do all Scottish, Irish and Welsh speak English?

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<<'Welsh' comes from an I-E root meaning 'foreign',>>

Based on what evidence?<<

IIRC means "if I recall correctly". I was going on memory. I looked it up, and I can only find it as a Germanic root, but it may go back to PIE as well. This is from Wikipedia:

"The name "Wales", however, comes from a Germanic root word meaning (ironically) "stranger" or "foreigner," and as such is related to the names of several other European regions where Germanic peoples came into contact with indigenous non-Germanic cultures, including: Wallonia (Belgium), Valais (Switzerland), and Wallachia (Romania), as well as the "-wall" of Cornwall and even the "wal-" in the walnut tree. However, it has also been suggested that the prefix "Wall" acknowledges a people who had contact with the Roman empire (see Vlach)."

***"The name "Wales", however, comes from a Germanic root word meaning (ironically) "stranger" or "foreigner,"***

Ironically is indeed the operative word here. As far as the English, particularly, are concerned, the Welsh people have always been considered more "foreign" than have the other constituent member races of the entire British Isles, including what is now the people of the Republic of Ireland, who, technically, are really foreigners. Certainly we Scots have not been seen in quite the same light by the English as have the Welsh people as an entity.

I think that several factors are involved in this English perception of the Welsh as being "more foreign" - one being, of course, the survival of the Welsh Language, a Language seen as quite alien to English itself in so many ways. There are characteristics of Welsh that are more similar to some Continental Languages than there are to English. Bearing in mind the nature of the Welsh Language, you then have to consider the physical closeness of Wales to the main body of England geographically - ie the Midlands and Southern England generally, the areas most seen as the political powerhouse of England politically and culturally.

Here in Scotland we are considerably further away in distance from much of England (including London and the Home Counties) yet we are not seen as being as "foreign" as the Welsh as we do not have the "advantage" of a separate Language like they have.

Many English people feel a real sense of "difference" when crossing the border out of England and into Wales which they don't quite feel when driving out of England into Scotland. I think that is entirely due to the sudden change from Anglo Saxon place names in England to the "foreign" looking Welsh place names in Wales - not to mention the fact that all road signs immediately become bi-lingual, including road markings ie "Araf" "meaning "Slow" painted on the road surfaces. Each time I've driven over the English/Welsh border (four times now) I noticed that at first the English word took precedence above the Welsh word, but the further into Wales you go - ie further into the strongholds of the still surviving (and flourishing) Welsh Language the Welsh word takes precedence.

This simply doesn't happen when travelling back and forth over the Scottish / English border which I have done countless numbers of times - if I had a quid for each time I've crossed the border I'd have a bloody good holiday on one of the Greek islands....or take a cruise down the Nile..I'd love to go and take a peek at the newly resurrected King Tut. It's only when you get to the Gaelic speaking areas of Scotland (a very small part of the country in terms of area and population) that the issue of Language and bi-lingual signs comes into play. Anglo Saxon looking places names, by and large, persist along the highways and byways of the Southern Scottish roads once you cross over from England.

Because of this, Wales has always been seen as more "different" than up here in Scotland. Among the English, there has always been an attitude of hostility, to a certain degree, towards the Welsh people, much more so than towards us in Scotland. I think the reasons for this include the issues I've mentioned. Read through some of Shakespeare's plays which involve Welsh characeters (eg Fluellen in Henry V) and you will see a distinct disdain for the Welsh character as a whole, a sort of antipathy borne out of distrust and prejudice.

It's no accident that the English often used to recite, with relish, the words of a rhyme:

Taffy was a Welshman
Taffy was a thief
Taffy came to my house
And stole a side of beef

Taffy (or Taff) is the English slang word for a Welsh person.

It's also no accident that the Welsh people are much more well disposed to us Scots than they are to the English....speaking generally, of course. It's easy to understand the reasons why this is so. We are not seen as quite so "foreign" as are the English! :-)

From Josh Lalonde
<<IIRC means "if I recall correctly". I was going on memory. I looked it up, and I can only find it as a Germanic root, but it may go back to PIE as well. This is from Wikipedia:>>

That's what i thought as I tried to look in other I.E. languages.As for Wikipedia you should look at sceintifi journals to double check.

In Spain we don't establish many differences between the English and the Welsh, for us they both are simply "English", a catch them all term suitable for the English themselves, the Welsh and the Scotts, and sometimes even for the Irish. Yes I know that the correct term is "British citizens" but in Spain "English" is more popular than "British" and it is sometimes misused. Perhaps the Scotts are seen as the peoples with a more marked persnonality, different from the typical English way of being. I guess that Films like Braveheart had its effect on this. I remember that one former manager of Real Madrid FC, Benjamin Toshack , was referred by a reporter as " the English manager of RM ". He got notably angry and replied that he wasn't English but Welsh.

Your last paragraph, GUEST - very sensitive subject! - very sensitive issue all around. Many people outside this "Four countries in One" island (including only Northern Ireland and NOT the Republic of Ireland I hasten to add!) lump the whole country as England and the English. Totally wrong of course, but there you go.

Very few people abroad, though, would include us Scots in the English identity for the exact reason you gave - our separate identity is much more clearly defined than that of our Welsh brethren, so sadly they get lumped together with the English and this naturally would piss them off big time and who could blame them?

I reckon Wales is not anything like as well known as is Scotland in many parts of the world - maybe some people would wonder where the hell Wales is, although the term "England and Wales" automatically links those two countries together in many ways, especially in matters such as, for example, the law - the law / legal system of England and Wales combined is quite different in many ways from that of Scotland. The same goes for quite a number of other matters of administration.

From what I saw each time I was there, Wales is quite distinctly different from England in several ways, but maybe that is primarily down to the Language issue. The Welsh Language is, in fact, one of the oldest in the whole of Europe, and the fact that it has survived down through the centuries, - and to this day is now actually flourishing in many areas of the country, in spite of historically wicked attempts by English "invaders and subsequent tyrants occupying and subjugating the Welsh" to eradicate the Language.

The fact that the English dismally failed is testimony to the resilience and determination by the Welsh to retain their separare identity, culture and, above all, their native tongue. I reckon, too, that this is the root cause of English resentment against the Welsh to this day - sour grapes. :-)

From Damian in Edinburgh
<<The fact that the English dismally failed is testimony to the resilience and determination by the Welsh to retain their separare identity, culture and, above all, their native tongue. I reckon, too, that this is the root cause of English resentment against the Welsh to this day - sour grapes. :-) >>
I definately believe this also.