History UsefulNotes / Wales

-->-'''Edmund {{Blackadder}}'''

* Timothy Dalton.

It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh). This reflects the overall state of Welsh affairs at the moment. Although Welsh is by far the healthiest modern Celtic language and Welsh identity is widespread and firm, the vast majority of Welsh are, all things considered, quite comfortable being British, and are certainly nowhere nearly as interested in independence as the Scots. Some have even noted a reluctance on the part of the Welsh Assembly itself to ask for more power from Westminster (in contrast to the Scottish Parliament, which even under the Scottish-Unionist Labour/Lib Dem coalition clearly wanted a bit more authority for itself).

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the middle ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidized minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' ( as North Welsh are referred to in the South ) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. (East of Conwy, English is given precedence. West of Conwy, Welsh comes first. Welsh language roadsignage generally begins at the border: visitors are often consternated that Welsh signage begins even before you have left Chester.Although big supermarkets in Oswestry, nominally inside England, have bilingual signage.) The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection". Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humor, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh). This reflects the overall state of Welsh affairs at the moment. Although Welsh is by far the healthiest modern Celtic language and Welsh identity is widespread and firm, the vast majority of Welsh are, all things considered, quite comfortable being British, and are certainly nowhere nearly as interested in independence as the Scots. Some have even noted a reluctance on the part of the Welsh Assembly itself to ask for more power from Westminster (in contrast to the Scottish Parliament, which even under the Unionist Labour/Lib Dem coalition clearly wanted a bit more authority for itself).

It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh). This reflects the overall state of Welsh affairs at the moment. Although Welsh is by far the healthiest modern Celtic language and Welsh identity is widespread and firm, the vast majority of Welsh are, all things considered, quite comfortable being British, and are certainly nowhere nearly as interested in independence as the Scots. Some have even noted a reluctance on the part of the Welsh Assembly itself to ask for more power from Westminster (in contrast to the Scottish Parliament, which even under the Labour/Lib Dem coalition clearly wanted a bit more authority for itself).

It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh). This reflects the overall state of Welsh affairs at the moment. Although Welsh is by far the healthiest modern Celtic language and Welsh identity is widespread and firm, the vast majority of Welsh are, all things considered, quite comfortable being British, and are certainly nowhere nearly as interested in independence as the Scots. Some have even noted a reluctance on the part of the Welsh Assembly itself to ask for more power from Westminster.

It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh).

Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed."''[[note]]''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.''[[/note]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png Wales, the land of the Welsh Dragon, Tom Jones, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of Creator/TheBBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programs.

A lot of people in Wales are called Jones, Williams or Davies due to the way the Welsh {{Patronymic}} naming system was Anglicised -- people in small villages will have to get nicknames to distinguish each other. Traditionally these were often in the form of "Surname The Occupation", such as Jones The Steam [engine driver] from ''Ivor the Engine''. This results in SAT exams (see BritishEducationSystem) having to have candidate numbers in Wales. This is also the case with soldiers in Welsh army regiments, who even in the late 20th century were still identified by their unique Army number and not by one of a limited number of family names.Owen, Jones and Powell then tied for the next most populous name with Davies and Hughes coming up not far behind.

It now has a devolved assembly, albeit one with less power than the [[BonnieScotland Scottish]] Parliament, based in the capital, [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (Caerdydd in Welsh).

South Wales was more industrialized than the rest, due to immense coal deposits, though Wrexham in the North East was as industrialized also due to coal. A lot of Welsh cultural identity stems from the 19th-century mining industry, when "the Valleys" as the area was known, saw religious revivals, the enthusiastic adoption of the game of Rugby, and a great tradition of choral singing. The industry largely (and in the main needlessly) came to an end in the late eighties, thanks in chief to MargaretThatcher, leaving the population and economy a little shell-shocked. This is why it's not cool to be a Tory between Llanelli and Newport. Very few Tories survived the 1997 cull in any part of Wales. After ten years of New "Labour", the Welsh are also beginning to perceive Labour as just another English political party. After Blair and Brown signally failed to repair the damage done to Wales by Thatcher's Tories, the hitherto unthinkable started to happen - the super-safe constituencies of Rhondda and Islwyn fell to the Welsh Nationalists, although Labor won them back a few years later.

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the middle ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidized minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' ( as North Welsh are referred to in the South ) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection". Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humor, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

->''"[[SchmuckBait Never ask for directions in Wales]] [[BlackSpeech unless you want to be drenched in phlegm.]]"''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png Wales, the land of the Welsh Dragon, Tom Jones, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of Creator/TheBBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programmes.

The Welsh language is a Celtic tongue that pre-dates the Roman conquest. It is related to Scottish, the native language of Scotland, to Irish, the native language of Ireland, and Manx, spoken on the Isle of Man, though not so closely that speakers of Welsh and those languages can understand each other. Welsh is more closely related to Breton and Cornish (spoken in northwestern France and UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}}, respectively).

Welsh is generally regarded by English-speakers as a formidably difficult language, and a glance at the map shows such jaw-crackers as Machynlleth, Pwllheli, and the truly majestic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]]. That said, the pronunciation rules are consistent (unlike English) and once you know that a "u" is pronounced "ee"; "dd" is a hard "th" (as in 'there' rather than 'think') ; and a "ll" is a sort-of cross between 'l' and 'th', then it will always be so, although the actual spelling (and hence pronunciation) of a word may change depending on the word preceding it. "Cwm", that perennial favourite of crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, is pronounced "coom" (and means "a hollow in the side of a mountain"). Welsh vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'w', and 'y') have two distinct pronounciations: one long, one short. For example, the two variations of "y" can be heard in "yn" (u-n) and "byd" (b-ea-d) (short and long, respectively). Welsh English often [[LikeIsLikeAComma uses "like"]] as an interjection.

