Tiny questions with quick answers - continuing thread

@mikeellwood, @AnthonyCusack

I had been trying to understand if there are subtle differences in meaning between gyda, efo and gan (apart from Sounthern/Northern preference).
But I hadn’t and I have to admit…still haven’t! :smiley:

“gan” seemed to also mean “by” as in song or book by an author…but not completely sure about that.

“dw i’n cael fy nysgu gan…” sounds a bit complicated to me. :thinking:

I translate it as “I am taught by” (I am getting my teaching by)

1 Like

Yeah, it can be quite worying if you switch on Radio 4 and hear that war has just been declared. Historians love their ptesent tense.

1 Like

My wife and I really enjoyed the TV series “Wolf Hall”, so we borrowed the first book by Hilary Mantel on which it is based, assuming we would love that as well. Now the history and characters are fascinating, as in the TV series, but she does something weird with the tenses (can’t remember the details exactly - but from googling, it does indeed use the present tense, as well as some other oddities). I found it immensely irritating. I hoped I’d get used to it and not notice after a while, but I never did, and for that reason, have no wish to read the 3rd and final book of the trilogy when it comes out (assuming it uses the same style of language).

Googling around, it seems that it’s a bit of a “Marmite” book: you either love it or hate it.

General non language questions.
Good traffic jam free time to cross into Anglesey and back.
Any gluten free chip shops Anglesey or Bangor?

What does Cardi mean?
(a guy in a tv show seemed to be joking with another guy, calling him like that and it stayed the same in subtitles!)

Someone who comes from Cardiganshire. I think that Cardis have a similar reputation to the Scots and Yorkshire folk as being a bit careful with their money.

2 Likes

Oh, that would match the joking!
the “Cardi” had to use a full bottle of champagne (:open_mouth: !) to follow a recipe in a cooking competition.
The presenter asked him how he was feeling about it, and the guy answered he wanted to change it with a bottle of cheap wine (not exact words, but that was basically the meaning). :laughing:

3 Likes

I need help, please. I host a weekly meet up and one speaker was telling the group about a flood in her house. No one could remember the word for flood. Dictionary stated flood is ‘llif.’ Dictionary also says flow is ‘llif,’ also. The group decided a flood is ‘llif o dŵr.’ Is that correct?

Is it just me seeing an accidental touch of dark humour in @delawarejones’ question? :smirk:

[Sorry for the OT - I don’t know the answer, but first thing in the morning on the computer was a photo of Italian singer Laura Pausini looking like Ozzy Osbourne in a promotional pic, so I’m still in “hilarious mode” :grin: ]

However, not to miss the opportunity to talk about Welsh as we should,

I saw “first thing in the morning” translated as “ben bore” and as a more literal “peth cynta yn y bore”.

Can you use any, while speaking?

1 Like

Shw mae, John?

Twitter tells me: “try and avoid rush hours, so between 7.30 and 9.30 in the morning and 4.30 to 6.30 evenings.” and “and after 6 ish”

Again, Twitter says: "Yes coastal cafe in Moelfre and golden fry in Benllech "

If you do pop into one of those places, could you let them know that you found out about them from “Anglesey Social Media” on Twitter? (That’s my ask, not his, by the way!)

Enjoy your trip!

1 Like

Yes, Llif is the generally accepted (roadsigns etc) word for a flood. And gorlifo is to overflow.

1 Like

Hi Iestyn.
Hi, yes its me, John from Skewen and Slack group.
Many thanks for the info.
As it happens we have been and gone. We will def keep for future reference. We popped into the Llanfairpwll station emporium cafe and they were really helpful with GF and Veggy food, with a lovely topping of Welsh language :+1:.

Traffic was quiet on both bridges out of peak times. Although it had been really busy and slow in all directions around Bangor the previous evening.

We will make mention on the various social media groups.

PS, today we are going to visit the Rheged (Cumbric) centre near Penrith. Hopefully to soak in more celticness.

Thanks again
John.

2 Likes

Re If on a winter’s night a traveller: It was a bit frustrating in parts, but I forgive everything for the description at the beginning of going into a bookshop!

Charles Stross Halting State is another second person book (science fiction police procedural if I remember correctly).

On the news, you’ll normally hear them talking about ‘llifogydd’… :slight_smile:

1 Like

It’s very common these days in English YA fiction. Possibly overused, but it is a good choice in books like The Hunger Games, where you want to place the reader right inside someone’s point of view, but not assume they/you will come through the situation safely (ie if you are looking back, presumably you made it out of the arena!).

In learner’s books it’s probably deliberately done to help, certainly in spoken Welsh I still lapse into the present tense too often if I’m trying tell a longish story about something that happened.

1 Like

Llif is quite OK on its own for ‘flood’. Plural llifogydd.

2 Likes

diolch @Iestyn @aran and @garethrking. Much appreciated.

1 Like

Can you say “oedd o dan dŵr” for it flooded?

1 Like

You can, but you’re not really saying ‘it flooded’, you’re saying ‘the whole bloody road was under water’ etc etc.

The catch-all answer for this sort of nuance stuff is: anything goes, and if they don’t understand you, they’ll either let it slide or help you fix it… :slight_smile:

2 Likes