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Grandad
03-03-2017, 11:15 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by anatolian
You were great in Euro 2016 if you like soccer :)

I am curious of the relations between the folks of Britain. For example, is there a general negative perception against the English within the Welsh, or Scots or Irish or vice versa? Are you for a separate Wales or as it is within the UK?
Never played soccer when I was a boy. We had balls, of course (footballs, that is), and we’d play ‘three goals in’ (one player would be the goalie, until another scored three goals…and then the scorer would become the goalie. Fascinating stuff!). We played rugby all year ‘round. It was our second religion after Christianity (and very often our first, especially when Wales were playing England).

Welsh/English relations were very bloody in the distant past (and perhaps even worse between Scotland and England), but that’s far from being the case now. When I was a boy there was a lot of ignorance on the part of some English when it came to the Welsh. For example, our school rugby team were invited to spend a weekend at a public school in Twickenham (can’t recall the name). During the reception dinner we were asked – quite seriously, and without malice – what it was like to live in caves. Naturally, we said it was great! (we lived, mainly, in terraced houses. If you have Google Earth and enter ‘Treherbert, Rhondda Cynon Taff’ you’ll see what was our world).

The Welsh had a (deserved) reputation for violence (after all, our ancestors used to remove the heads of their enemies and tie them to the bridles of their horses!). This reputation once served me very well: I was about fourteen, and was spending a holiday with friends of my grandfather, who lived in a Somerset farm, near Hinckley Point power station (under construction at that time). One day I was walking their dog near the shore, when about four girls of my age joined my path. Of course, I started to show-off – trying to get myself noticed. They passed by, walked in front of me for a while, but then broke away to another path. I thought no more about it.

Two days, or so, later I was walking along one of the narrow lanes in that area when a motor bike pulled up in front of me. The rider would have been at least twenty, and his passenger was one of the girls I had seen. He dismounted, and walked up to me with balled fists. I knew I was in trouble! ‘Are you the one who was following my sister?’ He snarled. ‘No, mun.’ says I….getting ready for a fight…‘Just walking my dog, see.’

As soon as I opened my mouth his manner changed. Like a switch being flicked. Aggression became hesitation. ‘Are you Welsh?’ he said…looking rather nervous by now. I told him I was from the Rhondda (the hard part of Wales at that time). The effect was magical. Hesitation became open fear. It was wonderful. With a quick ‘Oh…ok’ he was back on the bike and gone! And there was my enemy….defeated by reputation alone. I think I walked back to the farm six inches above the ground.

The Scots had an undeserved reputation for miserliness; hence the joke: ‘How was the Grand Canyon formed?....By a Scotsman looking for a dime he’d dropped down a gopher hole.’

The Irish were thought (wrongly) to be stupid: ‘Have you heard about the Irish submariners who drowned while push-starting their submarine?’

The English were simply made fun of:

‘Dai is in his antique shop. An Englishman walks in and sees a large human skull on the counter. ‘What’s that?’ he asks. ‘It’s the skull of Owain Glyndŵr (the last true Prince of Wales).’ Says Dai. The Englishman buys it.

About a year later he’s back. This time he sees a smaller skull on the counter. ‘And what’s that?’ He asks. ‘It’s the skull of Owain Glyndŵr’, says Dai. ‘But you sold me his skull only last year,’ protests the Englishman. ‘Ah yes’ says Dai…’but this is the skull of Owain when he was a boy!’

I’m not in favour of a separate Wales. Maybe when the collieries and steel works were in full flow; but even then doubtful. In the sixties and early seventies, we had the Free Wales Army (a very poor imitation of the IRA, and considered a joke in the Valleys). These numbnuts confined their activities (largely) to burning English- owned holiday cottages in mid and north Wales (hence the joke: ‘Come home to a nice comfy fire…….buy a cottage in Wales’); and blowing up water pipes in the Elan Valley (google ‘the 6 Dams Elan Valley) in an attempt to cut the supply to Birmingham. One day they blew up (by mistake) a water pipe that fed their own town! There was great fun in the South over this. Idiots.

Happy days.
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Grandad
03-03-2017, 02:11 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
I have been to Wales, it was pretty lame.

Sorry Niblo.

