Author Topic: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village  (Read 1477 times)

Offline Bookbox

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #9 on: Sunday 11 February 18 11:43 GMT (UK) »
Perhaps you're right and it does, after all, start with for... ? None of the p's shown here has a looped descender. Looking at other words beginning with p (in other extracts posted), none of them has a 'hook' on the left either. ???

Offline arthurk

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #10 on: Sunday 11 February 18 13:04 GMT (UK) »
And by setting aside my assumption that the first letter is 'p', I can now see it as formidable - which is what you originally suggested, Deskman.
Researching among others:
Bartle, Bilton, Bingley, Campbell, Craven, Emmott, Harcourt, Hirst, Kellet(t), Kennedy,
Meaburn, Mennile/Meynell, Metcalf(e), Palliser, Robinson, Rutter, Shipley, Stow, Wilkinson

Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Bookbox

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #11 on: Sunday 11 February 18 13:20 GMT (UK) »
Agreed. Sorry about that.

Offline arthurk

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #12 on: Sunday 11 February 18 14:01 GMT (UK) »
Agreed. Sorry about that.

Don't worry - we've all done that. We've had fun wending our way through the dictionaries trying to come up with alternatives, and I'm sure the formidable mental exercise won't have done us any harm.  ;D
Researching among others:
Bartle, Bilton, Bingley, Campbell, Craven, Emmott, Harcourt, Hirst, Kellet(t), Kennedy,
Meaburn, Mennile/Meynell, Metcalf(e), Palliser, Robinson, Rutter, Shipley, Stow, Wilkinson

Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


Offline Karen McDonald

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #13 on: Sunday 11 February 18 15:32 GMT (UK) »
I agree with you both (all)! Especially re: the "p".
Formidable.
Seems a bit of an odd choice of word, but that wouldn't be the first time...  ::)

What threw me at first is that it looked too "formed" to be an "f". He starts a lower-case "f" from the top, and in this example it looks, at first glance, as if it has been started from the left side in the centre. That bit is, however, the centre stroke.

The "f" in "friends" on the next line is very similar.
 
What caught me out big-time with this one is that - assuming it is formidable - the stroke to the "r" comes from under the "o". Then I thought about a theory which was suggested in one of Deskman's threads (I can't remember who by - sorry!) which raised the possibility of the writer being left-handed. Yes, that was sometimes still frowned upon back then, but who knows?
As a "leftie", my "o" is sometimes joined to the preceding letter in a similar way...
 
I had to have a little chuckle when I first read this text. (I must admit to "having a go" in my head, before looking at the suggestions/corrections, regardless of how much has been clarified in my absence - great fun!  ;D) The chuckle was due to "village" (friends in the village). If somebody had never seen any examples of his interesting handwriting, they could be forgiven for thinking that the word was "deluge"..!  ;)

Happy Sunday,
Karen
McDonald MacDonald M'Donald McGregor MacGregor M'Gregor Twilley Wells Fentiman Carrington Rowe Needham Mitchell Mackie Collingwood Fuller Maides Shilton Hagon Budd

Offline Deskman

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #14 on: Sunday 11 February 18 19:46 GMT (UK) »
Thank you arthurk, Bookbox and Karen McDonald.

It seems we have resolved this difficult word as formidable.

The similarity of the attached principle is striking.

I now think affairs should be affair in light of the attached affairs. That would leave us in full with
"Sept 11 At another little dance at the
school house, walked down with Miss Bache & two
Miss Bromleys, Miss Bache evidently despising such formidable
affair wended her way on to some friends in the village. I wended
with her to the gate. Carrie Bromley appeared at first cross

with me & wouldn’t dance, but afterwards repenting of her cruelty
became friendly once more.'

I feel the writer was using his caustic pen to show his attitude to Miss Bache's contempt to the school room hop. He also thinks his wending with Miss Bache caused Carrie to immediately resent it.

Thanks again for all the help,

Deskman

I'll be back






Offline sparrett

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Re: 1889 diary p18 friends in the village
« Reply #15 on: Sunday 11 February 18 21:53 GMT (UK) »
OK
I am tossing this in to the mix. ;D
Premedatory
The adjective for premeditation.
I think it does exist as a word, but seems to be outdated in our times.
However.......
I cannot quite see how it applies in the context of dancing :P ::)

Sue 
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