Warts and all

After visiting Llandaff last weekend and looking after four very well-behaved children single handed i'm quite deludedly convinced we could look after one of our own without too much chaos. I also realized that a large proportion of what the Welsh say doesn't make any sense. They are very lovely people, helpful and kind but to say "i'll be with you now" and then walk off doesn't make a grain of sense. Luckily i have lived in Wales before so was not caught out by this, i was a little thrown when the Elliotts told me they would "be home in a moment" when they were quite clearly still in London (a 3 hour drive away), i guess they are adjusting to the lingo quite well. When in America i purposefully avoid using British colloquialisms, people just chuckle and ask what i mean or where the phrase originated from and the majority of the time i don't have the foggiest. However it's so ingrained in me that they often just slip out! At work a Polish woman asked "what does the phrase mean 'to hit a nail into my head'" which lead to a lot of confusion and laughter until it clicked that she meant 'hit the nail on the head'. I walk into the house and announce "Blimey it's Brass Monkeys out there!" or warn that someone is 'bent as a nine bob note' or 'all mouth and no trousers' and think little of it. Less frequently now, but on occasion, Weston looks at me with utter confusion, after he met my aunt she said she was sure he didn't understand 90% of what she said. However we did put the subtitles on whilst watching a British sitcom about a family of northerners when he hadn't even chuckled through the first ten minutes and our sides were splitting, they could have been speaking french as far as his Kansan ears were concerned. I dread to think of the misunderstandings that will arise at the wedding in July. Oh well, they'll have to accept me warts and all.