Silly Things You've Said in Foreign Languages
Dec 3rd, 2002, 11:35 AM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Silly Things You've Said in Foreign Languages
I think I saw a post like this before but lost it, so I thought I'd start a new one.<BR><BR>What's the silliest thing you've said in a foreign language?<BR><BR>In Spanish, in response to "How are you?", I replied "estoy buena", which apparently is how you describe food and therefore has the connotation "I'm tasty" or "I'm hot".<BR><BR>A male friend made a similar mistake in Dutch and told his male colleague "I'm pretty".<BR><BR>I used the phrase "beau gosse" to describe a very attractive young man. This seems to be acceptable in France but apparently means "nice package" (only ruder) in Quebec.<BR>
Dec 3rd, 2002, 12:07 PM
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Guadaloupe (Caribbean Department of France) After hitting a tennis ball back and forth with my husband for a few minutes, a fellow guest asked me how long I'd been playing tennis. Glowingly (my backhand felt really good that morning) I said I'd only played for 2 years. She then said (en Englais) "No, I meant how long have you been on the court...there is an hour limit?"
Dec 3rd, 2002, 12:12 PM
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Several years ago when we were in Italy my husband tried to order a double cappuccino...but he accidentally ordered 8 of them! The lady had 8 cups lined up and made each one. I came out of the restroom and my husband asked me for more money and I saw what was happening. The manager then came by and got a good laugh...mostly at the gal that didn't catch my husbands error. We paid for 8, and I took a picture of my husband with all of them and still laugh about it
Dec 3rd, 2002, 12:19 PM
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
My friend and I were traveling in rural Normandy and stayed the night in a small town between Cherbourg and Mont St. Michel. When we got in our car to leave the hotel, a truck went by, honking and pointing at our car. We looked at our car and really couldn't see anything wrong, but stopped at a gas station on the edge of town to get gas and check the tires. One of them was a little low, but didn't seem low enough (to us) to warrant an emergency. While I was paying for the gasoline, my friend took on the chore of putting air into the tire that was a little low. When I came out of the station, she was a little agitated, because instead of filling the tire with air, she had let all of the air out. <BR><BR>Fortunately, there was a mechanic on duty in a garage connected to the gas station and we decided to ask for help. So far, in this little town, we didn't encounter anyone who could (or would?) speak English, so we tried to prepare for this encounter and to recall how to say "my tire is flat" in French (we both studied French in college - which was a lot of years in the past). We couldn't remember how to say "flat" and I was trying to find it in a dictionary. Sylvie, my friend, meanwhile, went around the corner to find the mechanic and plead for help> When I came around the corner she was saying - in French - "my tire is...." and she couldn't come up with the French word for flat. So she improvised and said "fatigue" (tired) in a lovely French accent instead of flat. The mechanic straightened up, looked right at me and we both burst into laughter at the same time. In fact, we all laughed so hard that it was some time before he could help with the tire.<BR><BR>And - then there was the time that we were again in a small town and Sylvie ran out of tampons.......
Dec 3rd, 2002, 02:03 PM
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
In Italy, my husband told me to go an order the coffee. Deciding that I would forego the espresso and macchiato we'd become dependant on I asked for Duo Latte. Now where I'm from Latte would get you COFFEE made from warmed milk. In Italy it only gets you warm frothy milk. My husband wasn't very pleased when I fronted up with his glass of milk.
Dec 3rd, 2002, 02:23 PM
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
I was walking down the street in Israel with a girlfriend and a man stopped to say hello to my friend. She couldn't remember who he was. He said they had met at the gym. My friend tried to reply, in Hebrew, "Why don't you take off your glasses and maybe I'll recognize you." Instead, she said, "Why don't you take off your pants ("michnasayim" instead of "mishkafayim"
and maybe I'll recognize you." The man and I broke up when we realized the mistake. My friend turned bright red.
and maybe I'll recognize you." The man and I broke up when we realized the mistake. My friend turned bright red.
Dec 3rd, 2002, 11:28 PM
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
A friend of mine mixed up the Spanish word for chicken (pollo) with a similar sounding word meaning "male genitalia" but ruder. Imagine the waiter's face when my friend tried to ask for a chicken sandwich!! And I tried to express how embarrassed I was by declaring myself to be embarazada (= pregnant). Oh dear.
Dec 4th, 2002, 01:55 AM
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Walking back from the internation rugby match against France at Murrayfield in Scotland, we passed Donaldson's School. I overheard two Frenchmen asking what it might be. I advised them soberly that it was a fat farm (lycee pour les lourds) instead of a school for the deaf (lycee pour les sourds). Duh!
Dec 4th, 2002, 03:32 AM
#10
Guest
Posts: n/a
Sitting for the first meal at the family table in my french exchange partner's house, her mother offered me yet another helping of her delicious cooking.<BR><BR>I replied "No, merci, je suis plein" - literally it means "I am full" but actually it's used to mean "I am pregnant".<BR><BR>My friend did a similar thing at her family's breakfast table when she asked for them to pass not the jam but the condoms!!!<BR><BR>No doubt there are many many others that I've made but forgotten or never even realised.<BR><BR>The pollo/ polla one is featured in one of the travel writing books I've read over the past year - can't recall which one though...<BR><BR>Kavey
Dec 4th, 2002, 04:06 AM
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Drunk on a train in Spain,I said "Tu Madre'" to a young spanish fellow. I cant remember what I was trrying to say. My friend,who is now a lawyer,tried to tell him my spanish sucked,instead he said "Spain sucks".We got out alive,however.
Dec 4th, 2002, 04:57 AM
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
Once, while vacationing in Portugal, our car got stuck in sand ( we had ventured off the beaten path), on Easter Sunday. After walking an hour without seeing anyone, we managed to flag down a car, and with a combination of French and Latin, informed the driver that our "toast was stuck" ( instead of "tire".
.
Dec 4th, 2002, 07:49 AM
#17
Guest
Posts: n/a
In Stresa, this past summer, I apparently asked for " chopsticks" instead of a fork. We couldn't figure out why our food was taking so long, but in great merriment, the proprietor had been running to several other restaurants on the street trying to find some to bring back to our table!
Dec 4th, 2002, 09:22 AM
#19
Guest
Posts: n/a
Street stand in small Mexican town. My husband sees a foil-wrapped object on the grill, points to it, and says "I think that is a potato." Except that what he says is "Yo penso papa" which translates more like "I think I am the Pope." He was Joe Penso for the rest of the trip, and still is, sometimes.
Dec 4th, 2002, 09:22 AM
#20
Guest
Posts: n/a
"Where are the white women?". This was the french phrase used by a former co-worker in the cafe of a small French inn, instead of the phrase for "where is the laundry", which translates into french as something akin to "where is the room of the white wash?" After three attempts and much laughter on the part of the locals, they finally informed him of the slight pronunciation difference.
