| S'ydych chi fach,
Well, back in Wales, I recall something that my grandfather used to say
to describe speech that did not make sense. That saying was:
"That sounds completely Irish to me"
Which was probably a localised version of the saying "It's all Greek to
me". Equating the word "Irish" to nonsense reflected the intense
rivalry that existed between the Welsh and immigrant Irish mine workers
during the last century. Cymraeg and the Gaelic are so dissimilar
that the Welsh and Irish Celts could not understand one another.
So maybe the visitors were being described by a mannerless Welshman,
but I think that it is more likely that "y mae'nt hwy'n siarad Gymraeg"
- they were talking in Welsh! And I'll tell you why:
Strangely enough, about 12 years ago, there were weird happenings on
the West coast of Wales. Silver-suited strangers were seen peering in
through the windows of remote farm houses and boats went missing in
mysterious circumstances. The happenings were chronicled in a book
titled "The Welsh Triangle" (after the Bermuda Triangle), although some
attributed the phenomena to the "Tylwyth Teg", the Welsh fairies.
It was about that time that I forgot nearly all the Welsh that I ever
knew (Odd, since both my mother and my sister speak it passably.) I can
only assume that my memory banks were stolen and wiped clean by one of
these alien beings who then assumed that Welsh was the "lingua franca"
of Earth, if you'll pardon my Italian.
This poor visitor must have then roamed the Earth saying in Welsh,
"Take me to your leader" to anyone who would listen, and wondering
why it could not be understood. This is very lucky for us as the
alien never got to meet Ronald Reagan so it still thinks that the
rest of us are pretty smart. ;)
Gyda'r gwir iawn,
(With best regards)
Colin o'r Caerfilli
(This shows that we Welsh can blarney as bad as the Irish, and if
Don Topaz reads it he can be sorry he called me a Pommie once - that's
an Aussie insult reserved for the Saesnes (English).)
|