Actually, I really enjoyed my time there. I got to see Cardiff and Thattownwithareallylongnamethatisalljumbledtogethe randnoonecansayitexceptthatbritishweathermanonyout ubebutanywaysitwasgreat.
As-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa Rahmatullāhi wa Barakātuhu, my friend.

Please PM me in that other place. I cannot - as yet - PM you here. There is not a problem, so don't worry.

Have a great weekend, and very best regards.

Paul
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noraina
03-03-2017, 02:12 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
I have been to Wales, it was pretty lame.

Sorry Niblo.

Actually, I really enjoyed my time there. I got to see Cardiff and Thattownwithareallylongnamethatisalljumbledtogethe randnoonecansayitexceptthatbritishweathermanonyout ubebutanywaysitwasgreat.
I second this.

When I went to Wales the long and tongue-twisting names is something which really got me. Like, where are all the vowels? Vwls r rlly rlly mprtnt :D

The only name I could pronounce was Llandudno - loved that beach, it was a school day on a freakishly warm morning in October, so it was practically empty (I like empty places).
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Grandad
03-03-2017, 02:21 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
I second this.

When I went to Wales the long and tongue-twisting names is something which really got me. Like, where are all the vowels? Vwls r rlly rlly mprtnt :D

The only name I could pronounce was Llandudno - loved that beach, it was a school day on a freakishly warm morning in October, so it was practically empty (I like empty places).
I was once hitch-hiking in Oxfordshire (in the 60s). A car stopped, and I asked the (English) driver is he could drop me off in Bicester (I pronounced it bi-ses-ter). It's 'BISTER', he said, with a condescending smirk. He did give me a lift though!
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Aryeh Jay
03-03-2017, 02:28 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo
As-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa Rahmatullāhi wa Barakātuhu, my friend.

Please PM me in that other place. I cannot - as yet - PM you here. There is not a problem, so don't worry.

Have a great weekend, and very best regards.

Paul
Waʿalaykumu s-salām wa Rahmatullāhi wa Barakātuhu

That sounds so mysterious “that other place” J

Two more posts and you will be able too!
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noraina
03-03-2017, 02:30 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo
I was once hitch-hiking in Oxfordshire (in the 60s). A car stopped, and I asked the (English) driver is he could drop me off in Bicester (I pronounced it bi-ses-ter). It's 'BISTER', he said, with a condescending smirk. He did give me a lift though!
English has a funny way of doing that.

Leicester is 'Lesster'

Worcester is 'Wooster'.

And Warwich is 'Warick'.

But there are so many regional accents in England so most people have their own way of saying things. I'm British and I still get confused.
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Aryeh Jay
03-03-2017, 02:34 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
English has a funny way of doing that.

Leicester is 'Lesster'

Worcester is 'Wooster'.

And Warwich is 'Warick'.

But there are so many regional accents in England so most people have their own way of saying things. I'm British and I still get confused.
It is even harder because British English has no letter “T”.
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Grandad
03-03-2017, 02:43 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
I second this.

When I went to Wales the long and tongue-twisting names is something which really got me. Like, where are all the vowels? Vwls r rlly rlly mprtnt :D

The only name I could pronounce was Llandudno - loved that beach, it was a school day on a freakishly warm morning in October, so it was practically empty (I like empty places).
About two years ago I was at Llandudno. There were two boys on the shore line, watching (in some distress) their ball drifting out to sea. After a while they just gave up, and walked away. I watched the ball for a wee bit longer, and got the feeling that – with the wind and tide – it just might return to the beach, but quite some distance to my right. Sure enough, I did, and I was able to retrieve it.

By the time I got back to where I’d first seen them the lads were no longer to be found.

I walked a couple of hundred yards further on, and there they were, paddling in the sea. I didn’t say anything, but simply sat on the beach, about twenty yards behind them….their ball in full view. After five minutes or so, one of them saw me….then saw the ball..…then stared in sheer disbelief for a moment – pulling at his friends arm – and then ran (with friend in tow, and a HUGE grin) to collect his ball. Made my day!
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Grandad
03-03-2017, 02:44 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
I second this.

