Mercedes Durham
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drswissmiss.bsky.social
Mercedes Durham
@drswissmiss.bsky.social
1.3K followers 450 following 710 posts
Multilingual, multicultural, multilovely.
Professor of Sociolinguistics at Cardiff University 🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇺🇸
Currently studying varieties of Welsh English
She/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
drswissmiss.bsky.social
We don't have tons of responses from Monmouthshire (or Powys) but based on what we have, I'd say it's not used as much as in the Valleys but it's defintely still there. The map shows the rates across all of Wales by county.
Map of Welsh counties showing the rates of bother with compared to spend time with. Yellow and orange show high rates while purple and violet show low rates. The yellow bits are concentrated on the Valleys.
September 30, 2025 at 11:42 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
First plenaryof #UKLVC15 definitely needs a post @christianilbury.bsky.social on social media and sociolinguistic change
Shot of screen and presenter - screen shows a mobile phone
September 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
The (baked potato) sights of Chepstow.
Sculpture of what definitely looks like baked potato in foil. It’s by a stone marker and overlooks a river at low tide (brown, muddy water)
August 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Cat checking you’re ok
Cat head peeking down from upstairs
August 22, 2025 at 5:22 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Slightly unexpected linguistic landscape in Switzerland - Welsh!

(It’s in the French speaking part of Valais, so German not required)
#linguistics
Plaque noting the twinning of Champéry and Llandudno - the text is in French, Welsh and English
July 25, 2025 at 6:42 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
NBD just the view I had from the train going to high school and then uni every day #leman #chillon
View of the chateau de Chillon with lake Geneva in forefront and the dents du midi in the background. It’s a lovely sunny day
April 19, 2025 at 8:12 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Clueless is 30 years old? Way harsh.
Picture of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless showing it’s the 30th anniversary this year
April 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
I only know about the turkeys, because it's family lore that when my dad (who was then vegetarian) first had Thanksgiving at my maternal grandparents' house, my grandma told him he had to eat turkey with them and then handed him this www.carvel.com/take-home-tr...
Soft scoop ice cream with light brown coating (caramel?) and a turkey tail on a biscuit in yellow, orange and red and an organ turkey head.
March 14, 2025 at 2:48 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Spotted on campus.
Cartoon/meme of man in tattered shirt speaking to children (also in tattered clothes) around a campfire with the words ‘yes but for one incredible year we were in the QS Top 100
March 6, 2025 at 8:07 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
I don't know how anyone's else is feeling about things these days, but maybe you'd like to see what Eng words are used across Wales for when you're really angry?
People are mostly fuming or tamping with some raging and being furious #WelshEnglish
Take the survey at speakforyersel.ac.uk/wales/
Map of Wales with dots representing responses for fuming. These are spread across Wales. Map of Wales with dots showing responses for tamping. These are mostly in the south. Graph showing distribution of fuming, tamping, furious and raging across locations in Wales. Northern areas are mostly fuming, while southern and mid areas have either similar rates of fuming and tamping or more tamping.
February 19, 2025 at 11:57 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Find someone who buys you a book you saw years ago in Paris and wanted just for the title (even if the title is kind of insulting to him and all men)
Copy of the book by Mabrouck Rachedi Tous les hommes sont des causes perdues (all men are lost causes)
February 14, 2025 at 6:46 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
South Wales today? (from Speak for yersel - Wales site)
(It's in the interview data for Pontypridd and Caerphilly too but I haven't analysed it yet)
Map of Wales showing dots for participants who responded either 'I'd say this myself' or 'People around me say this' - mostly concentrated to the south east.
January 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
#LinguistBabyPhotos
While changing trains at Reading Station, “stop! I have to do my feelings!”
(Definitely not a construction he’d heard before this time)
Computer with sign below saying ‘share your station experience with us’ and with three smiley faces :) :| and :(
December 30, 2024 at 8:34 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
I briefly mention why it’s not likely to be useful to study linguistic attitudes on twitter in this chapter www.cambridge.org/core/books/r... But it looks like I was way more diplomatic about it than I felt!
3.5 New or Emerging Trends Some research at the intersection of big data and attitudinal research uses automated sentiment analysis in order to quickly assess hundreds of thousands of posts (Taboada2016). It would theoretically be possible to do this for linguistic attitudes as well, as it can provide a broad view of what is going on, but no studies have done so thus far. It may be that for the time being the process is not nuanced enough for the type of short posts generally used in linguistic studies examining attitudes. For example, tweets of the type ‘Lots of people hate the Welsh accent, but I don’t’ would be coded as negative rather than positive, meaning the results run the risk of being inaccurate.
December 5, 2024 at 8:35 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
We're nearly at 1500 responses! So here's some figures about 'bother' meaning be friends with/ to hang out with. It's a mainly South Wales expression, but is used elsewhere in Wales. This meaning doesn't seem to be in the OED (yet). #WelshEnglish #linguistics
speakforyersel.ac.uk/wales/
Map of Wales with dots representing a yes response to the question: Can you use 'bother with' to mean you're friends with someone or you spend time with them? E.g. I bother with Jane. The responses are concentrated in South East Wales with a couple across the country. Map of Wales showing the no responses to the bother question. The dots are spread across Wales Bar graph showing the yes responses to the bother questions. Blenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Tag and Torfaen have the highest responses, while the lowest ones are from North Wales.
November 29, 2024 at 1:23 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Hedgehog and bowl for ice cream
Pinecone hedgehog in white bowl with the words “please sir I want some more” from Oliver Twist inscribed
November 16, 2024 at 7:54 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Anyone up for a Welsh English pronunciation feature?
Do you say tooth or twth (tuth)?
This time I'm including a graph to make it easier to see the regional distribution.
The survey has got about 1300 responses now, but we'd love more!
speakforyersel.ac.uk/wales/ #linguistics #WelshEnglish #twth
Map of Wales with dots showing the respondents who choose twth/tuth. Most points are concentrated in SE Wales Map of Wales with points showing respondents who chose tooth. This has a more balanced distribution across areas. Graph showing rates of use across Welsh areas - those in the North are lower than those in the South. Blaenau Gwent, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Torfaen are highest (around 90%).
November 8, 2024 at 3:01 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
It may be one of the least important individual votes in the US (D.C. has voted over 90% Democrat in the last 4 elections anyway so all I'm doing is raising that a tiny bit) but still glad to know it'll count.
Picture showing a green circle with the words Completed inside. Below it: 2024 General Election. Ballot Accepted 11/04/2024. Your ballot has been accepted! Your voter packet has been Accepted by the DCBOE. Thanks for voting!
November 4, 2024 at 5:56 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Today's feature from SFY-Wales is one of my favourites, right dislocation. Participants in SE Wales have the highest rates of 'I would say it myself' but it's used throughout Wales.
See more results or take the survey here: speakforyersel.ac.uk/wales/
#WelshEnglish #linguistics #rightdislocation
Map showing points for locations where respondents said they would say a phrase such as 'It's brilliant, it is' themselves. There are more points in the South East, but there are responses throughout Wales. Map showing points for locations where respondents said they have heard people around them say a phrase such as 'It's brilliant, it is' themselves. There are not as many points on this map than the say it myself one, but responses are dotted through the country (with again more in SE Wales) Map showing points for locations where respondents said they have heard people elsewhere say 'It's brilliant, it is'. There are dots throughout the country, with a better balance between North and South than previous ones. Map showing points for locations where respondents said they have never heard a phrase such as 'It's brilliant, it is'. There are few responses here mostly in SE and NW.
November 1, 2024 at 11:55 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
We've got more than 300 responses so here's some initial results. Where in Wales do people say cwtch, hug and cuddle?
You can take the survey here: speakforyersel.ac.uk/wales/

