Pesti si aschii

which, in case you are wondering, means ... fish and chips.
in romanian of course!

this evening the animal doctor brought her romanian friend over for a fish supper at my place. her very attractive and charming romanian friend, i might add.
we had a perfectly delightful time despite the fact that none of us speak the same language.

hah! you were under the impression that the scots speak english?
no, no, no!

last weekend in a moment of new year weakness i agreed to play scrabble with the animal doctor. silly me!



there we are, playing scrabble in english, or so i thought.
the good doctor slaps down the word 'lum', well ... i'm sorry! i am a really well brought up and polite south african, but, the hell i am about to let her get away with that!

i arch a questioning eyebrow, me, i always try for subtle to begin with.
clear grey eyes meet mine, innocence personified... oy.
me, soft and gentle ... "lum is not a word."
animal doctor ... "of course it is!"
i reach for the oxford english dictionary.
the ultimate insult!

feck me! lum is indeed a word ...

lum [lʌm]
n
(Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Architecture) Scot a chimney
[of obscure origin]




huh!!

the next day whilst enjoying a delicious, day after new year meal with the middle child and family, i think to shock him with the animal doctor's infamous treatment of the scrabble board.
says i ... "lum, who ever heard of lum?"

well of course mom ... "lum, as in" ...
"Lang may yer lum reek!"

for those of you who have never ventured north of hadrian's wall.
that would translate to ... "A salutation wishing long life and prosperity. Literally, long may your chimney smoke."

middle child is smart, much like his father, a right know it all. in fact all my children are way too smart, much like their father!
they know the words to every song they ever listened to, they can act out entire film scripts - their all time favourite being ... "thoroughly modern millie." they appear to have the ability to remember every damn thing they read or hear.
i won't even bother to ask the other two if they ever heard the word lum - of course they will have!

hmmm ... wonder if they (my beloved offspring) know how to say fish and chips in romanian ;-)