Robert Peters wrote:

>The old German word "welsch" means "foreign" in general and "French"
>in particular.  So the quoted phrases are definitely and clearly both
>anti-foreign and anti-French.

Doesn't it refer generally to all non-Teutonic peoples bordering the west
and south of the German-speaking states, meaning of course any of the
people speaking a Latin-based (Romance) language? It's an "us vs.  them"
word, like "goyische" in Yiddish.  When using it you might have to use a
little body language to indicate which "them" you were talking about.

John Dalmas
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