Pistyllo it down

SIR – “Tamping down with rain” (Letters, February 6) is still heard hereabouts in South Wales, conjuring as it does the spirit of the Welsh word for a downpour: bwrw, whose first meaning is to bang (down).

Welsh-speakers have some really spirited expressions for what is an all-too-frequent experience. Pistyllo needs no translation, though pistyll is a spring; arllwysio is onomatopoeic – somewhere between a sneeze and a slosh; and my favourite, bwrw’n garlibwns, or “raining garlic and shallots”, brings tears to the eyes. Lynn Hughes

Llanelli, Carmarthenshire