Comment 2 for bug 740153

I am able to find many of these in Maverick as well, and it's very likely they all stem from the upstream translations: https://translations.launchpad.net/synaptic/main/+pots/synaptic/nb/+translate (I've added the .po file to the bug report)

Seems like a .po file import into Launchpad in 2006 might be the villain, judging the Launchpad Translations Administrators role in the translations. Strangely, the bad strings were appearantly in some cases approved by members of the team or LTA.

Example: https://translations.launchpad.net/synaptic/main/+pots/synaptic/nb/+translate?start=160

Cleaning and fully translating the upstream project should be the cure.