“Em 2003, a Dom Quixote publicou a edição de bolso do romance «Dom Casmurro», de Machado de Assis. Para a estupefacção do editor, algum tempo depois este recebeu um cartão oficial da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, assinado pelo seu então presidente, Pedro Santana Lopes, agradecendo o envio do livro. Até aqui, tudo normal. A perplexidade deveu-se ao facto de o cartão pedir ao editor que transmitisse ao autor o apreço do autarca – e de o envelope ser dirigido ao «Exmo. Sr. Machado de Assis, aos cuidados das Publicações Dom Quixote».”
(pescado daqui)
Santana Lopes is known for his Quaylesque gaffes,[citation needed] which include: claiming that the non-existent Chopin violin concertos were his favourite piece of classical music; having his secretary send a postcard to Brazilian author Machado de Assis (died 1908); calling a press conference to announce a threat on his life when in fact he had received a teaser mailing for a book titled Cuidado com os Rapazes (“Watch out for the boys”); announcing that he would leave the political field in protest for his private life being parodied in a TV show, if the President didn’t intervene (he didn’t); seeming to have missed a formal reception to the Mozambican Minister of Foreign Affairs in order to attend a fashion show; postponing the inauguration of some of his Secretaries of State in order to attend a wedding; appearing lost in the middle of his inauguration speech, with long and embarrassing silences, confusing pages and looking nervous (he said in an interview to newspaper Expresso that it was hot that day, people had already fainted in the audience and he himself wasn’t feeling too well, so he tried to cut the speech short).
In the Portuguese Parliament, in 2008, saying that the country was emitting too much Kilowatts of Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is a substance, so measured in tons, as Kilowatt is a Power unit.
🙂