,000 euros (2,600 pounds), the spokeswoman said.

The centre is now erecting a metal construction to protect the giraffe’s genitalia. (Reporting by Caroline Copley, editing by Tim Pearce)

One problem: the Lego giraffe does not have a penis. People were stealing its tail. Oh dear. Reuters issued this corrected version:

09:23 25Aug09 RTRS-CORRECTED-German Lego giraffe tail repeatedly stolen
 (Correcting to ‘tail’ from ‘penis’)
  BERLIN, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Visitors to a tourist attraction in Berlin have been making off with an unusual memento — the 30 cm long tail of a Lego giraffe.
  The Lego tail belongs to a six metre tall model that has stood outside the entrance to the Legoland Discovery Centre on Potsdamer Platz since 2007.
  "It’s a popular souvenir," a spokeswoman for the centre said on Tuesday. "It’s been stolen four times now …"
  The tail is made out of 15,000 Lego bricks. It takes model workers about one week to restore it at a cost of 3,000 euros ($4,300), the spokeswoman said.

Reuters has published some remarkable typos over the years, including the famous Queen Elizabeth and beef panties incidents. But those were examples of a spellchecker going awry. The penis story uses synonyms for the Lego member, which suggests that this was an error of fact, rather than a slip up. I’ll try and get the details. For now, though, enjoy some screenshots:

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