Does this man...not know what glasses are? Well, Arthur supposes he's met locals who weren't familiar with them...

"Ah, yes, the thing I was wearing on my face. Bad eyesight, the glasses have...sort of magnifying lenses in the frames so when I look through them I can see." He knows he botched that explanation, but he's put on the spot here. It's the best he can do under the circumstances without confusing the matter further.

"And Wellington's where I came from. You're certainly right about our colorful vocabulary."

And unique slang and terminology. That tends to happen when a community has been in isolation for decades.