If we grant that there's something echt Lithuanian about a little gintarinis gyvuliukas brought back as a present from a trip to Lietuva, what does it mean that, when haggling with the bobutes on Pilies, they're likely to break into discussions among themselves in Polish? Vilnius, of course, a cosmopolitan city, has boasted enormous non-Lithuanian populations, especially in comparison with the rest of contemporary Lithuania. If you believe Wikipedia, during the interwar period, not even 5% of Vilnius was made up of "Lithuanians," whatever that means.

 Still, on my first two trips to the city, I found it jarring to be thrown into the seeming capital of Lithuania, where so much was happening in Polish. So it's with great amusement that I read this article from the UK :

But now the man in charge of training staff for jobs in Wales's tourism industry has sparked controversy by claiming that so many foreigners are working in the country's hotels and restaurants that guests are unable to tell whether they are in Cardigan or Copenhagen.

It seems now that it's lietuviai themselves moving in on the cultural patrimony of other ethnic groups. Poles sell tchotchkes in Vilnius, and Lithuanians in Swansea. And the tourism boards are worried. The article quotes extensively from tourism exec Gareth Edwards, who argues that:

 'For us in Wales, the language is very important, but also knowing how to pronounce names, about the national dishes, where the major tourist attractions are in Wales and how to get there, our castles, the geography of the region and the history of the country. These sort of things are why people come here. I don't believe that if you bring someone from Poland, Lithuania or the accession countries that you can deliver a distinctively Welsh experience. We don't want to lose the uniqueness and originality of what makes Wales different.'

Wales may certainly be uniquely different, but what strikes me here is that his sentiment is not at all unique to Wales. Difference is difference, after all. Substitute "Lithuanian" and "Lithuania" for "Welsh" and "Wales" and stop to consider if Edwards is not describing an ethnic commitment more broadly.

What's important, for me, here is how quickly ethnic language of exceptionalism can be turned around when one's own identityis being dismissed as not exceptional enough.