Druid 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Nov 17, 2022
I just dipped into Twitter to read the fantastic news that the Snowdonia National Park Authority has voted to use the original Welsh names Yr Wyddfa #YrWyddfa and #Eryri rather than the imposed English #Snowdon and #Snowdonia. It's a massive win for reclaiming our #Welsh cultural heritage. I honestly can't believe the amount of hatred, abuse and racism in the Twitter comments from English people. I've no idea why they are so angry that another country wants to use its own language. #Cymraeg 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022

@druid I think there are many reasons why some English people are so opposed to multilingualism (in any other language). Paranoia (they're talking about me), jealousy (they're doing something I can't), fear (I don't understand), controlfreakery (they should just use English) and snobbishness (English is used worldwide, why would anyone need another language). Any one person can have one or many of these feelings.

Fortunately, we're not all like that!

Show threadMariJeanGordonNov 17, 2022
@suearcher @druid That first reason must be the source of that hackneyed myth - 'I walked into a pub and they all started speaking Welsh' ! 🀣
As if.
Show threadDruid 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Nov 17, 2022
@marijeangordon @suearcher Shhhh... don't tell them it's all true. 🀣
Show threadStuart EstellNov 17, 2022
@druid @marijeangordon @suearcher I’ve been on the receiving end of that - chattering away in Cymraeg with a friend in a restaurant in Aberystwyth and being glared at by all the Saeson… can confirm he and I only ever speak Cymraeg together πŸ˜„
Show threadDruid 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Nov 17, 2022
@5357311 @marijeangordon @suearcher 🀣 There's some odd folk about. I love hearing any different language spoken.
Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022
@druid @5357311 @marijeangordon Me too. And as a dysgwr, I'm so happy that I'm starting to understand and speak another language!
Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@suearcher @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

One of my favourite internet memes is of a woman speaking Welsh to her daughter (in Wales) and being told to stop speaking "foreign muck" πŸ€¦πŸ˜‚

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/woman-told-stop-speaking-foreign-13598021

Woman speaking Welsh in Wales told to stop speaking 'foreign muck'

Elin Jones was shocked as she was confronted when speaking to her daughter while out shopping in Lampeter

WalesOnline
Show threadDruid 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

@TCMuffin @suearcher @5357311 @marijeangordon Ah yes, I remember that. Shocking. This bit made me actually LOL though:

"I have had comments from people saying β€˜go back to your own country’, which is very funny because I am from Aberystwyth.”. 🀣

Nov 17, 2022 at 4:19pmWeb
Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@druid @suearcher @5357311 @marijeangordon

πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@TCMuffin @druid @suearcher @5357311 @marijeangordon

There was a viral story here in America a few years back about a barista chastising a customer to "Speak English!" And the woman responded, "I'm British. I am speaking English."

The absolute fear that some people have of anything different to them is astonishing.

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@RomanticSkeptic @druid @suearcher @5357311 @marijeangordon

That's brilliant πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Show threadMariJeanGordonNov 17, 2022
@TCMuffin @RomanticSkeptic @druid @suearcher @5357311
Reminds me of the story in some newspapers here a few years ago:
An Asian woman was speaking to her child in their own language, on a bus (train ?), somewhere in Wales. A racist tells her she should be speaking English, she's in England now. She looks up at him and quietly responds 'I'm speaking Welsh, and we're in Wales.'
😊
Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@marijeangordon @RomanticSkeptic @druid @suearcher @5357311

I’d heard that one too πŸ‘

What makes people feel enabled to comment like this 🀷

πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

Show threadKara ShallenbergNov 17, 2022
@marijeangordon @TCMuffin @RomanticSkeptic @druid @suearcher @5357311 πŸ†
Show threadSandeha LynchNov 17, 2022

@marijeangordon @TCMuffin @RomanticSkeptic @druid @suearcher
@5357311
And here it was. I don't know the source.

If it should ever happen that someone wanted to know why I was speaking Italian in Wales, I would ask them if they could ask that question in Welsh. I doubt I'd be surprised to find that the person was monolingual.

I would then reassure them that monolingualism can be cured.

Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022

@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Slightly off the point, but I heard a story of a guided tour in York stopping outside the Minster, and an American lady asking "If this building pre-war?" The guide replied "Madam, this building is pre-America!"

Also when my husband first moved to Manchester, someone told him to stop "talking posh", as he had a (very ordinary)London accent.

Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022

@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Also, a drunk beggar once told my (Chinese heritage) husband to "go back where you were born".

"What, Bournemouth?"

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@suearcher @RomanticSkeptic @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Best response...ever πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘πŸ‘

Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@suearcher @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

The stereotype that many Americans are under-educated and xenophobic is absolutely true.

Signed,

An Actual American πŸ™„

Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022

@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon To be fair, I have met many delightful Americans, and I'm well aware of the failings of many of my own countryfolk.

The guns thing is perhaps the most mind boggling....

Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@suearcher @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

God, guns, and gravy. It reminds me of one of my favorite movie quotes. "The murder and the All Bran and the rape "
'Murica! 🀒

Show threadStuart EstellNov 17, 2022
@RomanticSkeptic @suearcher @TCMuffin @druid @marijeangordon you have different gravy though, I think? Sort of more like soup?
Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@5357311 @suearcher @TCMuffin @druid @marijeangordon

This is generally what I think of when I talk about gravy - although there is the thick, white sausage gravy that looks very different but is yummy as well.

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@RomanticSkeptic @5357311 @suearcher @druid @marijeangordon

Yep...that's British gravy too...if you're really lucky with your gravy maker 🀦

Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@TCMuffin @5357311 @suearcher @druid @marijeangordon
Making good gravy is an art form.

One of my fondest memories is of arriving at a family holiday gathering and my (dearly departed) sis-in-law saying, "You don't know how excited my kids were when I told them you were coming and would be making the gravy." πŸ’™

Show threadDruid 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Nov 17, 2022
@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @5357311 @suearcher @marijeangordon I love how this thread has turned into a conversation about gravy. πŸ˜ŠπŸ‘
Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@druid @TCMuffin @5357311 @suearcher @marijeangordon

Those are my favorite kind of conversations.

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@druid @RomanticSkeptic @5357311 @suearcher @marijeangordon

Just like all the best conversations ❀️

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@suearcher @RomanticSkeptic @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Us too ❀️

Our best travel buddies were that endangered species...Democrats from Nashville, Tennessee ❀️

Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@TCMuffin @suearcher @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Unicorns! πŸ¦„

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@RomanticSkeptic @suearcher @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Indeed...and some of our closest friends who've we've missed greatly since the pandemic πŸ’”

Show threadJayne πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆNov 17, 2022

@suearcher @RomanticSkeptic @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

Oh lord 🀦

I have a fairly neutral, but British accent, from working all over the UK and when people ask where I'm from and I say Wales, they accuse me of not sounding Welsh 🀦

Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@TCMuffin @suearcher @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon

I'm Hard of Hearing and also watch mainly UK, Irish, Nordic, European media, so I often pronounce words differently than most anyone else around me. My adult children like to tease me about it. Their face is whenever I say the word "almond" they ask me where the hell the "L" went. I'm almost afraid to say the word now. πŸ˜‚

Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022
@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon I'd say you sound correct to me. I say "ar-mond" with only the merest hint of an L in there.
Show threadSue ArcherNov 17, 2022
@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @druid @5357311 @marijeangordon And of course, this is one of the many traps English lays for the unwary logical person!
Show threadDruid 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Nov 17, 2022
@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @suearcher @5357311 @marijeangordon 😊 It's funny how we get our own internal pronunciation stuck in our minds if we just read an unusual word and not actually hear it. I had one this week - "Kubernetes". Turns out I've been pronouncing it wrong in my head ages. 😊
Show threadIdris πŸ’™Nov 17, 2022

@druid @TCMuffin @suearcher @5357311 @marijeangordon

I heard once that that's how you can tell someone is a reader. They've only read the word, so are not quite sure how to pronounce it.

Show threadStuart EstellNov 17, 2022
@RomanticSkeptic @TCMuffin @suearcher @druid @marijeangordon Oh don’t worry about that. In huge swathes of England the L is conpletely silent so you’re perfectly fine.