Fact Check

Does a 'Welcome to Kansas City' Sign Contain an Unfortunate Typo?

An image of a welcome sign featuring the word "anally" instead of "annually" is a digital creation.

Published May 8, 2018

Claim:
A "Welcome to Kansas City" sign features an amusing, but unfortunate typo welcoming 25 million visitors "anally," not "annually."

The phrase "you had one job!" is frequently used to note humorous instances when a relatively small mistake (such as a spelling error) results in a bigger or embarrassing problem. (We've all been there.)

The "You Had One Job" Twitter account has posted scores of examples of this meme. On 7 May 2018, it shared an amusing image that supposedly shows a "Welcome to Kansas City" sign which mistakenly spelled the word "annually" as "anally," delighting 12-year-olds and those who share their humor everywhere:

Unfortunately for fans of amusing typos, this misspelling wasn't the result of careless proofreading or the handiwork of a disgruntled employee, but rather an enterprising prankster with a gift for digital editing.

The @VisitKC Twitter account posted an image showing the original sign, and remarked that the photograph had been doctored:

Other images showing the same sign from different angles were also posted online:

Sources

Gish, Sarah.   "No Butts About It: Viral Photo of Visit KC Tourism Sign Is a Prank."     The Kansas City Star.   7 May 2018.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.