Being British in Swansea

My friend's son (English - and posh with it) was at Swansea uni. He loved it, and had a great time/got a really good degree.

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<hr>Most Taffs in the south aren't welsh (Celts) anyway but are descended from English people who moved there, mainly from the midlands, to work in the mines. <hr></blockquote>

During the 2nd half of the 19th century nearly 400,000 people migrated to South Wales. The majority of these were from Cornwall and Ireland, there was a substantial migration from other parts of Wales, people also came from England mainly Somerset and Gloucestershire to work the coal field. There were also a number of workers from Australia, Scotland and Italy. It was as the time the 2nd largest human migration on the planet (the largest being the USA).

To say the people of South Wales are from English descent is a little too strong.

The problem with the British Isles is that it is to easy to say that Welsh = Celt and English = Anglo-saxon. Most of the British Isles has a mixture of Blood from all over Europe and the world. Celt is often used to describe the Britons who were here before/during and after the Roman occupation, whilst Anglo-saxon desribes people from the North-west of the Germanic tribes who came to Britain in the latter part of the first millenia. It is often disputed what impact the Anglo-saxon tribes had, many now believe with the help of geneolgy that the Anglo-Saxon Invasion was one of cultural properties and not of genocide. If this is correct it means that the English are also from the Brithonic Bloodlines and are therefore Celts. However it is not that simple as I have not included any of the immigrants of the last 1200 years including the Dutch(Orange), Normans, Viking(Norse), Genoese, Huguenots, Rus, Palatines and the Iberians. With all these different people entering the isles it is highly unlikely that there are any 100% Britons(Celts) or any 100% Anglo-Saxons, in a recent survey suggests that 8 out of 10 people in the UK can be described as having a trace of Huguenot bloodline(i.e. French). So are the Welsh of the South of Wales celts or of English descent? the answer is both and neither as the spoils of time and migration have diluted the genelogical make-up of South Wales and the rest of Britain making being a Celt or an Anglo-saxon obsolete. To come to some conclusion and to draw a line on culture and nationality within Britain the only defining factor is that of boundaries, therefore the people of South Wales are Welsh (irrelevant of their genelogy).

Do you have to speak Welsh to be Welsh? NO, are the Maltese, the North Americans , the South African, Australians, Kiwis, Irish, Scottish, Belarussians, Brazilians, Mexicans etc.. anything other than the Nationality they are? No, Language is not important when determining Nationality. The two main reasons for Welsh being the minority language in Wales is the strength of English as an international language(and its close proximity to Wales) and that Wales was annexxed by England and Welsh was not a recognized language until recently(all trade, law, civil services etc have up untill recently been in English only! which if you cant understand makes paying your council tax difficult). If all your bills and letters arrived in Arabic then very soon you would have to learn Arabic to survive!

Are the Welsh Racist(towards English)? Yes they are but it is a 2 way street, Do the Welsh like being called Taffy or Sheep-shagger?

How about the popular ENGLISH nursey rhyme that starts: "taffy was a welshman, taffy was a thief...." is this not racist?

To answer the OPs question, are the Welsh racist? Yes they give as good as they get and have slightly more reason to do so.
the Welsh/Anglo relationship is a turbulent one but it is in noway extreme or violent, it is national pride and most insults and ridicules are in jest to be taken with a pinch of salt. Just like young siblings aguing when one screams "I Hate you" it is very often not the truth.

Thanks for going into such depth, Bananas. That was really interesting. And thanks for the answer to the original question - 'give as good as they get' doesn't sound bad.

Oh, and, thanks to everyone else who replied too. :)

Update for those who are interested:

I went up for a few days, loved it, thought the beach was gorgeous, liked the people I met so far (every ex-student and student seemed to have liked the uni), and overall have decided to put it as my first choice when applying.

Swansea is probably one of least racist places in the UK. Believe me, speaking with and Indian, Asian, American or even Queen's English twang won;t even get you a second look.