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Chei di ddim byw mewn tre
Feb. 12th, 2005 09:09 pmThanks to BBC News by way of Bookslut for this one:
As part of an annual Eistedfodd (literary and musical competition) in Cardiff, Wales, the poem "Chei di ddim odli" ("There shall be no rhymers"), by Myrddin ap Dafydd*, has been chosen for schoolchildren to recite. In the process of describing fourteenth-century English oppression of the Welsh people, "Chei di ddim odli" apparently uses a naughty word or two. Teachers are scandalized that they have to translate the Welsh word for "bum" to their nine- and ten-year-old students.
The full text of the poem is here.
Damn, I wish I could read Welsh.
*Myrddin ap Dafydd either picked a really vainglorious pseudonym or had rather psychotically nationalist parents. "Myrddin" is the original name of the figure we know as Merlin. In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth decided to Latinize his name as "Merlinus" instead of "Merdinus" because, really, who would respect a wizard with merde in his name?
As part of an annual Eistedfodd (literary and musical competition) in Cardiff, Wales, the poem "Chei di ddim odli" ("There shall be no rhymers"), by Myrddin ap Dafydd*, has been chosen for schoolchildren to recite. In the process of describing fourteenth-century English oppression of the Welsh people, "Chei di ddim odli" apparently uses a naughty word or two. Teachers are scandalized that they have to translate the Welsh word for "bum" to their nine- and ten-year-old students.
The full text of the poem is here.
Damn, I wish I could read Welsh.
*Myrddin ap Dafydd either picked a really vainglorious pseudonym or had rather psychotically nationalist parents. "Myrddin" is the original name of the figure we know as Merlin. In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth decided to Latinize his name as "Merlinus" instead of "Merdinus" because, really, who would respect a wizard with merde in his name?
