I don't like Welsh people

snowstone · 2022-12-27T14:40:45+00:00

Said to me, a Welsh person born in Wales, married to a Welsh man, with two welsh children. By my own father?! He and my mum are looking at moving houses, I was asking about where and he mentioned they were a looking more at a specific county further away from me. I asked if they'd consider my county as we see them quite a bit. My dad said that my county is too Welsh, and the main draw of the other county is that it's much more English and he fits in better with English people, Welsh people are a bit odd and he doesn't like them and wants to be surrounded by English people. Told him to move to fucking England then! My mum said I overreacted but it was just quite a grim thing to say to be honest, made me look at him a bit different. They were visiting for Christmas Day and the whole atmosphere turned a bit after that and they left earlier than planned. AIBU to be pissed off?!

Shinyandnew1 · 27/12/2022 14:42

How bizarre! Presumably he lived in Wales once if you were born in Wales?

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 27/12/2022 14:42

YANBU, that’s a bizarre and pretty horrible thing to say. I’m struggling to think of a generous interpretation for that comment.

Original poster

snowstone · 27/12/2022 14:42

He still does live in Wales! And he's not planning on leaving, just wants a 'more English county'!

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 27/12/2022 14:44

I think your reaction was fairly mild under those circumstances.

Dacadactyl · 27/12/2022 14:44

You sound oversensitive to me.

Longdarkcloud · 27/12/2022 14:45

Is your mother Welsh?

FlorettaB · 27/12/2022 14:45

Did he mean English or English speaking?

TheHauntedPencilCase · 27/12/2022 14:45

What a bonkers thing to think/say. How old is he? My parents have recently gone a bit odd and I wondered if it was age. They're mid&late 60s. Tbh for mine I think the recent retirement has caused it but I'm keeping an eye in case of dementia.

SignOnTheWindow · 27/12/2022 14:45

Of course YANBU to be pissed off. What a weird and horrible thing to say!

Cuppasoupmonster · 27/12/2022 14:45

I saw an article the other day about a Welsh woman who had a very high risk pregnancy and had to consider giving birth at an English hospital which was better equipped for her issues. She said she refused as she definitely didn’t want her child to be born English I don’t understand inter-U.K. xenophobia, it’s bizarre.

Alwaysworryingoversomething · 27/12/2022 14:46

I have heard so many negative comments about Welsh people over the years and I do not understand (i) what exactly people mean - I can't see a common thread through 'Welsh people' and (ii) why people think it's acceptable to say things like that.

Sorry you experienced that OP. I'm afraid in this instance, your dad sounds like an idiot - but I'm sure he's lovely the rest of the time!

FlounderingFruitcake · 27/12/2022 14:46

Horrible thing to say! But if he doesn’t speak Welsh fluently then I do totally get that he’d be happier in say Pembrokeshire where more English is spoken and there are more English people. I don’t like Welsh people was totally unnecessary though. Is he usually clumsy with language?

FourChimneys · 27/12/2022 14:46

I remember my father saying he didn't like Welsh people, many decades ago.

He was racist in other ways too.

hoochyhag · 27/12/2022 14:48

Silly man 🙄

HowVeryLikeSibella · 27/12/2022 14:50

Cuppasoupmonster · 27/12/2022 14:45

I saw an article the other day about a Welsh woman who had a very high risk pregnancy and had to consider giving birth at an English hospital which was better equipped for her issues. She said she refused as she definitely didn’t want her child to be born English I don’t understand inter-U.K. xenophobia, it’s bizarre.

Wanting your child to be born in Wales if you're Welsh isn't xenophobia necessarily: it's a positive choice for them to have a Welsh identity from birth, and for your grandchildren/great-grandchildren to be able to play rugby for Wales. I mean, I think it's a lunatic risk to take with a risky birth, but it's not xenophobic.

Original poster

snowstone · 27/12/2022 14:51

He's lived in Carmarthenshire for years, it's hardly heavily welsh speaking, my area is slightly more so but still we don't struggle as a mainly English speaking family. But yes he wants to move to "little England" Pembs because he doesn't want to be around welsh people and that's what he loves about Pembs.

Wanted to start explaining that's the main problems the actual Welsh people in Pembrokeshire are facing but didn't waste my breathe.

OP posts:

Cuppasoupmonster · 27/12/2022 14:53

HowVeryLikeSibella · 27/12/2022 14:50

Wanting your child to be born in Wales if you're Welsh isn't xenophobia necessarily: it's a positive choice for them to have a Welsh identity from birth, and for your grandchildren/great-grandchildren to be able to play rugby for Wales. I mean, I think it's a lunatic risk to take with a risky birth, but it's not xenophobic.

Show quote history

I mean what are the odds of them becoming an international rugby player…

TeapotTitties · 27/12/2022 14:53

Silly man.

Silly clickbait thread title.

CeeJay81 · 27/12/2022 14:53

I do think racism is deemed acceptable if its against the Welsh but why? I'd be telling him to move to England. I'm english/Scottish but have lived in Wales for 18 years. Very rural Wales and fairly welsh speaking. It's real mixed community though and this is one of the things I like about it. A real mixture of people from all walks of life. Plenty of people from England here aswell a strong Welsh speaking community too. Don't live in Wales if your anti Welsh.

Theunamedcat · 27/12/2022 14:55

It was actually a consideration for university choice Aberystwyth vrs Bangor Aberystwyth is considerably less "welsh" than Bangor apparently

CoffeeBoy · 27/12/2022 14:55

I’ve lived in Tenby and also Snowdonia. Even though I don’t speak Welsh I never had an issue in north wales, you don’t have to speak Welsh to get by. I have no idea what he’s on about. Though actually when I was in Pembs some of the locals there were a big derogatory about people from North Wales, and these were Welsh born and bred. They seemed to consider themselves a better class of Welsh. But they were even snobby about people from West Pembs/Presilli 🤷‍♀️

Catnipcapers · 27/12/2022 14:57

I knew this would be a Carmarthenshire/Pembrokeshire thing! Silly bugger!

HaveYouSeenNancy · 27/12/2022 14:58

Is he Welsh himself, op?

DorritLittle · 27/12/2022 14:58

So he wants to live in Pembrokeshire. I think you are overreacting OP. It sounds like a bad attempt at a mild joke not xenophobia, that your thread title suggests.

AkoraEdelherb · 27/12/2022 15:00

Cuppasoupmonster · 27/12/2022 14:45

I saw an article the other day about a Welsh woman who had a very high risk pregnancy and had to consider giving birth at an English hospital which was better equipped for her issues. She said she refused as she definitely didn’t want her child to be born English I don’t understand inter-U.K. xenophobia, it’s bizarre.

When a region / language has been historically suppressed and its people have had to fight hard to conserve the tradition and culture, it’s not xenophobia wanting your child to be born there.

I’m not Welsh but I come from a similar country with 5 national identities and 4 different languages, with clear geographical separations. My children will probably not be raised there like I was, and there is literally no other chance for them to become native in the minority language (only local speakers keep it alive, and we will already be a trilingual family before any extra are introduced). Yes I do feel sad about it because it’s part of my identity and the culture is dying out. Through suppression from the national government - thankfully not currently, but through history more often than not.

You not understanding this feeling doesn’t make the woman xenophobic.