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 🏴󠁧󠁒󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Nov 17, 2022

@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.”. 🀣

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 threadMariJeanGordon
@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.'
😊
Nov 17, 2022 at 6:05pmWeb
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.