Flying the flag

[Jamez]

Not all of Wales is Welsh.

Correction. The territory of Wales is Welsh by default. What you meant to say I'm sure is that not all the people who reside in Wales identify with the language of the country they live in.

Their resentment of bilingualism however is based on their own aloofness. It's the same with any English expatriates. Most choose to simply speak English and expect to have English spoken to them. Admittedly Pembroke isn't the Costa Brava or Benidorm, but still, the logic still applies.

South Pembrokeshire (or the area south of the Landsker Line) has been populated by the English for centuries. There's more of a Welsh aloofness nowadays, though. Not everyone in Wales is a piss-poor former miner living in a terraced house and claiming disability. Across south Wales there are increasing pockets of very exclusive areas. Just north of Swansea is a village where every house is worth at least a million pounds. There's also the suburbs of Cardiff, Lisvane and Radyr, which is where all the Cardiff millionaires live.

[Lorns]

My father is/was a welsh man and he was proud of his Welshness. There was no Englishness Welsh with my Dad he was a Welshman through and though. Even though he was born in Cardiff. He and his father used to tell me and my brother we were Welsh even though we born in England.

[Jamez]

I personally don't feel very Welsh. I can speak a tiny bit of the lingo, but it doesn't matter because hardly anyone I know speaks Welsh either. A close of friend of mine moved to Wales from south London a couple of years ago, and she actually now knows more Welsh than me! She obviously has too much time on her hands.

[Alexia]

South Pembrokeshire (or the area south of the Landsker Line) has been populated by the English for centuries. There's more of a Welsh aloofness nowadays, though. Not everyone in Wales is a piss-poor former miner living in a terraced house and claiming disability. Across south Wales there are increasing pockets of very exclusive areas. Just north of Swansea is a village where every house is worth at least a million pounds. There's also the suburbs of Cardiff, Lisvane and Radyr, which is where all the Cardiff millionaires live.

Good for them. They built their posh millionaire houses on the grave of a proud industry wounded by Scargill, murdered by Thatcher and left the men whose hands had dug the coal out of the seams to rot in underfunded nursing homes.

Ever heard of vibration white finger? or Emphysema?

Your comments are at best naiive and at worst incredibly insensitive.

I don't think it's out of place for the Welsh to be aloof in their own country, do you?

[Jamez]

I've personally found that the nicest people in Wales, the true Welsh people, are those who live in the valleys. I lived in Pontypridd for three years and I found everyone in the valleys to be incredibly welcoming, charming and generous.

If there's one thing I cannot stand, and it's snobbery. Especially from Welsh people. It's almost as though they are metaphorically pissing on their heritage. Some even going as far as to have elocution to weaken or even remove their Welsh accent because they believe that having such an accent will jeopardise their chances when looking for work in England or more anglicised areas of Wales such as Pembrokeshire or Cardiff.

[Alexia]

I love my accent and the way I speak, and I even do type in Wenglish sometimes. I also find that it asserts itself amongst alien accents, although in Cornwall I did begin to roll my Rs a bit, only slightly.

The worst thing I find is people belittling my nationality because I live barely a few miles from the border. I have had people say that being a Newportonian is "not really Welsh."

I'll have to let the Bristolians know that they're "not really English" then.

[Lorns]

I love my accent and the way I speak, and I even do type in Wenglish sometimes. I also find that it asserts itself amongst alien accents, although in Cornwall I did begin to roll my Rs a bit, only slightly.

The worst thing I find is people belittling my nationality because I live barely a few miles from the border. I have had people say that being a Newportonian is "not really Welsh."

I'll have to let the Bristolians know that they're "not really English" then.

Without getting all Welshy. My Dad would adore you.

His accent only really came out when he was telling me off or when Wales v England playing rugger or footie.

[Alexia]

Aww for bluddy 'ells sake now mun wot u gon an done now? I'll be dealin with you now-in-a-minute.

[Lorns]

Now you're going all local on me 8)

[marbles333]

I've personally found that the nicest people in Wales, the true Welsh people, are those who live in the valleys. I lived in Pontypridd for three years and I found everyone in the valleys to be incredibly welcoming, charming and generous.

There are quite a few Gog jokes about "people from the Valleys" and South Wales in general

I'm sure they're just petty stereotypes, this North/South thing does get a bit annoying sometimes.

However one thing that peeves me is the North/South variants of the Welsh language and accent. Being in North Wales, I had always learnt Welsh in the Northern variant.

However when I came to do my GCSE's, we had to STUDY different forms in South-Walean Welsh, in addition to people on the oral examination tape having South-Walean dialect words along with very different accents. I bet any North Walean dialects are not taught in South Wales. Flaming WJEC.

The classic was "Mam-gu" (South Walean for Grandmother I think). It came up on one of the mocks and I was like "what!!!" (tis Nain up here). The other annoying ones that came up on some of the papers are "llaeth" (as opposed to "llefrith") and "teisen" (as opposed to cacen - though I'm not sure whether that's a north/south thing).

The worst thing I find is people belittling my nationality because I live barely a few miles from the border. I have had people say that being a Newportonian is "not really Welsh."

I'll have to let the Bristolians know that they're "not really English" then.

I know that happens to us lot often. People are like "you're not Welsh", and I've even been told I sound Scouse . We're 14 miles from the Border here I think.

[Nick Harvey]

I have had people say that being a Newportonian is "not really Welsh."

Isn't the Newport comment really more of a "Which country is Monmouthshire in this week?" problem?

When I was growing up in Cardiff, Monmouthshire was having one of its periods of being in England, so you WOULD have been English at the time.

It's now been back in Wales for over half a century, but some of us old'ns still remember when we were five miles from the border, living in Cardiff.