Sayings of Welsh Parents

[C0rdelia]

You tell them something mildly interesting.

Nooooor. I never.

Mashed potato and swede, “ponchmipe” in North Wales. Conjures up school dinners!

So many of the English phrases mentioned I’ve never thought of as being “Welsh” but it makes me realise that I only hear them when I go back.

When I was at school there was a girl who moved up from South Wales and she always put “say” at the end of phrases and sentences, not just questions. Is that a South Wales thing, say?

North Wales you’d get “isn’t it” even when it isn’t a question, isn’t it

And “Like”.

Like I’m getting quite nostalgic, isn’t it!

@MoleSmokes ah, the dreaded ponchmipe! I hated it when I was growing up in north Wales! We seemed to eat it a lot.

Ych a fi was a common one in our house. Also iechyd da!

Now in a minute

Very Stacey from Gavin & Stacey. I re watched an episode where they were on Barry Island talking about getting chips and Stacey was saying she get them now in a minute!

Now after and now jest (as in just now) were also used alongside now in a minute, though with slightly different meanings.
Now jest could refer to something that had already happened as well as something in the future. If someone was going to do something now after you'd be waiting longer than if they were planning to do it now in a minute.

@LaMarschallin

which is mashed swede and potato, very tasty.

We used to have that but we called it "potch".

Also used to have "suet-y" (sp?) which was a dumpling mixture but roasted in the oven with the Sunday joint instead of Yorkshire pudding.

Yes! Potch or ponch we called it. We still have it with sausage and onion gravy.

My mother says ‘Ming-de-Mong’ or ‘shandibang’ for a mess. And then when she’s half way through doing something and lost heart she says ‘I’ve danted now’

Esgyrn Dafydd - bones of David was one of my dad’s

I grew up in Wales and I think the only thing I say (but kids haven't yet picked up on as weird) is ych y fi.

Bad in bed is hilarious!

Or "awful bad in bed".

Ty bach - toilet (little house)
Twll dan sdar - hole under the stairs.
Dim ots da fi - makes no difference to me
Paed! - stop

My mum was brought up speaking very colloquial Welsh and my dad was English. I only learned Welsh in secondary school but my children all learned from nursery upwards.

Our every day conversations now however are peppered with Welsh idioms and odd words. All the ones I've mentioned above plus many others - some were words that appealed to my English speaking dad and so they stuck - such as anibynwyr (independent), digon (plenty) and popeth yn dda (everything's fine).

I was born in the Valleys, went to uni and then lived on Merseyside for 20 odd years, back home now.

I say lots of these too, especially now in a minute to my Grandchildren.

Here is a fab book Talk Tidy, how to speak Wenglish. I was amazed by how many terms are from the Welsh.

A few I didn't notice mentioned:

Boys bach
Well, ma Duw Duw

These are making me feel all warm and fuzzy...remind me so much of my grandparents.

I can hear them saying these things in their lovely valley accents!

I love O Mam Bach! my welsh speaking kids use it in text as OMB! instead of OMG!

My friend always greets a group of us with Helo Bois!

My Grampi was in a choir and always used to sing Amen after everything 'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn' 😊

'Welllll, Duw duw' is said in disbelief.

Directions are always 'over b'there'

Loving this thread. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

@puzzledquiz

Cwtch confused me on Gavin and Stacy, my dm used a cwtch as cupboard or cubby hole, if she said something was in the cwtch she meant the cupboard under the stairs!

Yes!! My nana used to call the cupboard under the stairs the cwtch too... I thought it was just her

I'm not Welsh, but it is lovely to read this thread. It's interesting to see so many fond/deep/family memories associated with the language of your loved ones. You should all be so proud that you have retained your Welsh language through the centuries. Thanks for sharing them!

Could "meplyn peploeth" be "er mwyn popeth"? The saying is the equivalent of something like "for goodness' sake" even though it translates literally as "for everything's sake"

There are definitely L’s in it. Thank you for having a go 😊

I have just asked a Welsh speaking neighbour if he has any idea. He said the nearest he can come up with is something about playing with the devil. The Welsh word for playing is chwarae though isn’t it? Unless there is another word meaning play?

Dogs are told to ‘cer i grafi’ (go to bed, literally go and scratch).
Twll is a hole but also if a place is a bit of a shithole.
Mind at the end of a sentence, my Italian friend who lives here now says it and it’s so funny to hear her say it in her Italian/welsh accent!
Mun for when you’re mildly exasperated ‘just give it to her mun!’
Hiya butt, where’s your butty (friend) tonight then?
The last one leading to the myth of ‘Hiyabutt bay’ which is what Porthcawl, frequented by people from the Valleys, became known as.
My parents are south Walian but my mum spent time in north Wales so brought back things like ponchmipe with her.

And saying 'pop' rather than cola or lemonade.

I was going to mention that my mother used to talk about going for a walk "up the cwm", cwm meaning valley.
I was trying to work out how to give an idea of the pronunciation and thought of "coom" (although it's not such a long "oo"; more between an "oo" and an "er" noise) when I suddenly realised that that's probably why Terry Pratchett called the site of the dwarves vs trolls battle "Koom Valley".
Especially as his dwarves tend to have Welsh tendencies.

I'm always seeing something new in his books.

Let me down gently if you all already knew that and think it's totally general knowledge.
Or if I'm talking rubbish

Wara teg - fair play is Chwarae teg.

Paid - don't!
I still use ych a fi for something yucky.

Some of the 'goodness me' type of phrases are just plain funny if you directly translate them. Bobol back (little people) or nefi bliw (sounds like navy blue).

Haia Tad/Dad for hello dad works.

I say Paid nawr! to the dogs when I want them to stop being naughty.

Poen or poening is another we use - for a nagging child.

Nefi bliw was one of my Dad’s.

Not forgetting ‘mun’ at the end of a sentence.

@Toughie

Slightly off topic ... I still make 2 dishes my mum made when I was a child. As a child I never realised they were ‘welsh’ in any way. Stwnsh rwadan which is mashed swede and potato, very tasty. And Tatus pum minid. Bacon and potatoes. I used to love it, Anyone else eat these?

How do you do your tatws pum munud? My north-Walian mam used to do this but also called it 'tatws yn badell' (potatoes in a pan) which was thinly sliced potatoes, onion, oxo and water in a shallow pan, cooked until the liquid was thick and gravy-like. Bloody lush it was

I’ll be there now in a minute

Put it by there

Have a cwtch

Chopsin’ (chatting)

Rocking (laughing)

B’there and b’yere = By there and by here.= over there and over here