Emmet (Cornish)

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Emmet is a disparaging nickname that some Cornish people use to refer to the many tourists who visit Cornwall.

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[edit] Etymology

It is commonly thought to be derived from the Cornish word for ant, being an analogy to the way in which both tourists and ants are often red in colour and appear to mill around. However the use of 'emmet' to mean ants is actually from the Cornish dialect of English and is derived from the Old English word æmete from which the modern English word ant, is also derived (compare Modern German Ameise [ant]). The Cornish word for ant is actually muryon (muryonen (p)) [1] [2]

Emmet is also sometimes used to refer to non-Cornish people who have moved to Cornwall. Many Cornish people consider Cornwall to be separate from England and so many of these 'emmets' are English who have relocated. This has led to some Cornish residents who consider themselves to be Cornish to display "non-emmet" car stickers.

[edit] Porthemmet Beach hoax

In late August, Jonty Haywood created a hoax [3] about a fictional beach in North Cornwall, Porthemmet Beach, to confuse holidaymakers (vacationers) and amuse locals.[4]

The official website for Porthemmet Beach features various words related to Cornwall, such as pasty or chough, and give false pronunciations, encouraging tourists to use these, thinking they are correct, when in fact they are wrong and therefore causing embarrassment.

On the official website, the name Porthemmet is claimed to have been derived from the name "Port of Emmet", where Emmet is a Cornish saint, brother of the patron saint of Cornwall, Saint Piran.

Various media journalists and news programs, including Westcountry Live and BBC Spotlight, have tried to contact Haywood, originally from Truro who is currently teaching English in Thailand.[5][6]. The Newquay Guardian succeeded in interviewing Jonty Haywood, without gaining much information [7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ An English-Cornish And Cornish-English Dictionary - R. Morton Nance (1955)
  2. ^ Gerlyvrik/Mini-Dictionary - Kesva An Taves Kernewek (2005))
  3. ^ Hoax website for "Porthemmet" (accessed 24 December 2007)
  4. ^ Britain's "only topless beach" doesn't exist - The INQUIRER
  5. ^ Wish you were here? Website lures tourists to imaginary beach. The Independent. Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
  6. ^ Shock for visitors to fake beach. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
  7. ^ "Interview" reported in the West Briton (sister paper of the Newquay Guardian) 2007-09-20, p30 "Tourists lured to seek fake beach".
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