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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: Deskman on Saturday 10 February 18 23:34 GMT (UK)
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Dear Friends,
I need you help here with this mess of an extract. I keep coming up with ideas but all fails.
All in red baffles me.
"Miss Bromleys, Miss Bache evidently dispising 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"
The cool bold text is thanks to friends here.
Thanks,
Deskman
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... evidently despising such pr(...?) affairs wended her way ... I wended with her ...
Can you say what the 'affairs' were? It might help us to find a suitable adjective that fits?
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Gosh Bookbox!
I like your style.
Apparently it's dancing'
The entry begins "Sept 11 At another little dance at the school house, walked down with Miss Bache & two Miss Bromleys..."
Could the your pr word be prurient or prurience? They have been on my list of options dropped.
Yours gratefully
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I think it's got to have a t in the middle. I was wondering about primitave (misspelling of primitive?), but I'm not really convinced about the v. It does look more like b or t.
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It looks to me to end in -able, and the whole word seems something like premitable - trouble is, that's not a word. Alternatively, preventable, though the meaning doesn't seem to fit quite right. I guess we're looking for something to go with despising, but I haven't managed to come up with anything to fit both the meaning and what I think the letters are.
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Thanks arthurk and Bookbox,
This is a challenge.
I would have expected the writer to be able to spell primitive. It is clear he preached at the local Primitive Methodist Chapel.
Because I am desperate and 'because it is there' I offer primatical ???
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Like Arthur, I think it ends -able, perhaps -itable, but I haven't found a word yet.
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Higher res scan...
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permutable (?) ??? ??? ???
(Liable to change, changeable)
Was Miss Bache perhaps irritated because he was switching his attention between the ladies?
Karen
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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. ???
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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.
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Agreed. Sorry about that.
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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
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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
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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
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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