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Warro! Guernesiais speaker questions word’s legitimacy

WARRO. An old Guernsey-French greeting used by everyone decades ago?

Anne Le Cheminant says that the greeting ‘Warro’, which is being used by Guernsey Museums for its language campaign, is not a proper Guernesiais word.                                      (Picture by Peter Frankland, 19270608)
Anne Le Cheminant says that the greeting ‘Warro’, which is being used by Guernsey Museums for its language campaign, is not a proper Guernesiais word. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 19270608) / Guernsey Press

Guernsey Museums is using it to spearhead its States-aided campaign to promote the language, but Guernesiais speaker Anne Le Cheminant has questioned the word’s legitimacy, saying she had never heard it used by any of her family and has heard it being used only in recent years.

A member of Facebook groups that sometimes discuss the language, she was invited to join one dedicated to it, however declined after seeing the word.

‘I looked at it and decided against joining because the name of the group contains a word that is not Guernsey-French and I don’t want to encourage something incorrect,’ she said.

Yan Marquis, a language consultant, Guernsey-French speaker and the man behind the Guernsey Museums campaign, said he was 100% sure the word was part of Guernsey-French, however.

Full story in today's Guernsey Press

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