I sent this reply off-list a few hours ago, but if we are going to have a discussion on Welshness and Welsh speaking (and why not - not too off-topic is it?), here's my take. Walt ----- Original Message ----- From: "Walt" <walt.king@phonecoop.coop> To: <journeymouse@yahoo.co.uk> Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 2:46 PM Subject: Re: [MON] Ioan Gruffud, pronunciation > Hi Joanne, > > That sounds like an authentic "ll" to me! > > I must be the reverse of you, I was born and brought up in Wales, but with > the surname King never felt particularly Welsh (well Cardiff is a land to > itself). It was not until I delved into family history that I discovered > who I was, so to speak, mostly westcountry English with a dash of > Shropshire and Tipperary. And then to my great delight I found a Welsh > connection in Machynlleth just a few months ago. The real thing with > patronymic naming! > > We're all mongrels I guess. My DNA analysis tells me my remote paternal > ancestors came from central Europe. > > Best wishes > > Walt > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Joanne Thomas" <journeymouse@yahoo.co.uk> > To: <monmouthshire@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 1:53 PM > Subject: Re: [MON] Ioan Gruffud, pronunciation > > >> Hi Walt, >> >> I would like to say, I knew how to pronounce it - but contain the wild >> cheering as I have no idea how to explain the few welsh sounds I can >> pronounce! And i sometimes sound and spit like a cat with a hairball >> trying to get the "ll" out... Sorry. >> >> We consider ourselves a Welsh family, despite mostly living in England. >> Although we lost the Welsh language before that when my great-great >> grandfather married his English wife - who banned it in the house as >> she couldn't understand it. And none of the immediate family knew that >> the THOMASes et al were Welsh speakers before then. They were rather >> shocked to find that out. >> >> Regards, >> Jo >> >> Joanne Thomas >> journeymouse@yahoo.co.uk >> http://www.geocities.com/journeymouse/ >> >> >> >> ___________________________________________________________ >> To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new >> Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> MONMOUTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without >> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >