So we’re reading this morning’s South Wales Echo to get the latest on the Ryder Cup and stumbled news of magician Pete Firman’s Jokes and Tricks tour’s arrival in Cardiff.

The young magician brings his show to the wonderfully appointed St David’s Hall in beautiful Cardiff this evening.

The Echo covers the appearance with a full profile of the rapid-fire comedian/magician noting magic has changed “since the heady days of the 70’s when pioneering acts such Ali Bongo, David Nixon and a young tyke by the name of Paul Daniels bestrode the landscape like three horsemen of the magical apocalypse.”

What a great turn of a phrase.  We love good writing and that sentence is precisely the type of introduction that makes us read more of an article regardless of the topic.

Pete Firman sees continuity between his famous predecessors and the conjurors of the avant garde “It might sound weird, but I used to see Daniels on the telly when I was younger and thought, ‘Hey, this guy’s pretty cool.’”

Telly means “television” or “TV” in English.

We translate here because the writer not only turns a good phrase, he also tosses in shibboleths of Wales.

For instance, the reporter says Pete Firman “has long traded on the disparity between his down to earth matey nature and the occasionally shocking nature of his tricks.”

What does “down to earth matey” mean? Chances are if you have to ask, you’re not from around the Wales Echo home delivery route.

We guessed that because the word matey sounds like something a pirate might say, the phrase means someone is a regular but partially blind, wood prosthetic wearing type. Again, this is just a guess.

Continue reading “Pete Firman Strips the Naffness in Cardiff” →