your comments
Lyn Towsend ex Cardiff
Over 20 years of living in England I have lost most of my Cardiff accent. Though some of the phrases I use still confuse people in the Midlands. For example when. I say "couple of weeks" they assume I mean 2 exactly but I dont. "Daps" - what?? is the general reply. Or "where's that to?" causes great confusion. I love it. I remember being asked what I called a spring onion. And I couldn't work it out. I didn't use those words but forgot the word I did use. Now I do miss seeing them sold as gibbons. It's odd. Accents are great.
Lisa, Talgarth
I moved from Talgarth some 25 years ago and still get palpitations when I have to buy gym shoes for my children - are they daps or pumps? I am currently studying for an English language degree, and am finding a stronger and stronger sense of hiraeth as I progress and realise how much Welsh has been eroded. I too felt emotional reading about cwtch - I hadn't even realised this was a dialect word, I thought everyone had them! Does anyone know if it's used anywhere else in the world? I know Elizabeth Taylor used it when talking about Richard Burton in the 1960's, but he was from South Wales, isn't it? I can't find any reference to it, even in Patagonia. Any ideas?
Les Roberts from Northumberland
I'm an expat Welshman (Rhymney Valley boy). I left home some 24 years ago to study in Weymouth where I met my lovely? English wife. We now live with the geordies and I am now linguistically challenged. When I phone my mam and dad back home they insist I'm Geordie and when I visit and phone friends in the north east they say how Welsh I am. Talk about confused. To finish, if there's one thing I miss living in Northumberland it's not hearing the greatest accent in the world. Actually, make it two things because I really miss the South Wales Echo - valleys edition of course.
Sean from Crickhowell
When I was in college in Brecon some of the teachers from mid Wales thought I had a very 'Welshie' accent but when I visited family (up top) in Ebbw Vale they thought I sounded very posh! So I have a posh Welshie accent depending on who I'm talking to, so the best of both worlds, brilliant!
Anna Corneille, Soissons, France
At my friend's wedding near Cardiff I was asked the following question: "Are you reading that paper you're sitting on?"
Malcolm from Hartlepool
Ken Healey from Barry writes about the Guardian article "Know your Gibbons".
What are Gibbons - what does this word mean - is it a west country dialect word?
Many thanks for any answer.
Gareth Isaacs from Maesteg
My wife constantly berates me for exclaiming "Uuuuuh?" If I have mis-heard a whispered remark. "Say pardon for goodness sake" she pleads, "you are showing yourself up" ( so is she me thinks!). Early learned and reverted to in times of emotion I am afraid.
Much in the same way as my sons, whom, as academics, travelled the world, but, when meeting, once after several years, the greeting was "Arright?" provoking the respone "Aye ..naw bad like" For me, a real pleasure to hear!
Celebrate and cherish your roots, they cannot be taken away from you.
Liz from Dinas Powys now in Belfast
I have moved all over the place since I left Wales years ago, and I have never understood the different names in various areas for 'baps' (bread) 'cakes' (sponge) and 'buns' (bread with currants) in England compared with the Welsh use. This caused great confusion in bakeries where I was usually reduced to pointing! Also, I have never heard anywhere else - 'say tarra' (goodbye) 'there's nice/lovely' 'dap' a ball 'daps' (plimsoles). Every region has its own expressions which you tend to pick up unconsiously when you move about! How is it such small countries as Britain and Ireland have so many ways of speaking English?
Wally, Cardiff
For many years now, I have been aware of a distinctly regional variation on certain words, one in particular being that strange contraption made of a plank, 4 pram wheels and an orange box. Due to the death of this childhood pastime, due to the introduction of the baby buggy, please could anybody add to the list of names;
Go-cart (general)
Soapbox (general)
Bogey (Cardiff)
Gambo (Mid Glamorgan, particularily, Aberkenfig)
Ken Healey, Barry
After 52 years exile I've lost most of my Welsh/Barry accent except when I meet up with Welshmen and sometimes on the phone.
Read your article in the Guardian (Know your Gibbons) - mitching, butty and daps (South Wales as well as west country) I still use occasionally. Two other local words I recall:
worricks - stones (he chucked a worrick at me),
oakies - sweets (got any oakies?)
And the local phrase which drove our very precise English teacher mad; "Where's it to?" (where is it?). I look forward to the programmes.
Barry Taylor from Swffryd, Blaenau Gwent
I think our accent is beautiful. Of course, its roots are in the Welsh language, and I find it very strange that both are looked down on by some narrow-minded people. Live and let live, I say, and let people speak whichever language, dialect or accent comes naturally.
June Harding-Paul in Ottawa canada
I left Cwmfelinfach 49 years ago. I was on a radio show complaining about the exorbitant price of hockey tickets i had purchased for a tournament against the Russians in Montreal. Within ten minutes I had ten phone calls from people who wanted to buy them. They said they recognised my voice and had looked up my telephone number.
