What are some differences in temperment and national character between the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish?
The majority of Scots, the Lowland Scots, are actually very much mixed-blood decendants with lots of English in them. These are the guys who hate the English most. If you don’t believe this, go and live there for a while. The Welsh, although occupied and subdued by the English for much longer than the Scots or Irish, somehow have managed to keep their language much better. In the northwest of Wales, in Gwynedd, most people still speak some Welsh and about 25% have it as a first language. The Irish, at least those in the Republic, although in armed conflict with the British until the 20th century, seem to have resolved their antagonisms with the English more completely than the Scots and Welsh. Probably because of their full independence they don’t feel beholden to us any more. In my view the Irish have held on to their culture’s separate mentality more than the Scots or Welsh, if not their language. They have a lyrical mentality, using relatively more right brain hemispere (if I may so