LOST IN TRANSLATION

Here are some translations for you:

tat: kind of like kitsch. The difference is that kitsch may *know* that it's kitsch, but tat never does.

stroppy: kind of cranky, but in a sort of...naggy or upstart-y way.

Here are some random phrases that I'd never heard before I moved over here, but I kind of like:

"fuck-off" to describe something big. As in, "I wish I had a fuck-off big piano in MY living room."

My friend, Dan, will occasionally let out with a "fuckety bollocks," which is quite funny.

OH! Short story:

Michael has been known to use the phrase "bugger grips" as an expletive, specifically when playing Scrabble. I asked him what this meant, and he said it was just nonsense and didn't mean anything.

THEN, when I went to Ulverston to meet his parents, we went to a pub with his friends Bill and Claire. Bill was talking about someone's facial hair, and referred to his sideburns as "bugger grips." Which makes sense in a sick kind of way. Like they're something to hold on to during the act.

I was horrified.

Mike felt my wrath.

Incidentally, when we were playing scrabble with his parents, niece and nephew (9 and 5 respectively), he took out some tiles and yelled something along the lines of "fucking arse". The entire room yelled, "Michael!" because of the children's sensitive ears.

Mike's response?

"Well, I got bad tiles!"

Like that makes it okay.

All right, so this post was mostly stream of consciousness, so I'll finish up and then come back when I'm less scattered.