A 1980s song from the group “Men at Work” mentions a Vegemite sandwich. Having no personal connections to Australia, from which the band hailed, I concluded the words were “bit of my” sandwich. It sounded correct to me and was the most logical interpretation I could come up with at the time.

There’s several quick reminders or lessons here:

  • don’t assume
  • our initial conclusions may be incorrect
  • our ancestors might not have heard a clerk’s questions correctly
  • the clerk may not have heard our ancestor’s answers correctly
  • being unfamiliar with a culture or dialect may be what is causing our “problem”

 

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