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Citizen complaint of the day: His name was Eliot, John Eliot

Should be Eliot Street

A spelling-aware citizen complains about this sign on Eliot Street in Jamaica Plain, presumably one of about a gazillion streets in greater Boston named for the Puritan missionary.


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Comments

"The new street sign has spelt Eliot wrong - it should have only one L."

Oh. You're complaining about spelling? How cute.

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What's the problem?

http://grammarist.com/spelling/spelled-spelt/

But keep on enjoying your anonymous sense of smugness.

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Says the person who is equally anonymous.

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That's Saul, folks.

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The commenter is just a spelling hipster:

"In American English, spelt primarily refers to the hardy wheat grown mostly in Europe, and the verb spell makes spelled in the past tense and as a past participle. In all other main varieties of English, spelt and spelled both work as the past tense and past participle of spell [...] [S]pelt was ascendant everywhere through most of the 19th century. This ended when Americans permanently settled on spelled around 1900." (source)

So they were into spelling before it was cool.

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A regular on UHub.

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that indicate "Eliot Street", and they see a sign saying "Elliot Street", I seriously doubt their first thought is going to be "Oh, the City must have spelled the sign wrong."

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Having seen Boston and other municipalities at "work" over the years that is exactly what I'd assume.
I just can't put any faith into any DPW sign shop or worker to vet this.

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That is all.

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I'm the person who posted the citizens connect report. I'm British, so that might explain the use of spelt.

Being an Eliot Street resident, we have actually had packages go to the wrong address if Eliot is spelt Elliot.

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So... a resident would prefer that the street they live on has a correctly spelled street sign to ensure their mail is delivered and you have a problem with that? Huh.

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Are you sure this street isn't named after Charles Eliot?

Eliot Circle in Revere is named after Charles Eliot; as landscape architect for the Metropolitan District Commission, he designed the Revere Beach Reservation and other jewels of the Emerald Necklace. The Eliot Bridge on Soldiers Field Road is named after his father, Charles W. Eliot, who was a longtime president of Harvard.

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Charles Eliot wasn't born when this street was named in 1825.

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Eliot Tatelman.

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... which was endowed by the estate of John Eliot.

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Interestingly, in Newton there is an Elliot Street (hits Route 9), and a couple blocks away is Eliot Station. Presumably the station is named after the street, which is probably named after the same dude/family. I believe what we're really seeing are relics of an era of non-standardized spelling.

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Eliot Church, on the site of the founding of the town of Natick by John Eliot and his band of "praying Indians."

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The Eliot School of Jamaica Plain was founded in 1676, and financed by money and in-kind donations, and by donations of land to provide long-term income. Most notably, John Eliot gave 75 acres to provide for the school. This was probably in multiple parcels, perhaps salt marsh for hay, an upland woodlot for fuel and/or land to be leased for farming. By the end of the 18th Century, the trustees of the school saw that they might better serve the institution by selling off plots of land and investing the capital. This required a trip to the state legislature for permission to amend the will of John Eliot. And so, around the year 1800, Eliot street was laid out between the road to Dedham (now Centre street) and Jamaica Pond

Grew up next door and took woodworking with Mr Azsmuth on Saturday mornings. Eliot, Holbrook, Dunster and most of the people streets are named after are buried in the cemetery next to the school.

rememberjamaicaplain.blogspot.com/

Not my blog but its a must for old JPers...

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was fine and spelled correctly, not sure why they put up a new one. It is ELIOT street people not ELLIOT.

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