I had to stop reading that article after the first three words of the headline: "Alun Morgan, Englishman...." "Alun" is one of the most common first names in Wales, "Morgan" is one of the four or five last names almost all Welshmen seem to have (after Jones, Thomas, Edwards, and Price). "Alun Morgan, Englishman" is like saying "Tetsuo Fuji, Korean."

No, he didn't suddenly gain the ability to speak Welsh. If he can speak it now, he knew it before his injury.

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

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.

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

When a Mexican or Chinese guy or something starts speaking fluent Welsh, then I'll click the link

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.

Hack Patooey: Whale oil beef hooked

That sounds Newfie.

As far as I can tell from the article, the only one who thinks he was speaking Welsh was himself. I'd really like to see a corroboration from somebody else. Like, say, a native Welsh speaker.

As it is, it sounds a lot like Foreign Accent Syndrome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome

which is when stroke patients find that their speech production is impaired in a way that sounds like a foreign accent. Usually, it only sounds like that accent to non-speakers, but it's not actually that accent.

Helena Handbasket: No, he didn't suddenly gain the ability to speak Welsh. If he can speak it now, he knew it before his injury.

In addition, his wife speaks it fluently. You don't think that kinda thing gets stored in ye olde memory banks?

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.

British English : Welsh :: American English : Jive

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