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Welsh a hit on TikTok – as over four million watch Alexa using the language to swear at Boris Johnson

07 Jun 2022 2 minute read
Westminster Government Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture by Annika Haas (CC BY 2.0). Right, a GWR train at Cardiff Central station. Phot by Dai Lygad is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Right, Tik Tok.

Thousands of TikTok users have uploaded videos of themselves using the Welsh language to make Alexa swear at Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with the most popular earning over 4.1m views.

Asked to translate ‘Boris Johnson carrots coffee bean 100’, the virtual assistant technology will answer ‘ffa coffi moron Boris Johnson cant’ – which sounds suspiciously to non-Welsh speaking areas like a string of English language swearwords.

Coffee bean translates to ‘ffa coffi’ in Welsh, while carrot is ‘moron’ and 100 is ‘cant’.

One of the TikTok videos alone had earned more than 4.1m views, with thousands of others posting their own version and some racking up tens of thousands of hits.

@football_ben #funny#BorisJohnson#welsh ♬ original sound – Ben

Welsh speakers have long been aware that the translation for coffee beans sounds like ‘f**k off’ in English, with Gruff Rhys’ pre-Super Furry Animals Band, Ffa Coffi Pawb, leading the way.

Welsh speakers don’t need to use words that sound rude in English though, as Welsh has its own wide selection of insults to aim at their enemies.


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Ianto Ffrainc
Ianto Ffrainc
2 years ago

And I cannot think of a more appropriate use of our esteemed language

Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
2 years ago
Reply to  Ianto Ffrainc

The esteemed Miriam Margolyes has given her opinion on England, the English and their voting habits in fruity Anglo-Saxon.
And she was born English.

Ianto Ffrainc
Ianto Ffrainc
2 years ago
Reply to  Kerry Davies

She is absolutely hilarious and has no filter at all.

I.Humphrys
I.Humphrys
2 years ago

Please stop going down this road.

Ianto Ffrainc
Ianto Ffrainc
2 years ago
Reply to  I.Humphrys

Why? It’s a bit of fun.

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