This family has its own vocabulary, including 'cysgu byes' (go to sleep) and'tucky down day' (same as 'cysgu byes').

Harry and Oliver were attached totheir 'dinkies', (dummies), when they were babies, just as Ffion and Maudie had 'diddlas' when they were tired.

The television remote control is known as the 'dibber', the frying pan the 'frimpan'..

I was trying to explain to Peter who I'd been talking to one day. As a form of shorthand, I said'Surgical' and he knewimmediately it was someone who liked relatingthe gory details of pastoperations.

Pouring tea for a workman in the house, I askedhow he liked it. 'Strongish', he replied.

'Strong enough to trot a mouse on?' I asked.

When Oliver was small he put a chocolate in his mouth, brought it out admiringly and said a bee had licked it.

Thinking of these things, I told Peter we hadour own version of 'speakeasy'.Not a man to take things at face value, he replied that a'Speakeasy' is to do with the illegal sale ofliquour.

Whilsthe's correct, Ihave my own interpretation and it's nothing to do with drink, justthat we like making words up and rearranging things.

The way you think about words affectsyour feelings about poetry.If you must translatefiction literally,you'd be better off reading non-fiction, a railway timetable, perhaps.

Some poetry is difficultto understand, granted, but you can stillappreciate the soundsof the words. Nursery Rhymes like 'Ring a Ring of Roses', about the Plague,have lasting popularity because they have a strong rhythm and rhyme; the words in themselves are incidental.

But don't expect the poet to explain every 'pob dim' - every little thing;always remember:

'Excessive explanation tends to curb the lion in his leap'.