Why are all the roadsigns spelled wrong in Clare?

JCX BXC

Ennistymon is spelt Ennistimon on roadsigns
Lahinch is spelt Lehinch on roadsigns
Milltown Malbay is spelt Miltown Malbay on roadsigns.

What's going on?

Clareman

The person who did the signs originally assumed he knew how to spell all the places correctly so didn't bother getting a map or any other reference material.

endacl

The craic.

Edit: The crack. Silly me...

JCX BXC

Clareman wrote: »

The person who did the signs originally assumed he knew how to spell all the places correctly so didn't bother getting a map or any other reference material.

And they just left them then?

Clareman

Carnacalla wrote: »

And they just left them then?

Pretty much, he was a teacher so I guess no-one doubted him. The man is dead now but his legacy will never be forgotten

chinwag

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=73752459

See above link to previous thread on this. Must say, it confuses me too when I'm in Clare, but I love the county as does my OH.

JCX BXC

Can they not change them now? It's kinda embarrassing for the county that we don't even have roadsigns correctly spelled :P

Clareman

Carnacalla wrote: »

Can they not change them now? It's kinda embarrassing for the county that we don't even have roadsigns correctly spelled :P

Could you imagine the uproar "Council spend €X fixing their mistake"

JCX BXC

Clareman wrote: »

Could you imagine the uproar "Council spend €X fixing their mistake"

Politics sometimes :P

The mistake is made, no point fixing it kinda attitude?

Anyway! Interesting to know why all the signs have the wrong spelling, thanks Clareman.

locum-motion

Clareman wrote: »

The person who did the signs originally assumed he knew how to spell all the places correctly so didn't bother getting a map or any other reference material.

Not sure if your tongue is in your cheek, or if you actually believe this to be the correct answer.

Unfortunately, the truth is that Lehinch, Killadysart and Ennistimon are actually the official correct spellings for the names of those places, even though the general public calls them Lahinch, Kildysart and Ennistymon.

JCX BXC

Lahinch is the official name for Lahinch. Although Lehinch appeared on the roadsigns, there's no evidence of Lehinch before that.

What about the lack of an "l" In Milltown Malbay?

locum-motion

locum-motion wrote: »

Not sure if your tongue is in your cheek, or if you actually believe this to be the correct answer.

Unfortunately, the truth is that Lehinch, Killadysart and Ennistimon are actually the official correct spellings for the names of those places, even though the general public calls them Lahinch, Kildysart and Ennistymon.

To add to the above (I was interrupted last night and had to post before I was really finished):

The names on roadsigns in Ireland are the same names that appear on Ordnance Survey maps, and they ARE the official names of those places. They are wrong, according to what people actually call them, but they are the official names.

That much is fact.

What follows is just my own opinion: I think the reasons that the names recorded are different is that the Ordnance Survey was done by British civil servants in the middle of the 19th cenntury, and they weren't too particular about getting the names right.

squonk

Whatever about Lehinch/Lahinch, I also remember seeing roadsigns with the Irish vesion of the name, Leacht Ui Crothiur and now this appears to have been shortened to An Leacht. I always assumed that Lehinch was some new 'trendy' spelling of the name as I grew up seeing Lahinch and calling it like that as well!

Palmach

It's the Clare dialect.

Jim Martin

I believe what happened was that the O/S were faced with a dilemma at the time they did the original survey in 1841 when many people were illiterate - they were given numerous spellings & pronunciations & had to make a decision, any decision, so how could they ever be correct?

SILVAMAN

squonk wrote: »

Whatever about Lehinch/Lahinch, I also remember seeing roadsigns with the Irish vesion of the name, Leacht Ui Crothiur and now this appears to have been shortened to An Leacht. I always assumed that Lehinch was some new 'trendy' spelling of the name as I grew up seeing Lahinch and calling it like that as well!

I remember the Irish on road signs for Lahinch being Leacht Ui Chonchubhair.
Simple case of dumbing down right across the board from no more mental arithmetic, rote learning of poetry/literature, times tables.....

Shannon757

Seems to be mostly in wesht Clare, not much misspelt in North Clare.

JCX BXC

Ennistymon isn't west anyway :P
No one wants it. Hehe

Shrap

East Clare has Scarriff spelled in two different ways on the road signs (not including the Irish), and it appears to be up to everyone to pick whichever they like! The secondary school spells it as Scarriff, and the Medical Center spells it Scariff.

Here's something on the subject from the Clare Library forum: http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3652

A2LUE42

Clonlara Cloonlara is another one