#WelshEnglish #linguistics
Map of Wales showing dots for locations where people reported using the term cwtch - these are clustered in the South. Map of Wales showing dots in locations where people reporting using hug. There aren't that many but they are evenly distributed in the North and South. Map of Wales showing dots for the locations where people reported using cuddle. There are only a handful of responses (there's a cluster in Cardiff, but there are more responses there than other locations overall so it's not really showing a pattern).
October 31, 2024 at 3:23 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
I can live with this 🤣

Check out my Veggie ID! You can create yours at sophie006liu.github.io/vegetal/
Veggie ID Leek Strengths: -Beautiful smile -Extremely good at listening -Remarkable work life balance Weakness: -Laughs at a joke 11 minutes later -Has a hard time opening up -Oblivious to all romantic signs "I like your outfit today!" "linsert anything] type beat" Alignment: Lawful 55%, Neutral 35%, Chaotic 5% Good 70%, Neutral 20%, Evil 10% Hidden Talent: Very good at driving, GOOD AT TEXTING Peer reviews: "How do they make it look so easy?" - Napa cabbage "I somehow want to be them but not want to be them at the same time"- Broccoli
October 6, 2024 at 3:55 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Not quite ready to be an elder 😂 but okay I can live with being in the first 10%
Bluesky message showing I was 196,628th person to join bluesky and there are now 10M users.
September 17, 2024 at 9:30 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Proofing a book chapter and for some reason it amuses me that it’s just titled English. (It’s for an edited volume on the languages in Switzerland so makes sense in that context but still…)
First page of book chapter. Title is ‘English’. Next line shows author (me) and is followed by 1 Introduction and partial view of first sentences
September 16, 2024 at 2:44 PM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
Release The Aristocats was originally released to theaters on December 24, 1970. The film was released as a double feature with Niok, the Orphan Elephant (1957).[27] It was re-released in theaters in 1980 and 1987.
September 1, 2024 at 6:18 AM
drswissmiss.bsky.social
The problem with spotting anglicisms in Swiss French is that I don’t spend enough (ok, any) ‘ time in France to know if they’re found there too. But anyway today’s is hot (for chaud meaning spicy in this context) #linguistics
Poster advertising seasoning (Aromat) in front of shopping mall. Wording: Quand ton hot-dog n’est pas si hot.
August 28, 2024 at 7:55 PM