Ever learnt something new that’s blown your mind a little?

As you know, I’m a big music fan. I love my metal and rock, mostly, but all music is good music in my opinion. I’m an avid listener. So you can imagine my surprise when I recently learned that I’d been singing one of my favorite songs wrong. You probably know the song, Depeche Mode, Personal Jesus? 

Now, I’ve been listening to this song since it came out back in 1989. And the lyrics I’ve been singing are “reach out and touch me!” Quite confidently, I’ll have you know. Loudly in the car, in the shower, you get the gist. Anyway, it turns out that the line should be “reach out and touch faith!” Makes a lot of sense now, but for 37 years I’ve been singing it wrong and I had no idea. 

It kinda got me thinking, we probably mishear things a lot. Not just song lyrics, but other stuff too.  One good buddy of mine, Paul Tibbles, recently told me about a parcel he had delivered to him – addressed to The Portables. Another friend often gets post to Linda, when her name is Lucinda. Small mistakes, slight errors, little misunderstandings, all tiny things that don’t matter too much, until it comes to freight. 

As a freight forwarder, one of the big problems we see all the time is misdeclared goods. It’s not usually that something is slightly misheard, but slightly misunderstood instead. And it can have big consequences. You see, perfume declared as “costmetics” might sound about right, but many perfumes are alcohol based and count as flammable liquids (dangerous goods). Get that wrong and you could face heavy fines or even get banned from a carrier altogether. Toys that contain lithium batteries, declared as “electronics” or “toys” won’t be handled in the way lithium batteries should, and lithium batteries are a common cause of container fires! Aerosols declared as “household goods”, charcoal declared as “BBQ supplies”, and even food supplements declared as “food” are all common mistakes that can result in fires, fines, seizure, destruction or delays at customs.

So you see, small mistakes can have big consequences. If you use a good freight forwarder, they’ll be there to help you get it right, just be honest about your shipment, make sure they’ve heard you correctly, and they’ll find a way to move it safely. 

How about you? Have you been singing any songs wrong for decades? I’d love to know which ones, because I’m probably still singing it wrong too!