While one expects to see Chinglish on bathroom doors or restaurant menus, it can still be surprising when found in use by international companies or famous sporting events.

The Shenzhen Universiade has become the latest victim of a rather high-profile English gaffe.  The Universiade Cauldron Tower in Nanshan has displayed the terms “1th”, “2th” and “3th” since the games took place a year ago, which any native English speaker will tell you are incorrect.  In fact, many people have contacted the Shenzhen government and Universiade to point out the error, but their complaints have been dismissed.  Why?  Well, Shenzhen says those terms are a Universiade convention which have been used at all the games.

The International University Sports Federation (FISU), which organizes the Universiade, has finally chimed in to say, no, that’s not the case.  Indeed, those are English mistakes that have nothing to do with the Universiade itself.  This, according to a report in the Shenzhen Daily:

The Southern Metropolis Daily first reported the issue last August, quoting an unidentified person in charge of the Shenzhen Universiade’s opening and closing ceremonies as saying the incorrect numbers were, in fact, a convention of all Summer Universiades. The person told the paper that the style was used according to an FISU guidebook, and Chinese Foreign Ministry staff had been assured by FISU officials that the style had been used by Summer Universiades for the past 50 years.

But in an e-mail to Shenzhen Daily on Wednesday, FISU spokesman Christian Pierre acknowledged that the numbers are grammatical errors.

On FISU’s official Web site, the first, second and third Universiades are listed as “1st,” “2nd” and “3rd.”

The issue raises the question of whether there was a communication problem between Shenzhen Universiade organizers and FISU regarding the spelling, or if Shenzhen officials intentionally used a nonexistent “Universiade custom” as an excuse to cover up a simple mistake.

Our bet is on the coverup.