When I went to Wales the long and tongue-twisting names is something which really got me. Like, where are all the vowels? Vwls r rlly rlly mprtnt :D

The only name I could pronounce was Llandudno - loved that beach, it was a school day on a freakishly warm morning in October, so it was practically empty (I like empty places).
About two years ago I was at Llandudno. There were two boys on the shore line, watching (in some distress) their ball drifting out to sea. After a while they just gave up, and walked away. I watched the ball for a wee bit longer, and got the feeling that – with the wind and tide – it just might return to the beach, but quite some distance to my right. Sure enough, I did, and I was able to retrieve it.

By the time I got back to where I’d first seen them the lads were no longer to be found.

I walked a couple of hundred yards further on, and there they were, paddling in the sea. I didn’t say anything, but simply sat on the beach, about twenty yards behind them….their ball in full view. After five minutes or so, one of them saw me….then saw the ball..…then stared in sheer disbelief for a moment – pulling at his friends arm – and then ran (with friend in tow, and a HUGE grin) to collect his ball. Made my day!
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Grandad
03-03-2017, 02:46 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
English has a funny way of doing that.

Leicester is 'Lesster'

Worcester is 'Wooster'.

And Warwich is 'Warick'.

But there are so many regional accents in England so most people have their own way of saying things. I'm British and I still get confused.
And Cholmondeley is 'Chummly'.........English!!!
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noraina
03-03-2017, 03:09 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
It is even harder because British English has no letter “T”.
I suppose it's true. There does be a letter 'T', but it is common in Britain for certain accents to drop the 'T' sound. I live in the Black Country where people do that all the time.

It's called the 'glottal stop', where people say a word so quickly the 'T' kind of gets swallowed. I wouldn't say it get's 'dropped', it's just pronounced very differently from a normal 'T'.

But if you want to speak the 'Queen's English' or 'BBC English', you need to pronounce all your Ts.
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Aryeh Jay
03-03-2017, 03:18 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
I suppose it's true. There does be a letter 'T', but it is common in Britain for certain accents to drop the 'T' sound. I live in the Black Country where people do that all the time.

It's called the 'glottal stop', where people say a word so quickly the 'T' kind of gets swallowed. I wouldn't say it get's 'dropped', it's just pronounced very differently from a normal 'T'.

But if you want to speak the 'Queen's English' or 'BBC English', you need to pronounce all your Ts.
Riight, so eeh is nuf-fing reel-ree.
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Grandad
03-05-2017, 11:43 AM
[QUOTE=Aryeh Jay;2951724]Riight, so eeh is nuf

You're u''erly mad; you know 'ha', don'' you?
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Aryeh Jay
03-06-2017, 06:10 PM
[QUOTE=Niblo;2952006]
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
Riight, so eeh is nuf

You're u''erly mad; you know 'ha', don'' you?
Yes, Aye did know that.
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Grandad
03-06-2017, 07:01 PM
[QUOTE=Aryeh Jay;2952246]
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo

Yes, Aye did know that.
Of course I did......I am a Welshman!
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Scimitar
03-06-2017, 07:55 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo
And there was my enemy….defeated by reputation alone.
And today you are a Muslim and Welsh, mashaAllah. I'd like to see the bloke pull up again and ask "Are you Welsh? or Muslim"?

And you say "both" and proceed to study his water leaving him via his left trouser leg :D

Scimi
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noraina
03-06-2017, 08:11 PM
Oh no - what have I done?

My English teacher would be so disappointed if she found this is what I'm teaching about the language, lol.

This ain't English, innit?
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Grandad
03-07-2017, 07:06 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
And today you are a Muslim and Welsh, mashaAllah. I'd like to see the bloke pull up again and ask "Are you Welsh? or Muslim"?

And you say "both" and proceed to study his water leaving him via his left trouser leg :D

Scimi
That is so funny. Da Iawn!!! :haha::haha:
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Grandad
03-08-2017, 09:14 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
I second this.

When I went to Wales the long and tongue-twisting names is something which really got me. Like, where are all the vowels? Vwls r rlly rlly mprtnt :D

The only name I could pronounce was Llandudno - loved that beach, it was a school day on a freakishly warm morning in October, so it was practically empty (I like empty places).
Recapture the thrill of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' by walking along Llandudno's front with an open box of chips.
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Scimitar
03-08-2017, 12:51 PM
Travelling in to Wales along the m4, there's that wonderfully long bridge that goes over the river Severn (most like called Severn Bridge) and it's EPIC. Wasn't last year it's 50th year in operation?

