Do people really understand me?
You are what you eat - that's a famous phrase, right?
I work with a multicultural team. It's a wonderfully diverse group of people and we all learn a lot from each other's experiences and backgrounds.
Recently we were discussing food and we were estimating how much sugar goes into chocolate covered biscuit bars (our office is fascinating at times!).
"That digestive bar? I reckon it's one third sugar," I remarked, while my conversation partner shook his head in disbelief.
A quick wrapper check, suspicions were confirmed. "You are what you eat," I said, and was met with a raised eyebrow and an "OK..."
Clearly he'd never heard the phrase before; it took some serious explaining from his fellow countryman for him to get to grips with what I was claiming. "It means that whatever you put inside you, that's what you will become," his other colleague elaborated.
He still looked unsure. "Google it," I told him. "It's a very famous phrase."
Some tentative keystrokes later, "It... it doesn't exist Pete. There are ZERO results."
"You are hotchyweed - no, it's not there."
After some belly laughter from those of us who had previously attempted to explain the phrase to him, the realisation crashed in on me that perhaps this had been happening the whole time I was here... Perhaps there were other magical phrases that I had coined without knowing it.
The simplest words, contorted and misunderstood.
P.