Just learned a new word from a sentence discussion on Duolingo: bechingalw “thingamajig, watchamacallit”.
After I looked at it twice, I could see the Be’ chi’n galw? “what (do) you call (it)?” in it.
And I was surprised to find out that even the venerable GPC (Dictionary of the Welsh Language) has an entry for it! I thought it was simply modern slang, but presumably it’s been around for a while.
So if you’re ever at a loss for a word…
GPC notes a variant betingalw which might come in handy when you’re talking to a single friend.
There used to be a group in Merthyr called y Betigalws. They released an EP maybe seven or eight years ago. I saw them once in Brecon. I think that possibly Jamie Bevan was on guitar. A quick Google shows that they left next to no trace!
In the movie “The Englishman who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain,” there’s a spot where a character says, “I don’t know the English word, but in Welsh we call it a bethyngalw.” I was the only person in the theater who laughed.
Turns out that Delyth McLean was one of the singers.