Scimi
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Grandad
03-08-2017, 03:18 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
Travelling in to Wales along the m4, there's that wonderfully long bridge that goes over the river Severn (most like called Severn Bridge) and it's EPIC. Wasn't last year it's 50th year in operation?

Scimi
I think you're right. The first of the two bridges is the one furthest upriver. I remember longing for it to be completed. I used to hitch-hike from Oxfordshire to South Wales every Friday, and had to go via Gloucester. I once hitched with a veg lorry, and had to help unload boxes of cabbages in Chester to 'pay my way'! No more of this nonsense once the BRIDGE was opened.

The newer bridge is probably used the more nowadays. The one (HUGE) downside is that it's a toll-bridge. This means I HAVE TO PAY TO GET INTO MY OWN COUNTRY!!!!!
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Aryeh Jay
03-08-2017, 03:54 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo
I think you're right. The first of the two bridges is the one furthest upriver. I remember longing for it to be completed. I used to hitch-hike from Oxfordshire to South Wales every Friday, and had to go via Gloucester. I once hitched with a veg lorry, and had to help unload boxes of cabbages in Chester to 'pay my way'! No more of this nonsense once the BRIDGE was opened.

The newer bridge is probably used the more nowadays. The one (HUGE) downside is that it's a toll-bridge. This means I HAVE TO PAY TO GET INTO MY OWN COUNTRY!!!!!
And who in their right mind would pay get INTO Wales??!!
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Grandad
03-08-2017, 05:10 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
And who in their right mind would pay get INTO Wales??!!
Right lookyou…..just give me a few weeks to come up with a spontaneous, and devastating, riposte and I’ll be back!
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Scimitar
03-09-2017, 04:30 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo
Right lookyou…..just give me a few weeks to come up with a spontaneous, and devastating, riposte and I’ll be back!
with enough money for the toll pass :D

Scimi
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Grandad
03-09-2017, 11:23 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
with enough money for the toll pass :D

Scimi
Oi!! :offtopic:
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Aryeh Jay
03-09-2017, 01:07 PM
£6.70 toll!! That is highway robbery!
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Grandad
03-09-2017, 01:41 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
£6.70 toll!! That is highway robbery!
It certainly is, for a Taffy. Of course, the way out of Wales is free....compensation for the sorrow of leaving; and for the hardship of having to return to the Land of the Saxons.

Allow ants to experience the joys of alien abduction by first shining a bright light on them; then sucking them up with a hoover.
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Scimitar
03-09-2017, 03:53 PM
:D wahahahaaa, if I'm ever in Wales, I'm gonna PM you to let you know I'm popping over for tea :D

Scimi
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Aryeh Jay
03-09-2017, 04:06 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
:D wahahahaaa, if I'm ever in Wales, I'm gonna PM you to let you know I'm popping over for tea :D

Scimi
Better bring your own tea and bottled water, it is Wales after all.
;D
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Scimitar
03-09-2017, 04:09 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
Better bring your own tea and bottled water, it is Wales after all.
;D
When in Rome, I roam :D

And any water tastes better than London tap water. SO yeah - I'll deffo be drinking Welsh water. Also, tea is pretty much the same in Cwmru ;) Just made with better water.

Scimi
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Aryeh Jay
03-09-2017, 04:32 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
When in Rome, I roam :D

And any water tastes better than London tap water. SO yeah - I'll deffo be drinking Welsh water. Also, tea is pretty much the same in Cwmru ;) Just made with better water.

