‘Ych a fi!’ Why was Kylie Minogue speaking Welsh on the Jonathan Ross show?

Kylie Minogue spoke some Welsh on the Jonathan Ros show while recounting the story of how her boyfriend had learnt some of the language to speak to her ‘Nain’.

Kylie said that the main Welsh word that stuck out from her childhood was “ych a fi” as her grandmother, Millie Jones, told her not to touch things.

Jonathan Ross had asked Kylie Minogue about a trip back to Australia for her grandmother’s 100th birthday. He asked Kylie Monogue how much Welsh she herself spoke.

“Literally like ‘Diolch yn fawr’. But actually the one word that you just reminded me when we were kids we’d hear was ‘Ycah-a-fi!’ a lot,” she said.

“Which means ‘yuk’ – ‘yuk’, getting mucky or something. ‘Ych a fi!’”

Jonathan Ross then asked about her partner who had learnt some Welsh to talk to her grandmother.

“Well he is Welsh. So he had been to Australia once before but for this trip because it was my Nain’s 100th birthday all the extended family were there, like family I haven’t seen in 15-20 years, so it really was kind of meet the parents time,” she said.

“And he’d just flown in the day before. You know the flight to Australia – you’re just sideways. And he did really well.

“They definitely approved. And when we settled down and Paul got to spend some time with my granny. He was up there for thinking he would do some Google research and just figure out how to do just a couple of phrases in Welsh. And would just drop that at the lunch table.

“And she just started talking – and I don’t know what she’s saying – but you could just see her come to life and love speaking Welsh to her. So he got top marks.”

 

‘Phenomenal’

Millie Jones appeared in an interview with S4C in 1994 which was shown on Jonathan Ross.

She was interviewed during a visit to Wales and spoke of her pride at the success of her grandaughters Kylie and Dannii. She said: “I’m really glad they did so well and went so far.

“It’s lovely to come back to Blaenau Ffestiniog to listen to the language.

“I don’t get much chance in Australia. No one speaks Welsh.”

Hi @kylieminogue and @DanniiMinogue! 🇦🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Here’s an interview with your Nain – Millie Jones on Welsh TV back in 1994! 🤩

We should be so lucky 😉

📺 Heno Aur
📆 Nos Fercher | Wednesday
🕗 20.00 @S4C pic.twitter.com/6P8sbh05xm

— Heno 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@HenoS4C) August 28, 2020

Kylie also said her grandmother will be celebrating her 101st birthday in just a few weeks.

“Two weeks’ time she’s going to be 101″ Kylie said.

“My mum just sent me a video of her getting down the road with a walker. She’s phenomenal. She either knits or plays scrabble on the iPad.”