Brian from Penarth
I once heard that the difference between Penarth and Barry people in their behaviour and speech was due to the fact that they were served by different railway companies during the coal exporting boom and were therefore populated by people from different valleys. But why did those people speak differently in the first place I hear you asking? I don't know, so we're back where we started.
Jeanne Corneille France
My family lives in south Wales and my bi-lingual children (French- English) love the Welsh accents and the way of speaking. The other day my daughter said she found the expression ,
"Whose jacket is this coat"? really funny and wanted to know if it was "typically" Welsh ?
Nick, exiled from Cwmbran
Seeing the words cwtch and coopy above brought a bit of a tear to my eye, and I thought I would look for the correct spelling; turns out they are probably French derived. Anyway, I thought anyone else from gods own county would appreciate the following, from "A Treatise on the Chief Peculiarities that Distinguish the Cymraeg, as Spoken by the Inhabitants of Gwent and Morganwg Respectively, Pererindodwr, Archaeologia Cambrensis, Volumes 2 and 3 (1856):"The only peculiarities of the Gwenhwyseg (dialect of Gwent) are its shortness, elegance, and the clearness of its composition; which, undoubtedly, is owing to the fact that the inhabitants of Siluria were more heroic and courageous than the inhabitants of any other part of Wales. They were brave and energetic, resolute, and working against all adversity. How many orthographical changes soever may be seen in old Welsh manuscripts, and however varied are the present modes of spelling the ancient language, yet it cannot be believed for a moment that the language of Gwent, like those of Cornwall and Armorica, possesses a vocabulary peculiar to itself; for, in respect of grammatical construction, the language of Gwent was the same as that of Powys, or of any other part of Wales; its distinctiveness consisted in its provincial conditions and cultivated elegance."
So there!
Alison Grenyer, Caldicot, Monmouthshire
What about the folks on the borders of Wales/England? We are a mixed up lot! If you go to Bristol people call you Taffy! If you go to Blackwood people call you Wurzzle (this is my own personal experience. There are a lot of influences in these areas. My husband, who orginates from Surrey, says that I don't have an accent!
Elizabeth, ex-Cardiff
I never got on with the Cardiff accent in all the years I lived there. It used to grate on me. I don't see it as lilting at all, more like a fishwife's screech. West and mid Walians have a nice lilt and much softer tone. They don't seem to have such an aggressiveness in their accents and dialect.
Martyn Pontypridd
I have friend in Porth who is a Shikh and many years ago Anglised his name to David. When he moved to Porth this got changed to Dai. Now he is known as "DTI" Dai the Indian.
Kate from Cowbridge
I've got one of the few real Vale of Glamorgan accents left, I reckon. It's a cross between Welsh and West country. I've been mistaken many times for someone from there, but my Welsh idioms, by there, by yere etc. give me away! Most people think Cowbridge is posh, but the locals don't sound so at all. Not that there's many of us left now.
Nita Rees, Pontycymmer
I have lived away from Wales since 1975. My accent has been my ticket into conversations I would probably never have had. Everyone is interested in my "music" and I am always proud to be able to say "I am Welsh". Americans love the Brits, and the Welsh lilt more than any other. Cymru am byth.
Rog - an ex-pat in Kuwait
Well, iss-alright innit mun. Duw, who can say anything about it ... lovely to hear, innit. I don't 'ave no accent now 'cos I do live elsewhere but I do love to 'ear it when I do get home, like ... fairs do's ... the people what talk like it are lovely and warm and caring so who gives a damn about how they sound.
Barbara MacArthur in Cardiff
Really haven't a clue what accent I have. Perhaps a Kairdiff accent, init? In London they say "you come from Wales - I can tell by your Welsh accent!" In the USA they say, "You have such a lovely English accent!" No wonder I am confused, but it does not worry me. I remember what Cerys said in her song "Every day when I wake up..."
John Richard Jones from Warton, Lancashire
I am very conscious of how I speak. Born in Norwich and living in Norfolk (3 years), Bridgend (3 years), Midlands (3 years), Bridgend (23 years) and now Lancashire (12 years) I certainly speak with a difference although some can detect traces of Welsh.Most people I speak to on the phone recognise my voice without a doubt and I take all the stick I get about how I talk with a laugh; everywhere I go to see friends or family I am the odd one out.
Although I have lived in South Wales more than everywhere else I bet strangers think I don't have much connection with the area. I did feel a bit out of place when I was younger but regularly visit the area (6 times in 2004). However, when I visit the South Wales accent certainly stands out and I like it, but why? I don't know.
Living near Blackpool I come across many visitors from South Wales who visit the resort and I ask some if they are from South Wales. Sometimes I have even suggested the area i.e. Swansea (Jacks) or Llanelli (Turks) and been correct since there appears to be something of a unique identity with some areas. Some seem quite surprised that someone who is apparently fully English has this knowledge of their locality, but then I enjoy mixing.
