>> BTW, "Welsh", is a Middle English word meaning "foreigner, slave"
>> fascinating article http://clever.net/quinion/words/articles/welsh.htm
>Why is 'Welsh' still used, or is it?
>Angela
I suspect, because not one person in ten thousand knows anything about the word -- I didn't before reading that article, and I'm a Welsh speaker. Also, because, unlike the Irish and Scots, the Welsh don't really regard themselves as an oppressed people -- too insular. Even the nationalists can't really be bothered with historicised nostalgic/nationalistic rants against the Saxon oppressors. One of my favourite jokes revolves round a rugby club dinner, after a hard fought game between a Valleys side and a club from across the border. Much alcohol had been consumed, and toward the end of the evening, a red-faced Englishman rose to his feet to make the following short speech:
"I don't know if you Welsh wankers know this, but today is Saint George's Day. And I just want to say that I'm proud to be English. I'm not British, or Irish, or Scottish, or bloody Welsh. It's the English who rule tohe waves, and the rest of you can fuck off. I'm English. I was born English. I am English, and I will die English".
The awkward silence was broken by the lilting voice of the Pontarddulais fly-half:
"Not much bloody ambition, has he?"
dd
By the way, if any strapping Antipodean lbo-talkers fancy a game of rugby, we can probably fix you up with a birth certificate . . .
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