Re: Euwww, English Again! :-)

["Heather Swann" <swann@intercon.com>]

> Alanna writes: 

> > The way _I_ heard it, the Welsh used to have vowels, but 
> > the !*&^%$#@ English stole them. 
> 
 Alianora writes: 
> Actually, m'lady, I think it was the *Irish*  who stole the Welsh 
> vowels.  Take a look at a sentence in Gaelic sometime - you will see 
> that they have an overabundance of the things!  Those Sassanach have 
> many faults, but I don't think you can blame them for that. 
> This is actually possible - the Irish did have colonies in Wales 
> during part of the Middle Ages - a perfect front for vowel-rustling. 

I think it must have been raiding parties on both sides- 'ave you noticed 'ow 
many vowels Cockney English 'as?  An' it does seem to be lackin' in consonants 
at times...per'aps they left 'em in Wales as a trade?

> I have also heard tell of a long-forgotten treaty between the French 
> and Germans, in which all the French *consonants* were ceded to 
> the Germans over a period of years, but this may be apocrypha.

I had heard the French once sent their consonants to the Germans to be 
laundered, but they came back with way too much starch in them.  The French 
refused to pay, the Germans repossessed the consonants...it was ugly.  There 
were, however, some rumours of consonants that fled over the border to 
Switzerland, never to be seen or heard from again...some say they fled as far 
as the Russias....
>  
> (In the cold dry technical sense, of course, Tibor is right - there 
> are vowels in Welsh which don't look like it to the rest of us - W, 
> for example)  

Well, one has to make some things do double-duty in times of shortage!  
They've been under vowel-rationing restrictions for so long, you know....

Miriam R.


Miriam Rachael bat Mordecai
The non-pregnant Miriam
akaThe Intriguing Miriam
Isenfiri-In-Exile
email:swann@intercon.com         

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