So - this morning's news. The Brecon Beacons are going to be renamed because of the "Beacons" being an association with burning, which is not eco friendly . . .
Snowdon/Snowdonia has already been renamed - now to be known as Y Wyddfa and Eyriri after 5,000 people signed a petition calling for a change. Yes, this is Wales and it should be named in Welsh and promoting the Welsh language. Incomers will struggle to pronounce either though!
But the renaming of the Brecon Beacons for "eco" reasons - this sort of thing makes me cross - FFS, idiots bending over backwards to be part of Wokery and blardy tomfoolery. Elsewhere they are going all out to destroy or rewrite our history totally. Rename in Welsh to promote the language not for any other feeble reasons.
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"Catherine Mealing-Jones, the chief executive of Brecon Beacons National Park, said: "We're an environmental organization. We're trying to cut carbon and push to net zero. So, having a carbon burning beacon just isn't a good look.
We've had some awful wildfires over the last few years (Yes dear, some of it's called arson), so anything that promotes that idea that fire in the landscape is a good thing (it doesn't, surely?) made us feel that it probably wasn't the look we're going for."
"The name change is in "direct response to the climate and biodiversity emergency", and is part of a broader new vision for the park that includes onshore wind turbines and reduced sheep numbers. The park aims to reach net zero in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035."
Here is a link to the article in the Telegraph newspaper. The new name is Bannau Brecheiniog, which is Welsh for (chuckles) Brecon Beacons!!! Not April 1st is it?
The 'beacon' thing is just stupid.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Tom.
DeleteWhen I heard this just now on the radio I actually had to make sure that today was the 17th and not the 1st!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it wasn't just me raising my eyebrows!
DeleteAt least , like Eryri, reverting to the original Welsh name is not giving it a made up new English one!!
ReplyDeleteI call Brecon Brycheiniog anyway - lovely historic name remembering a king who sired a couple of dozen saints! He changed the original name from Garthmadrun. Have to say I prefer his choice. . . Now it's happening all over again!!
DeleteYou are kidding me!! You must be....
ReplyDeleteNo, check the date . . . or perhaps we are in a timewarp!
Delete“I don’t believe it”, to quote a certain Victor Meldrew (for overseas readers VM is an irascible fictional TV character) You couldn’t make this name change story up could you. Let’s hope they put the English translation underneath on signs like the road signs otherwise everyone will get lost.
ReplyDeleteYes, there will be a translation beneath the Welsh name. Mind you, the Beacons stick up a bit from the landscape, so you are bound to know where you're going!!
DeleteHaven't seen this so going to dash off to see if I can find an article. Seeing your reply to gz, brings to mind how we are now Pembrokeshire formerly Dyfed, formerly Pembrokeshire, formerly Dyfed, No, that's not the computer repeating everything.
ReplyDeleteWorking in the tourist industry was an eye opener regarding the mispronunciations of so many towns, villages and hamlets.
Are you back to Dyfed again now then? My friend always pronounces Builth "Bulith"!
DeleteAlthough we are officially Pembrokeshire. You'd be surprised at the autofill and post that still filters through under Dyfed. I could write a book on mispronunciations.
DeleteIt's just ridiculous isn't it. Things should not be renamed except for very specific reasons, and this certainly is not the case here. Why are we rewriting so much of our history just to fit in with the few that complain the loudest ... and for the stupidest of reasons.
ReplyDeleteOh boy do I agree about us rewriting history and denigrating our Greatest men, all because some folk with gigantic chips on their shoulders are making sufficient noise. Then it gets done over in tv programmes (Beeb you are not helping matters) and as for how Dickens should have written Great Expectations . . . words fail me. Yes, he probably swore but he certainly wasn't put in bed with the village floozie to learn his tricks and certainly didn't smoke Opium! no more did Miss Haversham.
DeleteI think that when an organization starts making changes like that, really, they are damaging their own relevance. In keeping with this line of thinking, they would never hire a Byrne to work for them. It would not be a good match.
ReplyDelete'It would not be a good match.'
DeleteHaha, good one!
That'll be even more tourists failing to reach their destination then. Unless, of course, they handily put Brecon Beacons underneath the Welsh on the signs.
ReplyDeleteWell, all the signage will be in Welsh and English. It's the hanging this change on eco principles which sticks in my craw.
DeleteThink of all the money that will be spent on new signs......such a waste of everything!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, as I'm sure there is signage showing a Beacon . . .
DeleteWhat a joke. Let's change Bonfire Night to Hung, Drawn and Quartered Night and I suppose we better ban toast. I struggled to remember Eyri until our language course covered the weather, an important part of any conversation and learnt that bwrw eira means snowing. Yr Wyddfa is easy to remember as swyddfa/ office, not an obvious connection but it stuck in my mind. Both names are difficult if you hasven't been taught Welsh phonics. A good thing they didn't opt for llechwooedd/slopes.
ReplyDeleteYour Welsh sounds better than mine, which is extremely limited (I don't have a language bump!) I can translate place names on a map though and pronounce basic Welsh ok. Daughter Tam got her new job partly because she had gone to Welsh speaking schools and used to be fluent and it's all come back now and she uses her Welsh a lot.
DeleteI just think people haven't got much to do in their jobs and so invent tasks. But I am glad Welsh is slowly being introduced as part of the naming of the country. Even though Welsh is impossible to speak!
ReplyDeleteI read about this on the BBC news site and then went to the source and could not find anything about changing the name due to ecological reasons. I think our National Parks should be leading the way and setting an example when it comes to good ecological practice but I suspect this is is the Daily Telegraph’s spin on the story to get people hot under the collar and it seems to have worked! We have referred to Yr Wyddfa and Eeyri (land of the eagles!) ) since the 1990s and now I am proud to include Bannau Breichaeiniog (probably spelt this new to me Welsh name incorrectly) to my very limited knowledge of Welsh. I am surprised BB that you are not embracing the old Welsh name. I think many Victorians managed their pain and illness with opium. It was widely available after all, hence opium of the masses. I am enjoying the desanitisation of Dickens who was in my opinion a dreadful man and treated his women abominably. Great Expectations was my O level English Lit text and Bleak House was my A level English text, and I deliberately didn’t study Dickens during my English Lit degree. Everything is happening in the garden right now - so exciting - and I am just on my way into the garden to enjoy the spring sunshine and the birds and the bees while I potter around. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteWasn't there a time when Welsh children were punished for speaking Welsh in school? [not sure that is quite relevant to the discussion, but it popped into my head as a bit of irony.] "Wokery" in this country has gone beyond the point of idiocy. History is what it is; one person's hero is another person's monster! A person who is reduced to fear and trembling because of proximity to a 'statue' or upon hearing the name of an athletic team, etc, needs mental health counseling, not a 'there, there, we'll take away your bogeyman!'
ReplyDeleteTry working in a secondary school! There's little you can say without crossing the line and offending somebody/something. Dismal times.
ReplyDelete