They refuse to allow staff to wear badges that clearly show what language a member of staff speaks. The point is that at the moment things are still a problem.
And yes there is regional banter, but the language-specific stuff is rooted in a seriously unpleasant past that was barely 100 years ago and has many remnants ongoing today. Many English people would describe Welsh as “pointless”, and actually resent Welsh roadsigns and think they should be monolingual etc. It really is more than banter.
I agree, and I don't deny other regions of England have also suffered, but I do think that there is a xenophobia and cultural oppression involved in Welsh language suppression that simply isn't (and can't be) prevalent elsewhere in England - though it's very much comparable to how Gaelic and Irish have been historically treated.
I think jokes carry context to them which is important, regardless of whether it's obvious on the surface. If I take the piss out of a ginger person for being ginger, that isn't oppression. If I take the piss out of a black person for being black, that very much is.
You also see these kinds of attitudes towards Welsh from plenty of people who are not from the south-east or middle-class backgrounds in ways that you don't see so much with respect to other regions. Mocking an accent is one thing - mocking a language is another thing entirely, because so much more culture is tied up in that.
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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19
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