I know how to pronounce "Szywa"
So, while it's still free, my family has been puttering around the government records on ancestry.com. The first day's exciting find was my great-grandpa Saul's draft card from WWI. He wrote "conscientous objector." According to my grandmother, he objected to the part where he might get shot at (as opposed to the shooting thing in general).
Today's big find was the Ellis Island passenger list containing my grandmother's family. In general, it's been hard to find those relatives since, as recent immigrants to the United States, they didn't bother spelling their names consistantly. Or even having a consistant name [Grandma Hinda is listed in various places as Hindga, Hinda, Hilda, and Ida; my sister, meanwhile, thanked my mother for not putting that G in her name (Hindga?)]. More puzzling is my grandfather's family in the 1920 census, when Morris was apparently known as Dorothy. We have no clue who Dorothy is.
Anyway, according to the passenger list, my grandmother's name in Polish was spelled "Szywa." Crazy, crazy Polish orthography. Although, in all fairness, it's not quite phonetic in Yiddish either. And so, in a spirit of fun, I am announcing a contest. First person who can tell me how to correctly pronounce "Szywa" gets a prize of some sort. Hint: if you are reading this blog, you already know the answer.
Today's big find was the Ellis Island passenger list containing my grandmother's family. In general, it's been hard to find those relatives since, as recent immigrants to the United States, they didn't bother spelling their names consistantly. Or even having a consistant name [Grandma Hinda is listed in various places as Hindga, Hinda, Hilda, and Ida; my sister, meanwhile, thanked my mother for not putting that G in her name (Hindga?)]. More puzzling is my grandfather's family in the 1920 census, when Morris was apparently known as Dorothy. We have no clue who Dorothy is.
Anyway, according to the passenger list, my grandmother's name in Polish was spelled "Szywa." Crazy, crazy Polish orthography. Although, in all fairness, it's not quite phonetic in Yiddish either. And so, in a spirit of fun, I am announcing a contest. First person who can tell me how to correctly pronounce "Szywa" gets a prize of some sort. Hint: if you are reading this blog, you already know the answer.