The Embarrassing Typo We Found on the White House Website More Than a Dozen Times

Like so many reporters and editors, the staff that runs the White House website appears to be having problems catching a typographical error that happens when people try to type the word "public."

Yes, the word "pubic" is occasionally finding its way into transcripts and other White House documents.

The White House, like so many other entities, is having trouble spelling the word 'public.' AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB SAUL

And while there some of the examples date back a few years, most of them were created during the Obama administration, when spell check was a common feature of word processing.

The most recent example was from the summer, when the White House put out a fact sheet on advancing the human rights of LGBT persons around the world. That document has a subheading labeled, "Protecting Human Rights and Advancing Nondiscrimination through Diplomatic and Pubic Engagement and Foreign Assistance.

In 2010, the White House put out a transcript that mistranslates then-President of China Wen Jiabao as talking about the "fields of pubic finance, financial industry and economic cooperation and trade."

In 2010, an environmental paper talking about an EPA proposal discusses that it has been "published for pubic comment."

A few other examples from Obama's White House appear, including a 2011 document that talks about "pubic archives," and another that appears to be from the Obama administration that discusses making a "pubic copy" available in a footnote.

In 2009, a discussion thread on the environment that is still linked to the White House talked about some new media tools being added to the EPA's "pubic website."

An undated document that appears to be from Vice President Joe Biden's office talks about "pubic/private training programs."

An undated document deals with a State of the Public Service project, which of course asks "What 'State of the Pubic Service' Will Measure and Why." The answer indicates the heading should have read "public."

There are some from the George W. Bush White Hous as well. An Office of Management and Budget document from 2004 talks about the "pubic acceptance of water reuse projects."

There are also two examples that appear to be from a now-defunct wing of the government called "ExpectMore.gov" that use the word. One discusses "pubic or private entities," and another talks about the "pubic purpose" of the two federal housing agencies.

Not all are from the White House. For example, a 2007 letter from an industry group talks about a "pubic meeting."

The oldest example appears to be from the Reagan administration, although one that came from outside the White House. The White House site still has a file consisting of a federal register notice on "pubic utilities" from 1986.