King George and Queen Mary:

[Flosshilde]

Its all part of the BBC's left wing agenda to turn us all into tofu eating lesbians from Totnes !

Hebden Bridge, more likely.

[MrGongGong]

Hebden Bridge, more likely.

Twin towns indeed .........

Hebden bridge trades club is twinned with the Kingsbridge Inn

[Flosshilde]

I prefer scottycelt's version.

I had a few days in Wales several years ago. I found it rather disconcerting to sit in the hotel bar and hear all the locals talking a foreign language.

Though I suppose I could go to Glasgow or Aberdeen and experience the same thing.

I went to the College of Librarianship Wales for two years, & it was disconcerting to go into a shop in Aberystwyth & hear people switch from English to Welsh.

[Flosshilde]

Twin towns indeed .........

Hebden bridge trades club is twinned with the Kingsbridge Inn

Ah yes, with the lesbians all swilling pints of bitter, & the sisterhood sipping their pink gins

[MrGongGong]

I went to the College of Librarianship Wales for two years, & it was disconcerting to go into a shop in Aberystwyth & hear people switch from English to Welsh.

aaha its the Urban myth department again !!!!

do you really think that people who are native Welsh speakers (and I know several ) would choose to speak in English and ONLY speak Welsh to conspire against the English person who has suddenly appeared in their shop ?

[MrGongGong]

Ah yes, with the lesbians all swilling pints of bitter, & the sisterhood sipping their pink gins

Sounds perfect

The Darrington Ladies II ?

[Anna]

aaha its the Urban myth department again !!!!

do you really think that people who are native Welsh speakers (and I know several ) would choose to speak in English and ONLY speak Welsh to conspire against the English person who has suddenly appeared in their shop ?

I am glad to see Mr. GG, that you have such a good sense of humour

[PatrickOD]

Since we're off topic - did you hear the one about the Irishman abroad? He couldn't understand a word being spoken, nor could he make himself understood. At last he spotted a man wearing a fainne - a lapel ring denoting a fluent Irish speaker. He rushed over to him and embraced him with the words 'Thank god for someone who can speak English!'

[Richard Tarleton]

I was shattered to learn yesterday that an actor with 28 years experience has left the cast of Pobl y Cwm, the notorious Welsh soap opera. This must be a disappointment to thousands.

It's been calculated it would be cheaper to send everyone who watches it a CD rather than broadcast it. It's a standing joke among actors - whatever their agent has got them, it can't be worse than a part on Pobl y Cwm.

[Flosshilde]

aaha its the Urban myth department again !!!!

do you really think that people who are native Welsh speakers (and I know several ) would choose to speak in English and ONLY speak Welsh to conspire against the English person who has suddenly appeared in their shop ?

I'm reporting my experience - how can that be a myth?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I went to the College of Librarianship Wales for two years, & it was disconcerting to go into a shop in Aberystwyth & hear people switch from English to Welsh.

aaha its the Urban myth department again !!!!

do you really think that people who are native Welsh speakers (and I know several ) would choose to speak in English and ONLY speak Welsh to conspire against the English person who has suddenly appeared in their shop ?

I'm sorry, MrGongGong, but you really do not know what you are talking about on this particular issue. I am one of those few English people who have taken the trouble to learn some Welsh, and I was able to understand what a group of women in a North Wales shop were saying when I entered the premises. When I translated for my family, the gossipers went absolutely silent and the shopkeeper was hugely embarrassed, that potential customers were receiving such treatment.
That said, I have many Welsh friends who do not stoop to this arrogant form of one-upmanship.

[Flosshilde]

George & Mary visited South Wales on the 26th & 27th June 2012 (http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/royal_visit.htm) There's no evidence that they spoke Welsh - or indeed visited any shops in Wales

[Pianorak]

. . . I was able to understand what a group of women in a North Wales shop were saying when I entered the premises. When I translated for my family, the gossipers went absolutely silent and the shopkeeper was hugely embarrassed, that potential customers were receiving such treatment.
That said, I have many Welsh friends who do not stoop to this arrogant form of one-upmanship.

There are unfortunately such isolated cases, similar to what can be encountered in the Deaf Community, some of whose native BSL users object to hearing people learning BSL. The argument in both cases seems to be: Hands off OUR culture, we've got little enough to call our own and don't need patronizing.

[Richard Tarleton]

There are unfortunately such isolated cases, similar to what can be encountered in the Deaf Community, some of whose native BSL users object to hearing people learning BSL. The argument in both cases seems to be: Hands off OUR culture, we've got little enough to call our own and don't need patronizing.

Don't quite follow that Pianorak, do you mean some Welsh people object to non-Welsh people learning Welsh?

(I live in Little England beyond Wales , but am descended from first language Welsh grandparents (from N Wales) on one side)

[MrGongGong]

I'm reporting my experience - how can that be a myth?

Maybe so and i'm not doubting you at all

this is a story that I have heard many times
it's always a shop
etc etc

the same thing happens to me in France