Silly Place Names

According to the Metro and BBC the residents of Sully, South Wales are outraged at the criticism they have been receiving since their new bilingual sign posts have gone up. You see, apparently the Welsh translation of ‘Sully’ is ‘Sili’ and residents have decided that they just can’t handle the jokes that this translation has caused and want the signs changed.

Now I don’t know about you but I don’t find anything particularly funny about a village called ‘Sili’. I know it sounds like ‘Silly’ but it’s not and even if it was, surely there are worse names for a town?

For instance my grandparents live beside a pleasant little Irish village called ‘Muff’. Now that is funny! Far from cowering at the moniker though the local people have embraced muff and in fact you can even pop along to the Muff Festival, the Muff Divers Association or even stop of at the local petrol station which proudly advertises itself as ‘Top Muff’.

Now I know the Welsh are rather famous for taking themselves a touch too seriously but up to now this isn’t a stereotype I’d found to be that true. However, if the residents of Sully go ahead and change their signs I may have to rethink that!

Diss Me I'm Irish

Well it's that time of year again. The time of year when the lovely people of the world join for one brief moment to toast the Irish for being such lovable drunken rogues. Now I’m not complaining, it’s always nice being Irish & as far as stereotypes go, lovable drunk, isn’t too bad now is it?

What I do object to however is the wide variety of Irish accents I’ve been forced to listen to today & if I hear one more Welsh person say ‘Craic’ I will be taking my shillelagh and ramming it down their well meaning throats!

Living in Wales it seems I’m expected to be more ‘Irish’ on this day. People seem genuinely disappointed that I’m not dressed head to toe in green, drinking Guinness & weaving grand tales of the old world. Every other day they are perfectly content with my lack of Irishness but on this day, St Patrick’s day I’m expected to do my duty & show up to work drunk in the back of a police van.

Ah well it will all settle down soon. Tomorrow it will be safe to walk the streets once more. A world without Ian Paisley impersonations and dodgy Irish accents. Imagine .