“And why did this Probert pretend to be so Welsh? I remembered that like me he’d been awarded nought for Welsh in School Certificate. Such a result, in that language, means an almost psychotic ignorance. It’s standard practice, of course, with writers of Probert’s allegiance to pretend to be wild valley babblers, woaded with pit-dirt and sheep-shit, thinking in Welsh the whole time and obsessed by terrible beauty, etc., but in fact they tend to come from comfortable middle-class homes, have a good urban education, never go near a lay preacher and couldn’t even order a pint in Welsh, falling back, as Probert had done earlier in the evening, on things like the Welsh for big Jesus. (And don’t tell me they can think in Welsh without knowing the language. Ever tried thinking in Bantu?)”
― That Uncertain Feeling
― That Uncertain Feeling
“They went outside and stood where a sign used to say Taxi and now said Taxi/Tacsi for the benefit of Welsh people who had never seen a letter X before.”
― The Old Devils
― The Old Devils
“And so to bed.”
― The Diary of Samuel Pepys
― The Diary of Samuel Pepys
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