Scimi
I was in London a few years ago and having tea and I said “I didn’t know you boiled the tea with the water” they said, “No mate, that is the colour of the water, teas over there”.
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Scimitar
03-09-2017, 04:35 PM
It aint that bad :D

Scimi
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Grandad
03-09-2017, 05:46 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Aryeh Jay
Better bring your own tea and bottled water, it is Wales after all.
;D
Mmmmmm......trouble maker, I see! When I was a kid (and teenager) my mother, grans and aunts used to keep a pot of tea brewing all day...with top-ups, of course. It looked just like soy sauce.
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Grandad
03-09-2017, 05:54 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
It aint that bad :D

Scimi
First time I saw the inside of a London kettle I almost threw up. So much limescale; a drinker could be petrified from the inside out. And as for trying to get soap to lather....forget it. Us boys were heartbroken at not being able to get a good wash.
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Scimitar
03-09-2017, 05:58 PM
Increasingly, households in London are fitting Reverse Osmosis filters in their tap water, to filter out the limescale and other weird stuff.

We had one, but it broke - so now I'm on a Britta filtered kettle, and those filters are expensive lol.

Scimi
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Grandad
03-09-2017, 06:51 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar
Increasingly, households in London are fitting Reverse Osmosis filters in their tap water, to filter out the limescale and other weird stuff.

We had one, but it broke - so now I'm on a Britta filtered kettle, and those filters are expensive lol.

Scimi
And I just have to turn the tap on........well worth the Severn Bridge toll, eh? :Emoji51:
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noraina
03-09-2017, 09:42 PM
The tap water in my part of England is okay, I've been drinking from that for most of my life and I haven't noticed any side effects - yet.

And a kettle, do people actually use them? We have a nice red kettle but it sits on the windowsill as a decoration. My parents only drink the type of tea where the tea bags and milk (no water) is boiled and boiled in a milkpan with some sugar.

Altho I don't really like tea, or coffee, lol.
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Grandad
03-10-2017, 07:48 AM
During the height of the cold war a KGB Colonel was sent to the Rhondda to brief one of their key agents.

When the Colonel arrived at Treherbert railway station there was nobody around, except a porter. The Colonel approached him and said: ‘I AM LOOKING FOR A MISTER JONES.’ (By the way, did you know that KGB officers spoke in capital letters? Yes. My Mam told me this, years ago, and there’s no disputing a source like that).

‘Well, you’re going to have a bit of bother there,’ says the porter. ‘Jones do be a very common name ‘round yer. We do ‘ave Jones the Baker, Jones the Butcher, Jones Bull’s Row, Jones Three Blows, Jones Glassback, Jones Soi Sauce, Jones Hard Water and Jones the Toll. I’m a Jones myself, see.’

Hearing that, the Colonel moves closer and whispers: ‘THE BLACK BEARS ARE RESTLESS IN THE DARK FORESTS OF GHILOOLI.’

‘Ahhh’ says the porter. ‘You’ll be wanting Jones the Spy!’

Have a great weekend, and very best regards.

Paul
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Grandad
03-10-2017, 07:51 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by noraina
The tap water in my part of England is okay, I've been drinking from that for most of my life and I haven't noticed any side effects - yet.

And a kettle, do people actually use them? We have a nice red kettle but it sits on the windowsill as a decoration. My parents only drink the type of tea where the tea bags and milk (no water) is boiled and boiled in a milkpan with some sugar.

Altho I don't really like tea, or coffee, lol.
We use a cauldron! (shhhhhh....nah).

On another subject:

‘Then strove the judge with main and might
The sounding consonants to write;
But when the day was almost gone
He found his work not nearly done,
His ears assailed most woefully
With names like Rhys ap Gruffydd Ddu,
Aneurin, Iorwerth, Ieuan Goch,
And Llywarch Hen o Abersoch,
Taliesin ap Llewellyn Fawr
And Llun ap Arthur bach y Cawr.

‘Until at length, in sheer despair,
He doffed his wig and tore his hair,
And said he would no longer stand
The surnames of our native land.
Take ten, he said, and call them Rice;
Another ten and call them Price;
Take fifty others, call them Pughs';
A hundred more, I'll call them Hughes;
Now Roberts name some hundred score;
And Williams, name a legion more.
And call, he moaned in languid tones,
Call all the other thousands – Jones.’

A 19th Century verse that illustrates the problem English bureaucrats faced when confronted by Wales names.
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Scimitar
03-10-2017, 07:28 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Niblo

A 19th Century verse that illustrates the problem English bureaucrats faced when confronted by Wales names.
Very interesting piece of trivia. Nice one for the share bro Niblo :)

Scimi
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