Wenglish

Let me introduce you to Wenglish, a dialect widely spoken in the South Wales Valleys.  Wenglish is a mix of Welsh and English.  Sometimes english words are spoke in a 'welsh' manner - such as an emphasis on the second syllable, loveLEE and tiDEE.  The word tidy has extra meaning in Wenglish - not just clean and neat, but also nice, well and good.

I grew up in South-East Wales and was never taught Welsh at school or spoke it at home, or so I thought...
But when I went to university, I used some words that confused my English friends (which included Von).  I then found out that I was using Welsh words without even realising it!  Some of these words were poggy, coopy, looksee and cwtch. 
Poggy means messy, tangled, as in "I need a brush, my hair's all poggy". 
Coopy means to crouch down, as in "Coopy down and pick that pen off the floor". 
Looksee is another way to say 'look', as in "Looksee out there! E's washing 'is car again!"  It is also used at the end of a sentence for emphasis, as in "You're late again, looksee!"
Now cwtch is an important word.  The nearest translation is 'hug'.  But it's far more than that.  It's a hug full of love and warmth and goodwill.  Welsh mothers would wrap their children tightly in their shawl, so that mother and child were completely enveloped in a warm cocoon.  That's a cwtch.  No other word comes close.  An oft heard phrase from my elderly aunts is "Gis [give us] a cwtch" as they advence on you with open arms outstretched.

If you want to know more about Wenglish, I recommend two small books by John Edwards, Talk Tidy: The Art of Speaking Wenglish and More Talk Tidy, both of which are available on amazon. 


Juliana