If using ‘anrheg’ makes me sound like a learner then I’m destined to sound like a (proud) learner for ever.
I know I’m completely in the minority but I’ll put it like this: I’m all for language evolution but if that means turning Welsh into an english dialect then forget it, I’m out. I remember my dad tellng me that there is a Welsh word for everything (not popeth ) and he always did his best to use it so that’s good enough for me too. Having said that there are some exceptions that are unavoidable but it doesn’t stop my ear from shivering when I hear them.
It is certainly used in English, sometimes to infer the possibility of speed due to the proximity of whatever is needed. I have lived in York, Harrogate, seven different parts of London, Hereford, Gower, and Scotland and spent time in Gwynedd, Abersychan, Southport, Northamptonshire etc… Sorry, I think I can remove London from the list of possible places where I have heard right handy, but that’s about it! Handy meaning ‘to hand’ (i.e. nearby) or ‘useful’ but not necessarily within reach, I have heard pretty much everywhere. "There’s handy’ I’d say east Wales. Right = very or really, I’d say north!
I was chatting to someone yesterday and had to use the verb “to wrap”, to help the flow I used “wrappio” thankfully “lapio” immediately jumped in so I could correct myself.
I agree about using the Welsh word when I know it, I don’t mind using a bit of English to help me maintain the convo either.
Ha, of course, sometimes you just have to but I try to remember to look it up or ask about it later. It’s really quick to do that these days with all the apps availaible. And every one I look up is one more piece in the puzzle.
I remember talking to someone in the hospital in Liverpool (he was from Pwllheli) who was considered posh amongst his friends for using ‘defnyddio’ instead of ‘iwsio’ (sp). So I guess eventually it comes to “if you can’t beat 'em, join 'em”.
I’ve just come across some hilarious, creative and charming Welsh swear words, or rather swear expressions. Are they really used in everyday language? Some scientists claim that intelligent people do actually swear a lot…
It sounds possibly more Yorkshire or Lancashire to me, something like “ee were right 'andy”. Last of the Summer Wine? Anyway, 'appen it spread into N.Wales? I don’t think it’s Byker, but I’ll check with my sister, who works there. I never said it, but I was from the other side of town and as we all know, Mae West is Best
Interestingly, there was talk of us doing the WJEC English O Level, but for some reason we did the London exams instead. Having said that, we did study Under Milk Wood. Right handy for my eventually settling in the Swansea area.
Thank you, Henddraig, that’s very interesting! I was a bit worried I might have crossed the line again with this posting. A dear friend told me that blasphemy and other bad, bad swear words just didn’t exist in Welsh. I must admit that we papists are not always that polite…
Well, I have mentioned elsewhere that when i said to the Dynes Gogledd running a Welsh Class on Gower in about 1992, “Mae gast gen i. Truffle ydy hi!”, I was told off mightily for using the word ‘gast’. It was NOT acceptable in polite company, even when referring to a female canine!
Oh my! But what is a Dynes Gogledd? A teacher from up north? I often work in newly built houses that basically still are construction sites. There, one can learn how to swear in all kinds of languages, I’m telling you! Tough men, tough language, but honest, heartily and refreshing.
I nearly fell off the chair when reading the translation of your sentence Google gave me (Welsh into German). It said: I have a guest. It’s a truffle (probably a Périgord truffle )! But I do understand what you meant…
Gast, mutated form ast means a bitch , a female dog. Mine was called Truffle because she sniffed everything as she walked, like a pig hunting for truffles, and she loved food, including slurping bloody guts from the carcas of a dead sheep! I could see there were two possible names for her. Piglet fitted but did not seem kind, so I went for Truffle! She was my first Cavalier King Cha les spaniel and I didn’t appreciate how clever she was until after she had died!
Here she is, soon after I got her from the Cavalier Rescue: for @Claudia_Beryan
so sweet and innocent, with a brain full of plots and plans and a memory better than most humans!
Does anyone know what ‘Cavalier King Charles Spaniel’ is in Welsh? My app gives ‘King Charles Spaniel’ as ‘Brenin Siarl Spaniel’ I would have expected, ‘Spaniel Brenin Siarl’ and am not sure where to fit in Cafalîr!
The English name doesn’t really sound English either does it - maybe the dog name was literally translated from another language?
I can’t work out in English if King Charles was a Cavalier and had a Spaniel or if the dog was meant to be one of King Charles’ Cavaliers or if a Cavalier of King Charles had a Spaniel???
This is a great audio book of “Wild Wales”, by George Borrow, beautifully read by Steve Gough. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain and read by volunteers, so I’m allowed to share it here.
There were spaniels. charles ll liked them, but thought it wasn ‘t fair to keep them in a palace so bred small with small until he got a ‘lap dog’ sized version. King Charles Spaniel, named by same ‘rule’ as Jack (or Parson) Russell Terrier! Time passed. They got bred with pugs by people who liked ‘babyish’ squashed-in faces. Eventually someone took pity and sa very old pics of them with reasonable noses. Lots of breading for that and a new breed was reached which bred true. Cavaliers was slang for Charles’ supporters in the Civil War and someone decided on Cavalier King Charles Spaniels for the longer nosed dogs! Now idiots have been breeding them with skulls too small for their brains! I despair! I suspect the correct translation is Sbaengl Cafalîr Brenin Siarl
) and he always did his best to use it so that’s good enough for me too. Having said that there are some exceptions that are unavoidable but it doesn’t stop my ear from shivering when I hear them.
But what is a Dynes Gogledd? A teacher from up north? I often work in newly built houses that basically still are construction sites. There, one can learn how to swear in all kinds of languages, I’m telling you! Tough men, tough language, but honest, heartily and refreshing.
