Afterwards, a lot of them will edit the picture
using filters.
Rav: If I said the phrase to you ‘warts and all’,
what would I mean?
Man 1: Well I’d understand it to mean
the worst and the best. I think it possibly comes from
portrait painting, so in a time before we were able
to digitally enhance images or soft-focus them,
when the artist would have to take the blemishes out
of the image by painting them out
or not including them in the first place.
Man 2: If you’re describing something to someone
and there’s good sides and bad sides, it means
I’m going to hear some of the bad sides as well.
Woman: Something is bad, but you kind of
take everything as it is.
Rav: Give me a sentence where you would use
that phrase.
Man 1: So, having just moved into the house,
I asked my neighbour to tell me what the neighbour
on the other side was like and make sure that
it was warts and all, so that I’d really know
what I was in for living next door to them.
Rav: This is Oliver Cromwell.
He was a very important man in British history.
In 1653, an artist named Samuel Cooper was asked
to paint Cromwell’s portrait.
Now, Cromwell had several large warts on his face.
So, when Cooper started sketching,
he tried to smooth out Cromwell’s face
to make him look more attractive –
a bit like we do when we use filters.
When Cromwell saw what the artist had done,
he said he preferred the portrait
to show him with pimples, warts and everything.
Over time, this was shortened to the phrase
‘warts and all’.
Rav: So, next time you try and alter your appearance
for a photograph, remember, in London,
sometimes it’s better to show yourselves…
People: Warts and all!
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