Choirboys and a Crocodile (subtitle: Pitfalls of recording and interpreting historic graffiti)

It is natural for humans to need to make sense of the world around them and to create order from chaos. Historic graffiti is a subject ripe for errors misnomers and misinterpretations. By challenging our assumptions and preconceptions, we can seek alternative or additional interpretations for graffiti, often deducing there is no single clear meaning to them. Instantly giving a name to something may divert the mind away from other explanations, but challenging this can be done by researching different sources of written information, widespread discussions or even by chance conversations. New life can be brought to old graffiti by adding value to their meaning and furthering their cultural significance, as well as retaining an air of mystery. This makes them ripe for presentation and story-telling aimed at a wide variety of new and existing audiences. Examples will be presented from historic graffiti recorded in Lincolnshire to demonstrate some interpretation pitfalls and successes including explanations for the title. It is hoped that this will offer encouragement to graffiti enthusiasts to continue developing and presenting tales of human interest using historic graffiti