Signwriters and spelling

[Michael]

      I have always been a bad speller. Funnily enough, my computer spell checker does'ent like the way I have spelt sign writers in the subject panel but I don't care, a sign writer is an occupation and is one word in my book.
      However I also appear to have the ability to spot any else's mistakes from a mile away. The number of times I have seen a sign writer spending a couple of days with his paints and brushes and then to see a glaring mistake is unbelievable.
   Anyway, now we get into welsh politics.  In Belgrano a VERY large building project is about to start. Named, I think, in English "Village by the Sea."  Guess what? They have also been told to paint the Welsh version, so, here goes, the very first word, very large, very expensively painted for a big development         LAN.     Just in case anyone has just moved to Wales and is unaware, this should of course be  LLAN.
    Its on the left hand side heading towards Rhyl.  I wonder how long it will be before someone tells them.   Mike

[Bellringer]

Spell checkers also insist that "Bellringer" is two words!

[Yorkie]

Spell checkers also insist that "Bellringer" is two words!

Schizophrenic Dictionary!     

[Hugo]

 Anyway, now we get into welsh politics.  In Belgrano a VERY large building project is about to start. Named, I think, in English "Village by the Sea."  Guess what? They have also been told to paint the Welsh version, so, here goes, the very first word, very large, very expensively painted for a big development         LAN.     Just in case anyone has just moved to Wales and is unaware, this should of course be  LLAN.
    Its on the left hand side heading towards Rhyl.  I wonder how long it will be before someone tells them.   Mike
[/quote]

I haven't noticed it myself Mike but if LLan is the first name then of course it should be LLan and not Lan.   However because of mutations within the Welsh language it can be mutated to Lan in some instances,  even on name places.   For example O Landudno ( of LLandudno)   
To be a bit more pedantic too, if it's written in Welsh shouldn't the LL be in capital letters seeing that in the Welsh alphabet LL is actually only one letter?
As a matter of interest what is the full Welsh name on the board.

[Michael]

   On the board it reads   "Lan y Mor"      Mike

[SDQ]

I've heard of Glan Y Môr

[DaveR]

   On the board it reads   "Lan y Mor"      Mike

It's correct, it translates as 'The Shore'.

[Merddin Emrys]

Lan y mor, beside the sea, also a well known song! 

[Hugo]

Mike, it is grammatically incorrect and should have been spelt as Glan Y Mor.   They have mutated the Glan by dropping the letter G but in this context the sign is incorrect.
Glan = shore
Llan = Church

Anyway Iechyd da a Nadolig llawen i chi.        Z**   

[Michael]

Hello to all and especially Hugo. I didn't realise the complexities of the Welsh language.

   I had  a. Good look at this Belgrano sign, and I may have misled you. The full writing states

      Pentre Lan-y-Mor

       Village by the sea

  So I don't know whether I am wasting everyone's time in saying this is a mistake.

  As to the double L I e LL. As you know my second name is Lloyd so I understand the confusion. Many years ago I worked with men from Caernarvon and they nicknamed me " 2 L O " which was a call sign for a well known radio station.
  If I had to give my initials and surname on forms,letters etc I always put.    M. LL. Owen. The return letters were never copied correctly, the LL was taken as being L. L. Or U or W of God knows what.
 Also when I was a tour manager I used to try to explain to Americans that the LL was pronounced CL which was the best I could do. Once a passenger pulled me up and said "if LL is pronounced CL why isn't your second name pronounced Cloyd? I was lost.
 In the past I was always puzzled why probably the most famous Welshman ever, LLoyd George was spoken of as LLoyd George. I now think the answer that the name LLwyd has been anglicised and nobody worried about it 100 years ago. Mike

[Nemesis]

Back on the subject of spelling.
Today, in town, I spotted a sign outside a shop saying
'reefs 1/2 price'
needless to say they were tinsel, not coral! 

[Tosh]

We always have a little smile when we drive past Bodafon farm and see the Clamas (Llamas) in the field.

[Michael]

     In my earlier post I committed the unforgivable sin of spelling Caernarfon with a "v". Dont know what made me do that, this worry about the Welsh spelling must be going to my head. Mike

[Hugo]

Hi Mike,  in this instance the spelling of Pentre Lan Y Mor would be correct as Glan is preceded by a vowel and therefore mutates to Lan.
However the correct word for village is Pentref but quite often people drop the "f" at the end of words so again it is not quite correct but at least people know what the name means.

[Hugo]

All this reminds me of the joke that was going around when William Hague was getting married to Ffion Jenkins and it went something like this:-
" There are two f's in Ffion but there is only one f in William Hague"