Year in Review

[Magpie]

Ambrosial Revelation,
I competely understand how you missed the colloquialisms on this one.... Having just returned from a trip to england, i cannot tell you how many times things went over my head because i misunderstood the language.  
(I remember calling back to my friend saying "alright" as an affirmation, and the guy next to me responded "good day" because he thought i meant alright as a greeting... I was confused for the rest of the day)

I think this is a common cause of confusion. I've known Americans visiting Britain who spent the first couple of days perplexed as to why people were asking them if they were 'alright' constantly. I've got a friend who while out for a meal in America with Americans ordered 'chips' expecting to get what you would call fries, but got surprisingly 'chips' or 'crisps' as we call them. He had to pretend that it was what he meant and so had to eat them. It makes sites like this a bit more interesting especially in poetry, but I suppose the same thing that makes all this interaction possible is the same thing that will sort out these little misunderstandings. So the reader has to do a little bit more work to understand, that's fine with me... I know what a 'sharpie' is now. 

BTW I'm American and grew up in the yearbook culture and still had no idea what H.A.G.S. meant. I do know what SWAK means, which appeared often in my yearbooks   

Spinners & Weavers Association of Korea