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Nicola Sturgeon Referendum News


figgy
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You get the occasional Gog knob who makes the switch but I have only ever found wonderful hospitality in Wales. I have many Welsh friends for whom English is a second langauge. One lovely example, about just how welcome you can be made to feel, was about 13 or 14 years ago. A friend who was a vet in Ceredigion invited me shooting one day. I turned up in the yard and all the guns, mainly farmers, were chatting away. It was a proper farmers shoot, a fair few grey macs and lots of baler twine. They greeted my friend in Welsh but when I was introduced to them they immediately switched to English. For the rest of the day whenever they were in ear shot of me they always spoke in English, even to one another.

 

Two sides of the same coin can be experiened one night in a pub near Blaenau. Walk up to the bar and one twit - guarding his never ending pint - switches to Welsh with the barman. Excuse yourself as you squeeze past a group of farmers seated around a table, bid them good evening and you are bid the same in English. Again english spoken within earshot for the rest of the night.

 

There are jerks everywhere, thankfully they don't define a people.

Edited by LeadWasp
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LeadWasp - got to agree - despite the two occasions in Wales, I have been many times since and will go again. 99.99% smashing people. The remaining 0.01% - just as anywhere in the World - planks. It isn't a nationality thing - they are just stupid.

Edited by Gordon R
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Welsh is largely a made up language by the Welsh Language Society rather than an historic cultural entity. How can you say I am going to the supermarket to buy some deodourant and some blank CDs to download?

 

not wishing to prolong the argument but, the words supermarket, cds download, and deodorant are used all over the world, surely the Russians dont use the English word supermarket but have their own "invented" word, much like the Welsh

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not wishing to prolong the argument but, the words supermarket, cds download, and deodorant are used all over the world, surely the Russians dont use the English word supermarket but have their own "invented" word, much like the Welsh

+1 English is also constantly evolving as a language, nuclear fusion, cds ect were not invented when when English was first widely used as a language.
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Well I have to tell you this, if you walked into my local pub, and I'm there with my Wife, my children, most of my pals. my Dad or my sister/brother we'll be speaking Welsh when you arrive and we'll still be speaking Welsh when you leave, and when we go home, as we will be when others are nowhere near us. Before anybody accuses me of Welsh bias, my mother is from East Wales, and can't speak Welsh, if she is present we'll be speaking English. There are people in my life with whom my first language of communication is Welsh, there are others who my first language of communication with is English. Who else is around me is irrelevant. Its just the way my life paned out.

Cheers

Aled

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People speak what they can where they can and that's upto them. Very few English speak another language so have little choice in the matter.

I spent 5 years learning German when I had an office there and three years learning Slovak (my wife is from there) and I can only speak English :lol::lol::lol:

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Well I have to tell you this, if you walked into my local pub, and I'm there with my Wife, my children, most of my pals. my Dad or my sister/brother we'll be speaking Welsh when you arrive and we'll still be speaking Welsh when you leave, and when we go home, as we will be when others are nowhere near us. Before anybody accuses me of Welsh bias, my mother is from East Wales, and can't speak Welsh, if she is present we'll be speaking English. There are people in my life with whom my first language of communication is Welsh, there are others who my first language of communication with is English. Who else is around me is irrelevant. Its just the way my life paned out.

Cheers

Aled

 

Nothing wrong with that at all.

If I was in my local, and some French people came and sat on the next table,I wouldnt start speaking French would I ?

 

As far as Wales goes, Ive travelled extensively North and South, and whereas my South Welsh friends refer to the North as 'bandit country' Ive always thought the North far friendlier.

If ,as some have said, you have approached some Welsh people speaking English, but then switch to Welsh, why is that a slight ?

They could be discussing something personal, they could indeed be plotting the murder of all English :no: but to switch language isnt an insult when you were not part of the conversation to begin with !

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No probs Rewulf just trying to highlight that with some people who are important to me, my 1st language is Welsh with others its English. As I was brought up bilingually, I just find myself in certain circumstances where its more natural for me to speak one language in front of the other. It's worth noting that it was my Mam who always told me "you make sure you can speak both languages with equal fluency" :) (which makes me now in adulthood very proud of her)

Cheers

Aled

Edited by Aled
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They could be discussing something personal, they could indeed be plotting the murder of all English but to switch language isnt an insult when you were not part of the conversation to begin with !

 

 

 

Rewulf - on the first occasion, this happened to me, they were talking about beer and on the second they were talking about bread. Their only concern did not appear to be privacy as other people were in the pub and shop. I didn't feel excluded, I just thought they were a bit ignorant.

 

Worse things have happened in my life, so I won't lose any sleep over it. :lol:

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Worse things have happened in my life, so I won't lose any sleep over it. :lol:

 

Im sure they have!

I was having breakfast one morning at a place in Llandeilo, when a young couple came through and wished everyone good morning.

A man on the table next to me proclaimed loudly 'I do not speak English,I am Welsh!' and went back to his bacon.

The entire room Welsh and otherwise shook their heads and muttered their disbelief at his rudeness.

There are ignorant people in all walks of life and nations,thankfully they are not the norm.

Edited by Rewulf
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Go to N Wales shooting quite a lot, just west of Ruthin and only got good things to say about the Welsh, used the pubs and shops around there and never noticed any rudeness or ignorance from anyone. As with all peoples there are morons in all walks of life and they are the poorer for it.

 

S

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At the time of the last referendum, there was talk of independence for Cornwall. I have been there over 30 times - going back next month - and a friendlier county I have never come across. That said, many, many people are not Cornish by birth. A fair chunk had holidays in Cornwall as a child and returned to settle there. In some cases, they never went home from the holiday.

 

The people there can talk about independence - perhaps tongue in cheek - but it never gets nasty or a case of us or them. :yes:

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umm beg to differ. An Gof - a most unsuccessful firebombing campaign. I believe their greatest success was burning the living room of one of the bomb makers.

 

Anyone remember the death threats over road signs? All over a langauge 'revived' by a man who had never heard it spoken fluently - if at all.

 

Edited to say - this was in the 80's and 90's rather than at the last referendum.

Edited by LeadWasp
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I also noted at the post vote TV interview, she constantly avoided looking into the camera! Speaking mainly at her own feet!.......Is maybe her bottle twitching, or was that a sign of insincerity because she doesn't actually believe what she is saying?

 

Interesting!

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I also noted at the post vote TV interview, she constantly avoided looking into the camera! Speaking mainly at her own feet!.......Is maybe her bottle twitching, or was that a sign of insincerity because she doesn't actually believe what she is saying?

Interesting!

Might be looking at her feet thinking am I really that small and do I look like Jimmy Krankie, nah I don't Fan Dabby Dozy :lol:

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I also noted at the post vote TV interview, she constantly avoided looking into the camera! Speaking mainly at her own feet!.......Is maybe her bottle twitching, or was that a sign of insincerity because she doesn't actually believe what she is saying?

 

Interesting!

Being insincere hasn't been a problem for her in the past, quite the reverse in fact.

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I think mine would be clenching too if I were her. She now knows that her future is 100% dependant on winning independence. Should she lose she'll be consigned to the wilderness with fat Alex and with them both crying foul and being relentlessly irritating. Even if that happens, the next SNP leader will start it all up again and so it will go on until they eventually get what they think they want.

 

All of this palaver of course became inevitable once devolution arrived. Give them an inch and they want a foot, give them a foot and they want a yard, give them a yard and they want a mile etc. etc.

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