Hello, I think it may have something to do with the fact that the original message was sent using Unicode formatting rather than the more usual Windows formatting. I don't really know what that means, except that some characters appear strangely when written in Unicode and "read" in Windows. Here is the quote in the more usual formatting: Researchers at the National Archives made the revelation yesterday in their family history magazine, Ancestors. A spokeswoman said: “Diot was a Christian name for girls in the 14th Century, short for Dionisia. “And we have discovered that one girl with the surname Coke was christened Diot in 1379.” As you will see, the "gobbledy-gook" turns out to be speech-marks ("inverted commas"). I hope this helps. David Lamb (Paignton, Devon, UK) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil Stevens" <joe2phil@nwlink.com> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 9:11 PM Subject: Re: [OEL] Diot COKE christened 1379 (honest!) > Hello ?? Pete ?? , What type of keyboard are you using ? , What is the > Letter / word in this " spokeswoman said: “Diot was a Christian name for > girls in the " Just after the ' said : is a ' Garbled Mess in my Mailbox , > what is before Diot ?? , I wonder am I missing a Font in my System OR what ? > , Phil > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <NorthantsBrowns@aol.com> > To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 9:37 AM > Subject: [OEL] Diot COKE christened 1379 (honest!) > > > > Dear List > > This was posted to another list by my friend Doreen in Canada. It > apparently > > appeared in the UK newspaper (more of a comic) The Sun. > > I just had to pass it on to the list that deals with unusual names!!! > > Pete Brown > > > > *************************************** > > Researchers at the National Archives made the revelation yesterday in > their > > family history magazine, Ancestors. > > > > A spokeswoman said: “Diot was a Christian name for girls in the 14th > Century, > > short for Dionisia. > > > > “And we have discovered that one girl with the surname Coke was > christened > > Diot in 1379.â€� > > > > > > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > > To UNSUBSCRIBE from list mode -- > > Send the one word UNSUBSCRIBE to > > OLD-ENGLISH-L-request@rootsweb.com > > > > ______________________________

Aaahh ha , Now I know what I gotta do , Change my font used to read to one that has the ' quote marks , ( " ) ' , i`ll fixit later ! Thanks for the reply , Phil ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lamb" <davidlamb@members.shines.net> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 11:48 PM Subject: Re: [OEL] Diot COKE christened 1379 (honest!) > Hello, > > I think it may have something to do with the fact that the original message > was sent using Unicode ... snip > > Researchers at the National Archives made the revelation yesterday in their > family history magazine, Ancestors. > > A spokeswoman said: “Diot was a Christian name for girls in the 14th > Century,