# Macca + Psychotherapy



## Rhisiart (Oct 21, 2006)

Apparently, Sir Paul McCartney is now seeking therapy during his tumultuous divorce with his current missus (can't remember her name). 

According to the press (so therefore probably complete bollocks) she has accused him of being a bit rotten to her. 

Rough gig for both of them. Who knows what went on behind several front doors?

No, I am not plunging poor old MacOSX into gossip gutter, but is psychotherapy complete snake oil, vis-a-vis Voltaire's statement that the purpose of therapy [sic] is to entertain the patient whilst nature takes its course?


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## lurk (Oct 23, 2006)

Depends on what your expectations are.  See if you can raise EdX from the grave and ask him.


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## octavedoctor (Nov 15, 2006)

Swt 'wy ti Rhisiart!

As a former psychologist (and current Samaritan) I'm with Voltaire on this one.

People find their own solutions, but sometimes the process needs facilitation...


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## Rhisiart (Nov 15, 2006)

octavedoctor said:


> Swt 'wy ti Rhisiart!
> 
> As a former psychologist (and current Samaritan) I'm with Voltaire on this one.
> 
> People find their own solutions, but sometimes the process needs facilitation...


S'mae octavedoctor. Iawn diolch. Dwy'n dod o Henllan ger Dinbych.

Voltaire also said 'the purpose of medicine is to entertain the patient, whilst nature takes its course'. Mali cachu?


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## Ferdinand (Nov 19, 2006)

rhisiart said:


> S'mae octavedoctor. Iawn diolch. Dwy'n dod o Henllan ger Dinbych.



What's that for a language??????


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## fryke (Nov 19, 2006)

Well, I think it's a little more complicated. There certainly are many cases where the individual would/should have no problem solving things on their own, with friends or relatives - as well as simply letting time pass by. But there are also quite serious situations and conditions where you simply _need_ the help of an outsider.


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## Viro (Nov 19, 2006)

Ferdinand said:


> What's that for a language??????



Welsh, I'm guessing.


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## octavedoctor (Nov 21, 2006)

Ferdinand said:


> What's that for a language??????



Welsh/Cymraeg.

i regret to say i'm not as fluent in it as Rhisiart (that's Welsh for Richard)

Dwin dod o Caerfili a'r Cwm Rhymni, BTW Rhis. 

Strange coincidence, I've only just returned from Tenby where we had our Samaritans regional officers' retreat. I took this photo of the moon from North Beach


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## Rhisiart (Nov 24, 2006)

Viro said:


> Welsh, I'm guessing.


Yes. 2,000 year old language, with a slightly different alphabet to English, German and French. Spoken by one third of the 3,000,000 people living in Wales, but only about a further third of those as their first language (i.e. spoken at home). Used to be spoken by 90% in the country 100 years ago, but a lack of a Welsh media messed things up a bit.

My Welsh is very rusty, having lived in England for 12 years and then four years in Ireland. It's a hard language to learn.

P.S. That's a great picture octavedoctor.


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## reed (Dec 15, 2006)

"Jones." That's all the Welsh I know. I won't bud in any longer.


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## Rhisiart (Dec 16, 2006)

Under old Welsh law, all family names were patronymic, i.e. you took your father's name and added it to your own first name. For example, Sîon ap Rhys (John, son of Rhys). The Dutch, Irish and Russians use the same system (e.g. van Tulder, O'Sullivan or Ivan'o'vich).

King Henry VIII decided in 1536 to abolish the Welsh legal system and impose English law on Wales. This was four years after the French did the same to Brittainy.

Henry also hated the Welsh patronomic system and instructed Thomas Cromwell, his senior civil servant, to rename everyone in Wales. Cromwell duly instructed all the local Sheriffs in Wales to get everyone to re-register their names.

Cromwell decided, for some inexplicable reason, that everyone in Wales could only adopt one of five surnames: Jones, Evans, Davies, Williams and Roberts. A very peculiar concept, especially as the letters  'J' and 'V' are not even in the Welsh alphabet.

This is why an awful lot of people in Wales have the surname 'Jones'.

Many Welsh patriots have renamed themselves using the patronymic system. I'd do the same, except 'Rhisiart ap Derec' doesn't sound quite right somehow.


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## reed (Dec 16, 2006)

Very well taught rhisiart. Thanks. 

Does the town of Knighten on the Welsh border (not too far from Ludlow Castle...or what is left of it) ring a bell? Fond memories. Leeks are good for you, by the way.Viva les Gallois.

How many Jones recieved Victoria Crosses at Roarkes Rift? And what were their "numbers."

PS. Welch or Welsh Guards?


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## Rhisiart (Dec 17, 2006)

reed said:


> Very well taught rhisiart. Thanks.


It's my pleasure.



reed said:


> Does the town of Knighton on the Welsh border ring a bell?


