Thursday, January 5

Schnuggs?

The Gnome's English birth, upbringing and education is often called upon by the American members of his team to aid them in translating some peculiarly English phrase or saying into American, but a recent request as to the meaning of 'a schnugg' had him puzzled.

Having recently seen the excellent 'Puttnam County Spelling Bee' play on Broadway, he knew it would be helpful to have the word placed in a sentence, helping him judge the likely meaning by hearing it in the context of other, hopefully more recognisable, words.

The full quote turned out to be a comment on one of his UK-based staff's activities at the recent Christmas party. Apparently during the evening he had been caught on company CCTV having 'five schnuggs and a shag'. The Gnome gently suggested the possibility that 'schnugg' might have been misheard and could the word have been 'snog'?

"Yeah, that's it. Five snogs and a shag... Are they some sort of English drink?"

The Gnome didn't have the heart to explain and can only hope when next visiting London she doesn't try asking for something similar at the local watering hole.

He looks forward to getting hold of a copy of the appropriate CCTV tapes however...

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