Anti-Welsh Conspiracy?

There was a very disturbing story on the BBC's website recently about a horse being injured and graffiti being sprayed on the owner's building.

A horse's nose was cut and anti-English graffiti daubed on a stables owned by a Cardiff woman who had moved to a village in west Wales.

Alison Hayes, who was born in the Welsh capital, found her seven-month-old pony with a wound to its nose.

As she helped the animal at her land in Tegryn, near Crymych, Pembrokeshire, she also noticed graffiti written in slang Welsh saying "English out".

This is quite a disturbing story, but it sounds a bit strange. The graffiti message 'Cai Maes Saes' is'nt actually Welsh or Welsh slang, it's jibberish.

There's been quite a lot news stories in Wales about Welsh signs been translated by translation websites, which give out nonsense phrases. Oh, hang on, how about we type, say 'Get out Englishman' into tranexp.com and see what we get. Well well, who'd have thought, it only gives 'Ca i maes Saes'.

The respeced media of Wales can't even agree what it's supposed to actually mean as Hen Ferchetan point's out:

Clearly someone up in Trinity Mirror has realised something is wrong, they just havn't quite put their finger on it. The South Wales Echo would have us believe that it's common slang for "English Out" while icWales disagrees and tells us it's actually very old Welsh for "English Out". The Western Mail disagrees again, telling us that the writing doesn't say "English Out" but "English Out of This Field". Top prize for awful reporting must go to BBC Newyddion Arlein (Welsh BBC News) which actually quotes the graffiti as saying "Sais Mas" (English Out) even though the picture of the actual words used above comes from the BBC!

This hasn't stopped Daily Mail readers and anti-Welsh blogger wonkotsane from having a field day - 'field' day - get it? Thankfully, not all English nationalists are thick as shit.


"Hope loved being around people but now I can't get near her. She is terrified." says Hayes as she stands next to the horse. hmmm

George Galloway shows his Respect

In a rant about the proposed new Gaelic channel by the BBC, he only managess to call the Gaelic language 'obscure' twice in the artice, which was dissapointing.

Language is a living thing or nothing at all if you ask me. And the rest of us, by a stroke of luck, are in possession of a tongue worth the weight of Ben Nevis in gold.

This is often an argument used against any money being spent on the Welsh language, that it shouldn't be supported in any way by the state and that it should be left to fight it out with other languages, which is an argument that one can understand. But then he goes on to say:

The English language is our greatest asset and the government spends far too little spreading it even wider.

The money spend [sic] on Gaels and their obscure language could be spent by the British Council teaching, for example, the people of China to speak English with infinitely more returns.

Which is a total contradiction of what he just said. A language like Gaelic shouldn't be supported financially, but the English language should. He then tries another trick favoured by the language haters, which is to use the presence of immigrants (Galloway's political career is based on this anyway).

There are more people who speak Punjabi in Scotland than have the Gaelic. Can you imagine the outcry if the government gave £50 per week per head to subsidise Lahore TV?

And more people speak Polish in Scotland than speak Gaelic but Gdansk TV could only dream of such a subsidy.

For your information Mr Galloway, the Polish government fund around 10 Polish language channels, plus one in Belarusian. TV Polonia is available worldwide, so Polish speakers in Scotland are already catered for. There are Punjabi state funded channels in both Pakistan (on PTV) and India (DD Punjabi).

I sometimes visit the Wales/Cymru section the Urban75 forum, which has it's fair share of nut jobs. Here's the latest post by (sadly) a rather noisy Respectoid:

St David's Day - COUNTER DEMO

---

As we know over the last few years the nationalists have stepped up their attempts to impose conformity and their bigotted ideology on our locale, they will be using St David's Day to impose the idea that Wales is a nation cosily united - rich and poor - against English oppression and waving their flags. They will be attempting to construct a 'welsh identity' that never existed and various other ideas that mystify social reality, class division and block the forming of genuine grassroots culture based on solidarity and diy principles.

Needless to say, everyone rips the piss out of him.

Cardiff Web Scene Meetup, 26.2.08

I recently discovered a Facebook group for Cardiff Web Geeks. I liked the sound of what they were about:

Hey there. Cardiff Geeks was recently formed due to the common feeling amongst many passionate geeks in Wales that there was a lack of community between them.

We are comprised of researchers, computer scientists, web professionals and enthusiasts though are open to just about anyone who has an interest in the topics we discuss.

While there's a strong (but very small) on-line community of Welsh speakers, usually referred to as the Rhithfro, there's no obvious Welsh (i.e about Wales) on-line scene, neither social or for business, something I find quite frustrating, but I suppose it's not all that surprising. Hopefully, this will change.

