Page 1 of 1
Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:25 pm
by AndrewA
I am currently transcribing Bosham and I am having a horrendous time due to some names which I see as being spelt phonetically, Maybe the enumerator was not local and had a difficult time with some accents.
For example, Emmer Is Emma, and an entry which reads Lueser turns out to be Louisa. Louisas husband John is a cordwainer, but somehow that has been recorded as a Cordwinder !
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:05 pm
by gardener
Other than the 1841 census I think the householder was supposed to fill in the form. Sometimes the job fell to the kids if the parents could not write. But no doubt the enumerator had to fill in some of them as well. Then the whole lot had to be transcribed - I am surprised we can read any of it!
I saw once that it was worthwhile trying to say a name while holding your nose, just to see how it would sound since most people had enlarges adenoids back then.
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 11:29 pm
by Rob

Enlarged adenoids?? Never heard that before.So a hell of a lot of people would be talking down their nose!!
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:44 am
by Northern Lass
Rob wrote::o

Enlarged adenoids?? Never heard that before.So a hell of a lot of people would be talking down their nose!!
And some people just get up your nose!

Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:31 pm
by Rob
I know who you mean Jan but what can we do?

I think we'll have to just grin and bear it. No piensa usted? Esto es la vida.
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:11 pm
by Marchesgirl
I once came across the burial record of an infant named 'Hollayvear'. On further investigation, she had been baptised 'Olivia'

Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:46 pm
by Rob
There you go Marj.Obviously parents had enlarged adenoids!!!
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:14 pm
by gardener
Worked out well for the Beatles though...
Knowles suggests that its adenoidal, nasal quality is derived from Liverpool's poor 19th-century public health - the prevalence of colds and so on. Impairment of nasal resonance for many people over a long time resulted in it becoming regarded as "the group norm" and copied by others learning the language. "Scousers do not use adenoidal quality because they or anyone else have or have had respiratory trouble, but because it makes them sound like Scousers," Knowles concludes.
This nasal, adenoidal quality was particularly noticeable in The Beatles' music because most of their songs featured shared vocal techniques copied from American harmony and call-and-response styles. The Scouse inflection contributed to their distinctive image. It associated them with a particular location, and stories of the "Liverpool sound" and the "sound of Scouse" dominated the British media.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/209515.article
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:03 pm
by Northern Lass
Rob wrote:I know who you mean Jan but what can we do?

I think we'll have to just grin and bear it. No piensa usted? Esto es la vida.
xx
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:04 pm
by Northern Lass
gardener wrote:Other than the 1841 census I think the householder was supposed to fill in the form. Sometimes the job fell to the kids if the parents could not write. But no doubt the enumerator had to fill in some of them as well. Then the whole lot had to be transcribed - I am surprised we can read any of it!
I saw once that it was worthwhile trying to say a name while holding your nose, just to see how it would sound since most people had enlarges adenoids back then.
When I first started doing family history you told me to do this!
but no one noticed any difference
is it a northern thing do ya think?
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:26 pm
by gardener
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:46 pm
by AndrewA
Here is another good one, enumerator has written George Pharough I assume it is Pharaoh
Re: Spelling errors due to dialect?
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:49 pm
by AndrewA
Heres another good one, has to be enumerator miss-spelling Barzillai , due to accent most likely and just writing it how it sounded.
