Scots/Scotch/Irish

[Robert Orr]

>From: William Ryan <wfr at SAS.AC.UK>

Perhaps the verb 'to scotch' is part of it but even
>that is not as potentially offensive as the verb 'to welsh', which
>caused a rumpus in Parliament a year or two ago, but has not forced the
>equally sensitive Welsh to seek a distinctive form of their name.

Actually, that IS surprising, considering the origin of the word "Welsh" 
(cf. German "welsch", also Polish "Wlochy", which apparently did cause a 
diplomatic storm with Italy recently, to which the Poles responded in a way 
that one wishes that English-speaking countries would in similar 
circumstances).

Why does English still use the French form for Cologne, but not the 
(approximate) Cantonese one for Beijing?

The earliest meaning of word in Germanic refers to "speakers of a Romance 
language who have shifted from a Celtic languge within living memory", 
although that would not apply to Wales itself.

Auberon Waugh once got some humorous mileage out of the fact that his 
surname was actually the singular of "Wales".

In earlier forms of Dutch "waals" refers to French. 

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