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Wales

post #1 of 16
1/7/04 at 8:00am
Thread Starter 
Is anyone else on here from Wales?? I am in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
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post #2 of 16
1/16/04 at 12:57pm
I'm in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. Hardly Wales, but when I saw this empty thread, I figured you needed some company.

I'm actually only half-english and still can't get over all the names for the towns (i.e. Aberystwyth, Ceredigion.) I can't decide if their cool, interesting, or strange.

How do you pronounce that? I kept mispronouncing the names of towns. None of them follow the standard pronunciation guidelines! It's all old english, welsh, or gailic! I'm always being corrected by people.
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post #3 of 16
1/16/04 at 1:27pm
Thread Starter 
its actually quite hard to tell someone how to pronounce the placenames through typing.

Welsh placenames nearly allways actually mean something, and very rarely does the English Translation given on Road signs n some cases reflect what the welsh actually means.

my town Aberystwyth for instance translates as, the Mouth of the River Ystwyth, and there is no "english" version in usage.
Aberteifi further south would appear on Maps as Cardigan, but Aberteifi translates as Mouth of the River Teifi, or just outside my town, Llanbadarn Fawr, translates as the Village of Badarn's Church. the only example of the English following the welsh that i can think of is Newtown, Powys, which in Welsh is Y Dre Newydd, literally the New Town. Llanbedr Pont Steffan is given on maps and signs as Lampeter, but the translation is something like Bedr's Church, Steffan's Bridge.

Some of the wierd english versions are simply due to the English Invaders in medieval times being unable to pronounce them. I live in Aberystwyth, County of Ceredigion, Ceredigion means the Kingdom of Ceredig, and dates back to the 4th century. Some important english guy, was unable to pronounce this, and it came out something like Cardigan, hence the town of Cardigan, and the former county of Cardiganshire.
many welsh place names actually predate England not just as an area or concept, but literally from before the first Saxons arrived, as i recall Ceredig was given his kingdom by the Romans, so long before any saxons were ever seen.

some Welsh, especially a few of the words which precede a name are corrupted versions of Latin, such as Caer (fort) or Bont (bridge)

Sorry for the History lesson lol

For some interesting long welsh place names theres:
Llanfihangel-yr-Creuddyn, and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch (i am not joking),
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post #4 of 16
2/12/04 at 6:23pm
And of course theres the great north/south... east/west divide language wise........ especially in the Kardiff area ...


as you can see there are more Welish people here
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post #5 of 16
2/13/04 at 6:40am
Thread Starter 
Wicked a fellow countryman Hows the weather in old Kairdiff recently? bloody wet and cold up here

Must be nice living in the new home of Doctor Who !

What do you think of the new King Arthur Movie coming out soon? seems to me to be another attempt to steal a welsh legend and make it something else... ah well
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post #6 of 16
2/14/04 at 12:12pm
Add another Welshman to the pile here...

Cardiffian actually, but don't hold that against me.
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post #7 of 16
2/15/04 at 11:52am
Thread Starter 
I wouldnt hold anything against someone from Cardiff , well only a Gun.. (joking )

One thing I notice on my online travels, is that everyone from wales is either in Cardiff/the Valleys or Bangor/near bangor, doesnt seem to be anyone on from my neck of the woods
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post #8 of 16
2/18/04 at 2:42am
Hey im always surprised when i come across another welsh person on American sites .....for some(dumbass) reason i seem to assume im the only one using the internet
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post #9 of 16
3/26/04 at 6:48am
i am a quarter welsh, one of my grandads was welsh.

i study here too but i am from Bristol
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post #10 of 16
3/26/04 at 7:13am
Quote:
Originally posted by Feared&Hated
What do you think of the new King Arthur Movie coming out soon? seems to me to be another attempt to steal a welsh legend and make it something else... ah well
I thought King Arthur was a mish-mash of various sources - mostly French, from what I've heard.
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post #11 of 16
3/29/04 at 12:32pm
*WalterPill tainted response here*
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post #12 of 16
3/31/04 at 7:09am
*WalterPill tainted response here*
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post #13 of 16
3/31/04 at 7:30am
Quote:
Originally posted by Dan Whitehead
I thought King Arthur was a mish-mash of various sources - mostly French, from what I've heard.
This is correct. The first references to Arthur are actually British, I believe, from some Dark Age monk called Nennius who doesn't seem to have liked him much. The story was pretty much that he made himself chief warlord, but ended up dying along with Mordred in battle at Badon. I don't have the book in front of me, but I believe it's not even mentioned whether Arthur and Mordred were on opposite sides or not. The book just says something like, "and there fell Arthur, and Medraut also..."

The stuff with Lancelot, etc appears to have been grafted on from French sources, in particular Chretian de Troyes. That said, back in the time we're talking about, the relationship between English and French scholarship was a lot more fluid than it is now, after the Norman Conquest. British nobles spoke French and were keen to appear to have roots to ancient (pre-Saxon) British kings.

At any rate, the story started to come together in William of Malmesbury's accounts of the kings of England, which was then picked up and ran with by Geoffrey of Monmouth.

The legend became very popular, leading to the arguably most famous retelling by Thomas a Malory who gave the whole thing its final "golden age of chivalry" glitz. (Which is interesting, because he wrote the book whilst imprisoned in the Tower of London - rumour has it he was serving time for the rather unchivalrous crime of rape. That said, medieval law had a somewhat different idea about rape than we do - he may have just seduced the wrong wife).

And continues to be pretty damn popular today. Everybody seems to have an Arthur novel in them. It's probably the most prolific fan fiction franchise going on in the world.
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post #14 of 16
3/31/04 at 7:33am
Quote:
Originally posted by Straxboy - An Anthony Hickox Film
I'm a retard and a jerk.
You're getting no love and no respect lately, sir. It's to be lamented. You didn't deserve to be spoken to like that, in this or other threads.

There is a definite falling off in courtesy on this board.

And it sucks.
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post #15 of 16
3/31/04 at 7:52am
Fret not just-slightly-more-then-halfling (not that I think Walter was actually being pointed, just ranting about DS itself...or maybe he wasn't, I dunno)

I sleep soundly. Sometimes dreaming of George Clooney as well. Maybe I am just a regular button pushing clerk in a dead end job like so many others with bugs to bear. How do they know ? Let em' rag on me for being the catalyst of the courtesy-assassination.

It matters for nought, for I have "colourful language" with which to further sully my "boring ass posts".

One cider and black for you though, bless you.
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post #16 of 16
4/14/04 at 6:44am
my uncle is welsh...lol might as well join in with the welsh doesnt seem to any irish lol
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