So... it looks like, whereever the .bashrc under /etc/skel is coming from, is corrupt!
I replaced my .bashrc file from a std 10.04 ubuntu distro, and voila issue disappeared. I was able to reach this solution when I was comparing notes with a friend who stated in their profile they did not have the "promptpath" function which is the one that seems to be breaking this causing the above issues. Will file this as a bug report as well.
Fixed
So... it looks like, whereever the .bashrc under /etc/skel is coming from, is corrupt!
I replaced my .bashrc file from a std 10.04 ubuntu distro, and voila issue disappeared. I was able to reach this solution when I was comparing notes with a friend who stated in their profile they did not have the "promptpath" function which is the one that seems to be breaking this causing the above issues. Will file this as a bug report as well.