Stephanie Mae'n nhw'n cysgu'n tangnefeddus yn y hen wlad rwan .. A gaf i ysgrifennu i chi ..? South Welsh is a bit strange to a Northerner especially at first. The rough colloquialisms they use down there were for me at first unintelligible. As an example, "Shw'ma'chi bore'ma?" of the south really meant "Sut ydych chwi heddiw?" of the north. We in the north would shorten this at times, depending upon whom we were talking to. We would often contract it to, "Sut mae heddiw?" and sometimes, "Su'da'chi heddi?". So I suppose the northern colloquial Welsh must have been strange to the southerners! Sometimes the differences brought confusion and annoyance. In the north the normal word for "milk" is "llefrith" whereas it is "llaeth" in the south. In the north the normal word for "buttermilk" is "llaeth" whereas it is "llefrith" in the south. Once you know this and once you realise you are talking to a southerner you don't get buttermilk in your tea! Goodness knows what happens in mid-Wales! I felt insulted when first someone from the south called me a "hogyn". (I wondered whether it was related to "mochyn". When very young I was often called a "mochyn budr"! a phrase of endearment of course) It was never "hogyn" in the north, but, "bachgen" or "gwas". It was always "genneth" and not "merch". We all understood "merch" to mean "daughter". I remember my uncle discussing the strange word the southerners had for, "now". That is, "nawr", pointing out that it was an inversion of the northern, "rwan". He thought the southerners were probably more correct in that "nawr" was a contraction of "y hwn awr". The use of "gan" - "Oes telyn gennych chi?" "Oes cerddoriaeth gennyt ti?" does not register well with the southerners I've found. Of course the educated understand it and probably think it quaint! Some slight differences are interesting. We would always use "canu" in relation to playing a musical instrument whereas I find the southerners always use "chwarae" as if playing an instrument were a game. The numbering system of the north I far prefer. "Tri deg tri" is the southern version of "Un ar ddeg ar hugain". Some southerners are not familiar with it. The southern method is very simple but lacks a certain beauty. There are quite a number of words which are distinctly different. These cause no problem once they are known. The main difficulty I had in understanding people from the south was when they spoke in a contracted dialect in a slovenly manner. Of course the northerners never did this! This is the way I have found it. Others who live in Wales may know better. For me Welsh spoken well goes straight to the heart be it of the south or the north. Pob hwyl oddi'r ochr arall o'r byd. Sion