'Verboseness': an expressive style that uses excessive or empty words.
The very first time I visited England, back in the early 1990s, one of the same-but-different curiosities which struck me was the over-blown verbosity of the public signs. For example, I recall a sign that said something like:
“Please do not feed the pigeons that congregate here. Feeding them encourages them to congregate and unfortunately they cause a great deal of damage which is expensive to repair. Thank you.”
In any other country, such a sign would likely read merely:
“Do not feed the birds”
This turned out to be not an isolated example, and today I still chuckle at the copious amounts of text that the English prefer to use when communicating via signs. Part of it is the urge to politeness (at least in writing!) - the need to begin with “please” and end with “thank you”. But part of it just seems to be an innate love of chatting. Perhaps this is not inappropriate in the land where the English language itself originates.
I have collected a few examples for your delectation:
My first visit to Wales. I noted a few odds and ends to report:
I breezed through Cardiff (the capital of Wales), where my train arrived, but was there long enough to form the impression that the people of Cardiff are very sporting. No fewer than two football stadiums, one holds 75,000 and the other 35,000. The big one is right in the centre of the city a block or two from the railway station. Handy.
Falcon!
Animal life: On my drive from Cardiff to Brecon in the Brecon Beacons (as the main mountains in South Wales are called) the road-kill consisted of a pheasant, a badger, a small deer and a squirrel. The live animals I saw consisted exclusively of sheep - many sheep, with many baby lambs, newly born. Some black lambs. Some sheep with white wool and black spindley legs. Sheep with long woolly tails. And falcons: stopping for a sandwich at the Brecon Beacons National Park Centre I was greeted by a display of captive falcons; and I swear that I later saw one sitting on a roadside branch, looking hungrily about.
Welsh Rarebit.
Food: good local produce and plain country fare, including home-baked bread, wonderful cheese, and - in one excellent find - rock cakes like my Nanna used to make. I did eat Welsh Rarebit, and nice and cheesy it was too. The other predominant food (in addition to lamb) is leeks. In most things. A National Vegetable.
And now we come to the language. I expected to be a bit baffled, but I’ve never before known the GPS lady betwattled. After a few game tries on place names like “Merthyr Tydfil” she completely gave up on “Ffwrd” (“Turn left into F-F-W-R-D Road”, she spelled out). The same with “Stwff” and “Cwm”. Even I know “Cwm” is “coom”.
Ah, the lilting Welsh language! Here’s a Basic Guide (if you can follow it) cribbed from a tourist brochure:
WelshEquivalent sound
Ccath(cat)cat (never as in receive)
Chchwaer(sister)ch as in loch
Ddyd dda (good)dd is pronounced as th in them
Fy fam (the mother) f sounds like a v
Llllaw (hand)Tricky one, the nearest sound in English is
L with a th in front of it
Thbyth (ever)three (never as in the)
A few greetings:
Bore DaGood morning
Noswaith ddaGood evening
Sut mae?How are you?
DiolchThank you
DaGood
Dydd Da Good day
Nos daGood night
HwylCheers
CroesoWelcome
Iechyd daGood health
CymruWales
I must say that despite the teensy language gulf, the Welsh showed themselves a very welcoming, friendly people. After all, one of the most famous Welsh songs is:
We'll keep a welcome in the hillside
We'll keep a welcome in the Vales
This land you knew will still be singing
When you come home again to Wales.
Which is an excellent lead-in to that other thing that Wales is famous for: male voice choirs and magnificent singing:
