vodka: [i.imgur.com image 441x280]

lulz

What a Welshie might look like

Did he Welsh on a bet?

The Third Man: I had to stop reading that article after the first three words of the headline: "Alun Morgan, Englishman...."

I hope you don't react the same way when a Diego Garcia or a Flora Hernandez identifies or is identified as an American.

vodka: [i.imgur.com image 441x280]

Damnitsomuch Vodka!

Peidiwch â chyffwrdd a'r peiriannau
Now sling your hooks or I'll break your face.

FTA: "He has reportedly been taking speech lessons to regain completely control over the language."

Sounds like the author of the article needs to take lessons to regain completely control over the language.

Raithun: The Third Man: I had to stop reading that article after the first three words of the headline: "Alun Morgan, Englishman...."

I hope you don't react the same way when a Diego Garcia or a Flora Hernandez identifies or is identified as an American.

Welshmen I knew who'd lived in England their entire lives referred to themselves as Welshmen. As did their kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids...

StrangeQ: Thought this was going to be another one of those phoney "demonstrates fluency in a language the speaker had never heard/learned/spoke/been exposed to before" stories. As it is it's hardly news. I took two years of Russian but now can only remember a handful of words. Still, I'll occasionally have a dream where I am speaking it or at least perceive that I am speaking it fluently

WhoGAS: The coolest part of this is the fact that a stroke unlocked portions of his memory that he didn't even know he knew. That's kinda cool. If they could only figure out what and how it happened and maybe they can find a treatment to reverse the bad effects of a stroke.

Several years ago I had a dream where I sang "Billie Jean" (on a ferry, for some reason that was of course perfectly logical in a dream) and had all the words down pat. I hadn't heard the song in at least ten years and when pressed could probably only manage the chorus. I can't say for sure whether they were the right words, but the people in my dream seemed to have a good time.

The Third Man: Raithun: The Third Man: I had to stop reading that article after the first three words of the headline: "Alun Morgan, Englishman...."

I hope you don't react the same way when a Diego Garcia or a Flora Hernandez identifies or is identified as an American.

Welshmen I knew who'd lived in England their entire lives referred to themselves as Welshmen. As did their kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids...

My family has been in Virginia since 1691, still consider ourselves Scottish

/not Scots, though

Raithun: The Third Man: I had to stop reading that article after the first three words of the headline: "Alun Morgan, Englishman...."

I hope you don't react the same way when a Diego Garcia or a Flora Hernandez identifies or is identified as an American.

There's a difference between ethnicity and nationality. "English" is an ethnicity, "American" is a nationality. You can legally change your nationality, but your ethnicity is determined by who your ancestors were. Englishmen and Welshmen are both British citizens, but the Welsh are not English (as they'd both be quick to point out).

Likewise, if I were to move to Hungary and obtain Hunagrian citizenship, I'd gain Hungarian nationality but not Hungarian ethnicity.

/once met a guy whose wife was ethnic Russian from Azerbaijan, and a girl who was ethnic Chinese from Vietnam

Stone Meadow: The Third Man: Welshmen I knew who'd lived in England their entire lives referred to themselves as Welshmen. As did their kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids...

Funny that. Over here African-Americans still refer to themselves as African-Americans even after generations of living here and not knowing a single word of the language of their forbearer's languages.

/stirring the pot

Don't forget there are more Irish currently born and raised in America than live in Ireland

red5ish: I believe Welsh Bashing is a popular sport in England. Let's sit back and watch, shall we? The English could teach us a thing or two about condescending bigotry. One is never too old to learn.

They're just jealous that they aren't truly British, but are contaminated by Saxon and Frog blog.

As for this fellow from the article, isn't Morgan a Welsh surname?

/I'm an accomplished minor bigot

Matthew Keene: My ex-wife woke up one morning, and couldn't cook worth a damn.

Shortly after the wedding?

Jobbers cobknots, ya mucka!

Doctor, will I be able to play the piano???
Yes.
Good because I couldnt before!

Strobeguy: Doctor, will I be able to play the piano???
Yes.
Good because I couldnt before!

CSB

When I was 12 I laid open the third and fourth knuckles of my right hand. I got to use that joke while the medic was cleaning and disinfecting the wound. It was very satisfying.

leonel: How do you think all the Welsh people got to speaking Welsh?



/They don't need it!

There canna be only one...

Norfolking Chance: Stone Meadow: The Third Man: Welshmen I knew who'd lived in England their entire lives referred to themselves as Welshmen. As did their kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids...

Funny that. Over here African-Americans still refer to themselves as African-Americans even after generations of living here and not knowing a single word of the language of their forbearer's languages.

/stirring the pot

Don't forget there are more Irish currently born and raised in America than live in Ireland

Oh, by far. There are also still about 2 million less people there than there were before the famine- population of about 8.2 mil in 1841, 6.5 mil in 1851, 6.4 now.

Jack Kerouac: red5ish: I believe Welsh Bashing is a popular sport in England. Let's sit back and watch, shall we? The English could teach us a thing or two about condescending bigotry. One is never too old to learn.

They're just jealous that they aren't truly British, but are contaminated by Saxon and Frog blog.

As for this fellow from the article, isn't Morgan a Welsh surname?

/I'm an accomplished minor bigot

Maybe he decided to take his wife's surname, because he had something like Crapper or Cockburn before.

To Highlander?

Darold Treffert writes about this in
"Islands of Genius." It's called something like Aquired Savant.
The theory is pretty crazy.

Check this out:

Some people get a head injury, or stroke, or whatever, and suddenly they gain a skill or language they never had before.

Treffert thinks its because some memories are passed on in the DNA, like instincts in animals.
Maybe this is what's behind ideas like reincarnation or past life regression. There's growing evidence for genetic specific memories in animals.

Maybe large things like language or playing a musical instrument, are passed to offspring. The theory is that it is hidden away until the brain is rewired by an accident.

So maybe his ancestors were Welsh. It's a crazy theory but super interesting.

Rimmer: Broadcast I all known frequencies and languages... Including Welsh...

Ivo Shandor: [newsimg.bbc.co.uk image 416x300]

Always a good one.

/for those that haven't seen it before, the bottom half in Welsh says something like "Sorry I am on holiday, please contact my secretary" or the equivalent.

Came for suspicious Fry, leaving disappointed.

Welsh is one of those languages that I just can't seem to figure out. I mean, every language is obviously different, but with most languages, if they're using the Latin alphabet, I can at least puzzle my way towards a potential pronunciation. There's some tricks to it, obviously - in French, "oui" is not pronounced "owie" like one might guess, but I've had enough exposure to it over the years to pick up the differences and at least approach the proper pronunciation well enough to read it - well enough to know that Proust's book isn't "alla re-churchy du temps purdue", more like "alla reshursh du tomp pair-due".

But man, frigging Welsh. I don't know what any of those letter combinations sound like. They don't match any possible phonemes I've picked up. "Gyrrwch yn ofalus" ? What the hell does that sound like? "Gur-witch in awful-us"?

phyrkrakr: But man, frigging Welsh. I don't know what any of those letter combinations sound like. They don't match any possible phonemes I've picked up. "Gyrrwch yn ofalus" ? What the hell does that sound like? "Gur-witch in awful-us"?

Now you know how people who learn English feel about words like "through".

mhd: phyrkrakr: But man, frigging Welsh. I don't know what any of those letter combinations sound like. They don't match any possible phonemes I've picked up. "Gyrrwch yn ofalus" ? What the hell does that sound like? "Gur-witch in awful-us"?

Now you know how people who learn English feel about words like "through".

We Americans have tried our best but the English still insist on things like "draught" instead of "draft".