Welshism's

Jones the Sheep – and other Welshism’s I probably shouldn’t use.

I am an author from the UK. As such, I regularly get comments/complaints from US readers who find my use of ‘British English’ confusing. I don’t blame them. If there wasn’t so much US TV on Netflix, I’d probably be vague on the meaning of American words like bangs and sidewalks too.

To ease the suffering of their international readers, some authors have have produced a Guide to Britishism’s to help explain the wonders of chip butty’s, fags and car parks. (Though I’m not sure the last one really needs an explanation, does it?)

car park photo

Photo by davocano

Anyway, one of my books is set in Wales and I recently got a comment about my use of ‘Welshism’s.’ And no, I’m not talking about a book written in the Welsh language. Let me explain.

Welshism’s

Like any area, Wales has it’s own set of ‘local’ words. There are words taken directly from Cymraeg, such as Cwtch” (pronounced Cutch) which means ‘hug’

give me a cwtch

or Ach-y-fi” which is a mild expletive – basically an expression of disgust. (This is actually really expressive. You should try it.)

ach y fi

Then there are words like “tidy” – no, not saying you have a neat house, but that you think something is good.

tidy

And “lush”,  which is not a description of rainforest vegetation but something you like very much.

via GIPHY

I would consider these words were waaaaay to obscure to use in a novel.

A question of names

But then there are the quirky nicknames by which the Welsh might traditionally identify each other. This is where I came unstuck.

Possibly started as a way of distinguishing between the many Jones’, Williams’ and Evans’ living in an area, many people had nicknames. You might have Jones the milk

milkman photo

Photo by David Guyler

Jones the bones

and Jones the sheep

sheep dog photo

Get it? Of course you do.

So, when I wrote, ‘Jones the Sheep’ arrived, I did not mean a ‘real’ sheep that someone had randomly named Jones walked into the scene. I meant, here comes the man everyone calls ‘Jones the Sheep’.

My reader thought this was unclear.

In the end I took out the reference to sheep and simply named by character ‘Mr Jones’. Boring, yes, but easy for anyone to understand.

What do you think?

Would a nickname like this cause confusion? Does writing localism’s enhance the story or just make it unreadable?

I’d love to know your thoughts.

Let me know in the comments below.

suzanna williams get in touch

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