Fighting the scourge of “Scum Welsh”

By Lane Greene

Scymraeg
1. Scum Welsh, or nonsensical Welsh (noun)
/skəmˈraiɡ/

“We are an actual living culture, not some mythical witch-people,” wrote Bethan Tovey-Walsh, a doctoral candidate in linguistics at Swansea University, in an outcry on Twitter at the use of Welsh in “The Witcher”, a fantasy book series and TV show. She castigated the programme’s use of Welsh words and names, as though Welsh were the secret tongue of a mystic land, rather than a modern, living language. Proponents of Welsh have worked hard to update and create new vocabulary for the scientific, technological and other innovations of 21st-century life. The number of Welsh speakers is rising. No wonder so many people bemoan the proliferation of “Scymraeg”, a word that mixes the English word “scum” and “Cymraeg” (the Welsh word for “Welsh” itself). Scymraeg describes computerised mistranslations of terms in public places, such as a “disabled parking” sign reading “Parcio i Bobi Anabl” or “park to bake the disabled”; and a sign that should say “cyclists dismount” but instead warns of a bladder disease in Welsh. Welsh tweeters use the hashtag #scymraeg to out offenders. “Witcher Welsh” and Scymraeg share the same problem: well-meaning people trying to use Welsh without taking it seriously. Welsh-users can take comfort in one thing: if they swear at those who bastardise their language, their targets won’t understand their insults.■

Illustration Richard Phipps