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the middle ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidised minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' ( as North Welsh are referred to in the South ) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection". Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humour, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

South Wales was more industrialised than the rest, due to immense coal deposits, though Wrexham in the North East was as industrialised also due to coal. A lot of Welsh cultural identity stems from the 19th-century mining industry, when "the Valleys" as the area was known, saw religious revivals, the enthusiastic adoption of the game of Rugby, and a great tradition of choral singing. The industry largely (and in the main needlessly) came to an end in the late eighties, thanks in chief to MargaretThatcher, leaving the population and economy a little shell-shocked. This is why it's not cool to be a Tory between Llanelli and Newport. Very few Tories survived the 1997 cull in any part of Wales. After ten years of New "Labour", the Welsh are also beginning to perceive Labour as just another English political party. After Blair and Brown signally failed to repair the damage done to Wales by Thatcher's Tories, the hitherto unthinkable started to happen - the super-safe constituencies of Rhondda and Islwyn fell to the Welsh Nationalists, although Labour won them back a few years later.

A lot of people in Wales are called Jones, Williams or Davies due to the way the Welsh {{Patronymic}} naming system was Anglicised -- people in small villages will have to get nicknames to distinguish each other. Traditionally these were often in the form of "Surname The Occupation", such as Jones The Steam [engine driver] from ''Ivor the Engine''. This results in SAT exams (see BritishEducationSystem) having to have candidate numbers in Wales. This is also the case with soldiers in Welsh army regiments, who even in the late 20th century were still identified by their unique Army number and not by one of a limited number of family names.[[labelnote: note]]In one troper's regimental family, 106 men and women soldiers in a 600+ strong unit were called Wiliams.[[/labelnote]] Owen, Jones and Powell then tied for the next most populous name with Davies and Hughes coming up not far behind.

* Music/TomJones - world famous singer, with a reputation for women throwing their knickers at him.

* AledJones -- another Welsh singer, most famous (as a boy) for his cover version of "Walking In The Air" from ''TheSnowman''. He now regularly presents the God-Slot religious show on BBC Radio Two every Sunday morning and is an occassional religious presenter on BBC television.

* TerryJones of Creator/MontyPython.

* MyfanwyTalog, Welsh-language actress, wife of English comic actor Creator/DavidJason. Now deceased but a mainstay of soap opera ''Pobol Y Cym'' for many years. Also voiced Welsh characters in English-language animations such as ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'' and ''Supermouse''.

* The West clan of ''GavinAndStacey'', plus their friends and neighbours.

-->''[[SchmuckBait Never ask for directions in Wales]] [[BlackSpeech unless you want to be drenched in phlegm.]]''

A lot of people in Wales are called Jones, Williams or Davies due to the way the Welsh {{Patronymic}} naming system was Anglicised -- people in small villages will have to get nicknames to distinguish each other. Traditionally these were often in the form of "Surname The Occupation", such as Jones The Steam [engine driver] from ''Ivor the Engine''. This results in SAT exams (see BritishEducationSystem) having to have candidate numbers in Wales. This is also the case with soldiers in Welsh army regiments, who even in the late 20th century were still identified by their unique Army number and not by one of a limited number of family names. In this troper's regimental family, 106 men and women soldiers in a 600+ strong unit were called Wiliams. Owen, Jones and Powell then tied for the next most populous name with Davies and Hughes coming up not far behind.

-->''[[SchmuckBait Never ask for directions in Wales]] [[BlackSpeech unless you want drenched in phlegm.]]''

* The KingArthur of Welsh legend was a Celtic Briton and not necessarily considered to haul from (what is today) Wales, but as the descendants of the Britons, the Welsh always considered him as one of their heroes.

South Wales was more industrialised than the rest, due to immense coal deposits, though Wrexham in the North East was as industrialised also due to coal. A lot of Welsh cultural identity stems from the 19th-century mining industry, when "the Valleys" as the area was known, saw religious revivals, the enthusiastic adoption of the game of Rugby, and a great tradition of choral singing. The industry largely (and in the main needlessly) came to an end in the late eighties, thanks in chief to Margaret Thatcher, leaving the population and economy a little shell-shocked. This is why it's not cool to be a Tory between Llanelli and Newport. Very few Tories survived the 1997 cull in any part of Wales. After ten years of New "Labour", the Welsh are also beginning to perceive Labour as just another English political party. After Blair and Brown signally failed to repair the damage done to Wales by Thatcher's Tories, the hitherto unthinkable started to happen - the super-safe constituencies of Rhondda and Islwyn fell to the Welsh Nationalists, although Labour won them back a few years later.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/125px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png Wales, the land of the Welsh Dragon, Tom Jones, ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of the BBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programmes.

* [[MahouSenseiNegima Negi Springfield]]. Well, he spent a good deal of his childhood there.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s Welshy, a RedShirt replacement for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''' Scotty

-->Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,\\

Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed. [[note]]''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.''[[/note]]

-->Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.\\

O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau. [[note]]''Home, home, true am I to my home, / While seas secure the land so pure, / O may the old language endure.''[[/note]]

[[redirect:UsefulNotes/LandOfMyFathersAndTheirSheep]]