I proposed to my wife on a hill overlooking Knighton.



reed said:


> Leeks are good for you, by the way.


So are onions.



reed said:


> Viva les Gallois.


Hear hear to that!



reed said:


> How many Jones recieved Victoria Crosses at Roarkes Rift? And what were their "numbers."


None. The only man who won the VC at Rourke's Rift was Michael Caine.



reed said:


> PS. Welch or Welsh Guards?


Welsh Guards. Apparently the Queen Mum (or was it her mum?), thought Welsh was spelt Welch. Too much inbreeding can cause this.


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## reed (Dec 17, 2006)

Sorry ol chap there were three Welshmen who recieved the Victoria Cross at Rorkes Drift.  Out of 11 in all. Not bad rhisiart. All the best. 

Then you know Stanage Hall, Knighten?


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## Viro (Dec 17, 2006)

Araf. That's all I know in welsh. Keep seeing them on the roads and such.


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## reed (Dec 17, 2006)

Viro..... 
  What does Araf mean? Great shot of yourself by the way. I just hope I don't see you "on the roads....and such." A riot. All the best.


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## octavedoctor (Dec 29, 2006)

_Araf_ means "slow"

Incidentally, on the subject of Welsh patronymics, it's not widely realised that America owes its name to a Welsh patronymic.

Although it has been widely taught that America was named after Amerigo Vespucci there has always been little evidence to support this. A more cogent argument is that America was named after the King's Customs Agent in Bristol, a wealthy shipping magnate called Richard Americ (sometimes spelt Ameryk or Amerike). It was Americ who funded John Cabot's voyages to the New World and Cabot is known to have been the first to make landfall on the continental mainland (in what is now Newfoundland). However Americ's fishing fleets had been plying the north atlantic waters for many years before either Columbus or Cabot and it is believed from examination of contemporary accounts that the crews of his fleet were aware of the existence of a landmass to the west of their fishing field which they already informally referred to as "America".

Americ was born in Ross-on-Wye and his name derives from the patronymic "Ap Meurig" except this is elided by the Welsh rules of soft mutation into "Amheurig" which, on his settling in Brigstow (as Bristol as then known) became corrupted into Americ (or Americk, Ameryk, Amerike etc). The name suvives in England as Merrick.


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## Rhisiart (Dec 29, 2006)

octavedoctor said:


> _Araf_ means "slow"
> 
> Incidentally, on the subject of Welsh patronymics, it's not widely realised that America owes its name to a Welsh patronymic: 'Ap Meurig'.


Welsh Americans probably number 3,000,000 (most in California, Utah and Pennsylvania), in complete contrast to Irish Americans who number around 50,000,000.

When the British (_de facto_ including the Welsh) stood by and let a million Irish people die of famine, another two million Irish left for the Americas, creating an Irish dispora of immense historical and cultural importance in the USA.

The Welsh instead were sucked into the coal mines and iron works of southeast Wales, which provided the raw materials for the British Empire.

The only notable Welsh contribution to American life were five founding fathers of the American Constitution of Welsh origin and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, established by Welsh immigrants.


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## octavedoctor (Dec 30, 2006)

This is true although I believe that the number of welsh who migrated to America has been distorted by the fact that immigration controls probably made little distinction between Welsh and English and most welsh immigrants would have been categorised as english (or possibly even Irish or Scottish) by default.

THough my post was less to do with the influence of the Welsh in the development of America that the simple co-incidence of the countries name being derived from a Welsh patronymic.

However Ellis Island was also owned by and named for a Welshman (Samuel Ellis)

It's also alleged that a large chunk of New York is still owned by the descendants of a Welsh settler who was cheated out of his title deeds, or something like that...

And don't get me started on the subject of the Welsh contribution to the development of locomotive engineering in the North Eastern states. Here's a picture of a reproduction builder's plate from the Baldwin works. It's embossed "Burnham, Parry, Williams  & co."






In fact, the deeper you delve the more you find. 

Half my family were American, until recently. They've mostly died out now as the last of my uncles and aunts had no kids...


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## reed (Jan 9, 2007)

You forgot Argentina (Pantagonia) concering the subject of Welsh immigration to the New World. Like the Basques.


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## octavedoctor (Jan 9, 2007)

Well, i didn't exactly forget it, but it is Latin America and i was thinking more of the US...

But if we are talking about Continental America then yes, you are absolutely correct; in fact there are still welsh speaking communities in Patagonia and there are regular "twinning" events organised with communities in the South Wales Valleys, or there used to be anyway.


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## reed (Jan 10, 2007)

Hey....
   Tom Jones is a "new" Welsh immigrant to the USA.
   However, "sex bomb" has to be one of the cruddiest songs he ever put on the market. Stick with "what's up pussy cat," I say. But he's a good guy. A true rugby supporter too, especially during the Six Nations.


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