I wasn't sure if Cardiff Geeks was still going, but I received a Facebook invite on the weekend (ok, so there might well be a point to the damn thing after all), to attend the Cardiff Web Scene Meetup at Cafe Floyd on Tuesday the 26th of Feb. Unfortunately I teach Welsh on Tuesday night, but I might pop in afterwards if I'm not too late and tired. Anyone else fancy it?

"World's largest love spoon" attempts, Cardiff

The BBC news article saying it would be finished this weekend, but as I walked past yesterday the world record attempt to create the world's biggest love spoon still had a far bit to go.

Should look good when finished. While searching Flickr for an other/better photo than my own, I discovered there's already a bench in Bute Park in the style of a love spoon.

Digg me you bastards!

A while back I blogged about the choice of books on the facade of Cardiff Central library's facade.
Now it seems a blog post containing the photo has been Digged. Sadly there's no link to my blog on the blog post, although a polite Italian did leave a comment on my Flickr photo to say she'd used the photo and asking where I'd like the link pointing too.

Not surprisingly, as my original post mentions, the reading tastes of Cardiffians are being seriously questioned.

I could have been famous :-)

Different language - same story

Not that it's any comfort, but it's seems that it's not just the Welsh language that's attacked and be-littled by ignorant large media groups. The was recently an article in the Wall Street Journal under the title; Basque Inquisition: How Do You Say Shepherd in Euskera? (article in full copied here on Susatu - the Basque Slashdot)

The same old accusations are rolled out against the Basque language which sadly we Welsh speakers are more than familiar with: "only X amount actually speak it", "they steal words from other languages", "it's terrible that these people are forced to learn it as it's useless", "it's not a real language"...blah blah blah blah blah etc.

As you can imagine, it's pissed off a few people in the Basque blogosphere. Here are two excellent replies, which are full of brilliant arguments that can be used by Welsh speakers (if we're silly enough to get into a futile on-line debate with the many bigots out there).

Anyway if people want to wallow in their ignorance, who can stop them. In the meantime irratia.com ("a weekly broadcasted then podcasted live radio show in Basque about new technologies, music and social issues") will be celebrating their 100th podcast with a Basque Digital Shepherds' Meeting in Bilbo - here's a clip promoting the event on EuskalTube (yup - those nasty Basques even have time in between terrorizing non-Basque speakers to come up with their own YouTube clone).

As a farmers son who enjoyes the company of sheep as mush as blogging in his dead language, I wish I could be over there with my velcro gloves and laptop.

"Reading that is only going to make you angry"

Those were the words of my wife as she look over my shoulder at what I was reading on the web. Sarah was right...
It was the comments section of a Comment is Free article by Hywel Griffiths, chairman of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society). He'd been asked to write about
Cymdeithas' proposals for an improved Welsh Language Act. It's a sensitive issue in Wales, and one that needs to be debated seriously, something that hasn't happened so far.
There's only so many remarks about "Klingon" and "more languages mean more barriers to communiation".
....so I stopped reading.

But where was Sarah this morning when I needed her?
As I turned on the car radio I caught the tail end of the Today Programme, where they were reading out e-mails commenting on the mornings subjects. They'd been discussing the Welsh language. The BBC have had a bit of a thing about the Welsh language since panelists pulled out of a show called Hecklers (the title gives it way). The reason people pulled out was because the BBC wanted to give a stage for a washed up 'playboy' and former UKIP Assembly candidate Dai Llewellyn, to spread his insults.
I've just used the 'listen again' facility to listen to the bit where the debate the Welsh language being promoted too much. Apparently, as speaking out against the Welsh language is so dangerous, they had to interview someone anonymously, in a remote layby and distort the person's voice. The guy (possibly quite delusional?), was making all sorts of claims about discrimination, and so did another person. Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM was questioned and he said it was nonsense and that the demand for Welsh medium education far outstripped demand. The presenter of the programme then starting having a go at him saying that it's only because parents didn't want there children being discriminated against in the work place in the future!
People go on about all the jobs in Wales requiring the Welsh language. Rh G T pointed out that, on any given Thursday, out of a 100+ jobs in the Western Mail only 5-6 might state that Welsh is essential or even just essential.
Some people can't get their heads round the fact that people want to speak Welsh for a variety of reasons. I teach a class of 17 adults in Ponypool (19 after half term as there's too many in the other class). We've only just started learning what people do as work. In my class there is a builder, greenkeeper, factory worker, landscaper, Quantity Surveyor, cook, a few grandparents, none of these people need Welsh for their jobs, they just want to experience Welsh life to the full.

I should be used to this sort of attitude by now, but I used to rate Radio 4, until I heard this sensationalist reporting and interviewing. What a shower of cachu.