Understanding a Yorkshireman can be difficult at the best of times.
But a council has added to the problem by making a mess of the regional dialect in posters for an anti-littering campaign.
A misplaced apostrophe in its slogan ‘Gerrit in’t bin’ has provoked anger among certain residents of God’s own country.
The phrase was put on 800 posters at popular tourist locations and holiday spots across North Yorkshire as well as in local newspapers.
But proud Yorkshire folk will know the correct term is ‘Gerrit in t’bin.’
The mistake was confirmed by Rod Dimbleby, chairman of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, who said: ‘It’s nonsense because it’s a real language and it should be written correctly.
The mistake was confirmed by Rod Dimbleby (pictured), chairman of the Yorkshire Dialect Society
The phrase was put on 800 posters at popular tourist locations and holiday spots across North Yorkshire as well as in local newspapers
‘The danger is that it is disappearing and that’s why people make these mistakes. That’s why we’re doing our best to try and keep this wonderful language alive.’
Mr Dimbleby, 81, who has been holding talks on the history of the dialect in the run-up to Yorkshire Day on Thursday, added that dialect speakers were few and far between these days.
‘People in their 40s or even 50s don’t know some of the words which I was so familiar with as a kid,’ he said.
And it seems not even North Yorkshire Council can get it right.
The high-profile campaign was launched in conjunction with parish and town councils to encourage people to remove their own litter during the school summer holidays.
Now council chiefs have admitted making the embarrassing blunder and promised to correct digital and downloadable signs, although the ones with the wrongly placed apostrophe won’t be binned.
A sunrise in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, a popular tourist location in North Yorkshire (file photo)
Councillor Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways and transport, said: ‘Punctuating Yorkshire dialect appears to be causing us a bit of a headache here at North Yorkshire Council.
‘While ‘in’t’ features in some dialect dictionaries, we are happy to take the lead of the Yorkshire Dialect Society who are the authority on this subject.
‘We plan to revise our downloadable signs and social media graphics, moving the apostrophe.
‘While we might be unsure about where the apostrophe belongs, we are certain there is just one place for litter in North Yorkshire, the bin.’
