Thursday, 30 November 2006

Saws, Sawses (English, cf. 'furriner') (GanS 3)

This strange race comes in 3 tribes who appear to vary widely in their habits and behaviour:
(1) The numerous, basic but irrelevant 'Saws(es) sempel':
Ones who know nothing of Cornwall and its language, and care even less. Members of the migratory 'Emmet' cohorts of this tribe of Sawson are useful to the natives, however, as a source of seasonal income:
Saws sempel came down like a sheep on the fold,
And his pockets were gleaming with silver and gold;
And the fleecing and shearing was wondrous to do,
While the blue wave rolled nightly from Mousehole to Looe.
Arluth Byr-on (1788–1824)

(2) The horrible 'Saws(es) scruthus':
Ones who use a depraved form of Cornish that I don't. These contemptible furriners have no place in the language Revival movement, especially if they're educated, and extra especially if they have more academic letters after their name than I do.

Some naturalised members of this tribe used to be Cornish quislings who wilfully embraced the wrong form of Kernewek, and were therefore stripped of their Cornish citizenship and sternly hounded out of the Duchy. As the old saw has it,
Crampedhen hep oyow terrys, ny yller kegy an cok!

(3) The wise & civilised 'Saws(es) skyansek'
Ones who use the right form of Cornish, just like I do. These worthy souls may be granted honorary Cornish citizenship, a Cornified name on their birth certificate, and even a revised birth-place on God's own side of the Tamar.

Curiously enough, this tri-tribal division is found with each of the divers other races in Cornwall, including Manx, Masai, Mongols, Magyars, Georgians … and even the Cornish themselves.

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