My daughter, who thinks the entire US of A, and especially people who live in 'THE SOUTH," are dirt, resides in Bangor, Wales for 182 days of the year, because her idea of an ideal homeland, Great Britain, will not give her permanent resident status. This despite the fact that she owns 50% of a very profitable company, of which two UK universities are clients.
"One more language item: In Llangoed Hall, I spoke with a native Welsh-speaker—spoke with her in English, of course. She gave me a little help with Welsh pronunciation. One tip, on a particular sound, was: “Think of a snake with a lisp.” "
In '84 we were made a road trip through Wales, trying to see as many castles as possible. While spending time in Llangollen, we tried very hard to pronounce the name of the town correctly. The manager of our hotel put us at ease, saying that we Americans fret because the English can't pronounce Welsh words correctly either!
My most recent encounter with a postal worker was also pleasurable (no "I love you" or fist bumps, however). The postal clerk noticed the address on a package I was mailing and commented that she was familiar with the town, having grown up in a reasonably close area of the same state. Our brief trip down memory lane to places we both knew brought smiles to our faces without being too annoying to the customers in line behind me. It was much more pleasant than merely exchanging perfunctory greetings like we were at a Chick-fil-A.
"In Llangoed Hall, I spoke with a native Welsh-speaker—spoke with her in English, of course. She gave me a little help with Welsh pronunciation. One tip, on a particular sound, was: 'Think of a snake with a lisp.'"
That the double L (ɬ, in IPA)? The tip I got was, put your tongue where L is and hiss like a goose.
Names like Llwyd got anglicized to Lloyd and then Floyd (though why not Fluid, since Llwyd rhymes with Druid?), since the F in "fl" gets a bit of air moving to gesture at ɬ.
"Llangoed" means woods parish (llan (parish) +coed (woods)). A noticeable number of hymn tunes start with llan. Here's the tune Llan Bagan, which perhaps deserves to be better known:
Interesting juxtaposition between the story of the Bulgarian guy who described the sense of solidarity people experienced while living under the Stalinist thumb and your encounter with the sweet folks in the post office. Grace abounds even in the current darkness. Thanks for this encouragement this morning.
My daughter, who thinks the entire US of A, and especially people who live in 'THE SOUTH," are dirt, resides in Bangor, Wales for 182 days of the year, because her idea of an ideal homeland, Great Britain, will not give her permanent resident status. This despite the fact that she owns 50% of a very profitable company, of which two UK universities are clients.
"One more language item: In Llangoed Hall, I spoke with a native Welsh-speaker—spoke with her in English, of course. She gave me a little help with Welsh pronunciation. One tip, on a particular sound, was: “Think of a snake with a lisp.” "
In '84 we were made a road trip through Wales, trying to see as many castles as possible. While spending time in Llangollen, we tried very hard to pronounce the name of the town correctly. The manager of our hotel put us at ease, saying that we Americans fret because the English can't pronounce Welsh words correctly either!
Thanks, Jay! Your daily posts are always a pleasure to read.
Thx a ton.
'Richard cut the Gordian knot by saying: “I think we should say ‘crescent roll.’” '
American crescent rolls use a different kind of dough from croissants.
My most recent encounter with a postal worker was also pleasurable (no "I love you" or fist bumps, however). The postal clerk noticed the address on a package I was mailing and commented that she was familiar with the town, having grown up in a reasonably close area of the same state. Our brief trip down memory lane to places we both knew brought smiles to our faces without being too annoying to the customers in line behind me. It was much more pleasant than merely exchanging perfunctory greetings like we were at a Chick-fil-A.
I once had a tee shirt with a picture of Stalin on it. The caption said, “Dark humor is like food. Not everybody gets it.”
Seemed funny until Russia invaded the Ukraine. I threw the shirt away.
I understand.
"Three mile, four mile, five mile down."
Sounds to me like "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)."
"Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch."
"In Llangoed Hall, I spoke with a native Welsh-speaker—spoke with her in English, of course. She gave me a little help with Welsh pronunciation. One tip, on a particular sound, was: 'Think of a snake with a lisp.'"
That the double L (ɬ, in IPA)? The tip I got was, put your tongue where L is and hiss like a goose.
Names like Llwyd got anglicized to Lloyd and then Floyd (though why not Fluid, since Llwyd rhymes with Druid?), since the F in "fl" gets a bit of air moving to gesture at ɬ.
"Llangoed" means woods parish (llan (parish) +coed (woods)). A noticeable number of hymn tunes start with llan. Here's the tune Llan Bagan, which perhaps deserves to be better known:
https://youtu.be/zHqwEnxke6E?si=T_KbgA71BIoXsdzI&t=27
Thank you!
Interesting juxtaposition between the story of the Bulgarian guy who described the sense of solidarity people experienced while living under the Stalinist thumb and your encounter with the sweet folks in the post office. Grace abounds even in the current darkness. Thanks for this encouragement this morning.
I feel clean after reading this. Some gorgeous shots, too. And now I wanna go live by the River Wye. Thanks, man.
You'd be in hog heaven, or rather, fish heaven. Thx.
Ask a poker player about his hand and you will often hear "two pair," never with an "s."