Fincham

The Reverend Robert Forby (1759-1825) - who wrote The Vocabulary of East Anglia - was rector in the village. This book, published after his death in 1830, was an important record of the Norfolk dialect.

Fincham Church

Since Forby's time many of the old dialect words have been lost - but Norfolk dialect (and accent) is still alive and well thanks to the county's geographical isolation and also to the tireless efforts of champions such as Keith Skipper and Peter Trudgill.

Forby was born at Stoke Ferry and was educated in King's Lynn and at Caius College Cambridge. He became rector at Fincham in 1801 and held the position until his death in 1825.

Here is an extract from his book:

BORH, BOR, s. a term of very familiar address, generally understood to be a coarse pronunciation of the word boy. A different account of it is proposed with some confidence. If boy is actually sometimes pronounced as if it were spelled baw, it is the sole instance of our so perverting the power of the diphthong oy; we either pronounce it as others do, or we narrow it to long i; we never call joy jaw, nor a toy taw; we do not talk of emplawing or destrawing, but emplying or destrying.

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Fincham Village Website

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