The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

Will bisexuals have to chip in half the usual?

[Duque de Bragança]

I don't know about spies but in WW1 I think we had Welsh speakers for a lot of communications because Germans didn't really speak Welsh. I think German intelligence had caught on by WW2 but it was still used on the frontlines by Welsh regiments, because a group of average German soldiers didn't have a Welsh speaker

They were our Navajo

Edit: Incidentally I suspect there's a thesis to be done on the relative status of the different Celtic languages in the UK (pre-devolution, probably).

Using the original Welscher against the Teutons, how divide et impera. 

[Sheilbh]

Yeah. Got to love the Anglo-Saxons who arrived in England, pushed the Celts to the West and then named that country Wales from "wealas" which was Old English for "foreigner" (and Cornwall, also pushed to the West, "Kernow"+"wealas")

[Josquius]

I love that the Swiss French are also known as the Welsh. Yet somehow the word Welsh for foreigner had completely fell out of use in all languages (I think?)

[Sheilbh]

Maybe they became so associated with the Welsh/Cornish/Swiss French?

Also in Old English, from memory, it's a noun so more limited use? While you've got better adjectives like fremde, various words for pagan (rarely used perjoratively), and some derivations of gast for stranger (still lingers in "guest", "ghost" etc).

[Duque de Bragança]

Actually, welche or velche, though uncommon, is in French dictionaries, thanks to Voltaire, in part. 
There is even a derogatory meaning attested, as well as the archaic meaning of Celt.
There is a museum of the "pays welche" in the border between Alsace and Lorraine.

http://www.musee-pays-welche.alsace/

VELCHE, WELCHE, subst.
A.  Vx. Synon. de celte. Puisque les Francs ont envahi les Gaules, c'est qu'ils étaient nés pour vaincre (...). Or les Galles ou Welches avaient les pieds fort plats, et les Francs les avaient fort élevés. Les Francs méprisèrent tous ces pieds-plats, ces vaincus, ces serfs, ces cultivateurs (SENANCOUR, Obermann, t. 1, 1840, p. 100).
B.  1. Vieilli ou région. (Lorraine, Suisse romande, Jura). [N. donné aux populations francophones en contact avec des populations germanophones] À l'église, la Vierge peinte, comme elle apparut (...), écrasant le serpent sur le globe du monde; un peu au-dessous de la tête du serpent est écrit: Frankreich... Voilà comme ils associent l'idée de la France à celle du mal par excellence. Et cela sur la frontière! Rapprochez du plaisir qu'ont les Alsaciens à voler les Welches, selon Mme Barbet (MICHELET, Journal, 1843, p. 532). Nous voulons êtres nous, c'est-à-dire des Romands, des Welches helvétiques (La Suisse libérale, 23 avr. 1919 ds PIERREH. 1926).
Empl. adj. Lorrain welche (BARRÈS, Cahiers, t. 3, 1903, p. 148). [L'élément le plus ancien de la population vosgienne] descend sur le versant oriental avec les vallées dites welches, qui ont conservé leur patois roman. Une empreinte gauloise prononcée reste sur les Vosges (VIDAL DE LA BL., Tabl. géogr. Fr., 1908, p. 193).
2. [Nom que les Allemands donnent par dérision aux Français] En bon Allemand, il avait le mépris des Velches débauchés et de leur littérature, dont il ne connaissait guère que quelques bouffonneries égrillardes, l'Aiglon, Madame sans-Gêne, et des chansons de café-concert (ROLLAND, J.-Chr., Révolte, 1907, p. 456).
P. plaisant. [Gén. p. allus. à VOLTAIRE, Discours aux Welches, 1764] Mes chers compatriotes, que Voltaire appelait Welches dans ses momens d'humeur, mais qui n'en sont pas moins célèbres pour l'excellence de leur goût et la richesse de leur imagination (JOUY, Hermite, t. 4, 1813, p. 249).
Empl. adj., au fig. Grossier. Au fond ce gouvernement a peur de l'homme du coup d'État et il ne faut pas leur en vouloir de tracasser un peu les proscrits; je leur pardonne, mais le procédé n'en est pas moins très belge  très welche, comme dit Voltaire (HUGO, Corresp., 1851, p. 35).
Prononc. et Orth.: []. Ac. 1835, 1878: velche. Forme welsch (Lar. Lang. fr.). ROB. 1985, s.v. welche []. Prop. CATACH-GOLF. Orth. Lexicogr. 1971, p. 223: velche. CILF Harmonis. 1988: welche, velche. Étymol. et Hist. 1. 1758 « (pour les Suisses alémaniques) Suisse romand » (E. BERTRAND, Recherches sur les lang. anciennes et modernes de la Suisse, 58 ds PIERREH.); 1861 adj. (BENOIT, Le Canton de Neuchâtel, 118, ibid.); 2. 1764 « Gaulois » (VOLTAIRE, Discours aux Welches ds Œuvres, éd. L. Moland, t. 25, p. 230). Empr. à l'all. welsch, nom donné par les Allemands aux Espagnols, aux Italiens et aux Français, et par les Suisses de lang. aléman. aux Suisses romands; welsch remonte au m. h. all. wälhisch, dér. de Walch, a. h. all. Walh « Roman », de la famille du germ. *Walhoz « Celtes », empr. au lat. Volcae, nom d'une peuplade celte voisine des Romains. V. aussi wallon. Fréq. abs. littér.: 19. Bbg. COLOMB. 1952/53, pp. 552-553.

http://atilf.atilf.fr

[The Brain]

Välsk still exists in Swedish in the form of rotvälska, which is a derogatory term for an obscure foreign language.

[Tamas]

Gotta' hand it to the English, they eradicated the languages and cultures of their conquests. Sure, Magyars did the same but it was never this complete, well evidenced by early 20th century history.

[Josquius]

The carrot is mightier than the stick

[Valmy]

Gotta' hand it to the English, they eradicated the languages and cultures of their conquests. Sure, Magyars did the same but it was never this complete, well evidenced by early 20th century history.

Well the English themselves got conquered so many times they learned from the best.

[Sheilbh]

Gotta' hand it to the English, they eradicated the languages and cultures of their conquests. Sure, Magyars did the same but it was never this complete, well evidenced by early 20th century history.

Well the English themselves got conquered so many times they learned from the best.

This is also true. I think "gast" is from Old Norse where we also got lots of other words, plus obviously one of the reasons we now use "foreigner" is because of the Old French influence, not to mention the Norman influence etc.

[grumbler]

Well obviously not a Yorkshireman, I mean that goes without saying.

Yorkshiremen shouldn't even be allowed to perform the Four Yorkshiremen Skit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k

[Maladict]

Yorkshiremen shouldn't even be allowed to perform the Four Yorkshiremen Skit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k

The one with Rowan Atkinson (funny how many comedians are northerners) always cracks me up, John Cleese destroying Terry J at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlIXn0r0AY8

[celedhring]

[Admiral Yi]

Unconditioned air?  Is that the gag?