Poll: My hovercraft is full of eels.

[FalloutJack]

So, Escapist... In what way have you been terribly misunderstood in conversation? Was it accidental or deliberate? Was it funny or was it embarassing?

For myself, I can think of both instances of severe Freudian Slip and, in fact, going on about something in a manner that makes sense to ME, but everyone else is so lost that even drawing 'em a map doesn't help.

What about you?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I speak the language of love, there are no misunderstandings.

 

[StellarViking]

I will not buy this record, it is scratched.

In high school, a friend of mine hosted a German exchange student. I became friends with her (As much as your host kid's friend a friend can be) and I baked cookies one day. I gave it to her and told her it was a gift. I took German for four years in high school, and this was my senior year. I had forgotten that "gift" actually means "poison" in German. Fortunately, after a brief "oh shi-" second, she understood and laughed about it.

 

[Superior Mind]

My friend mixed up año and ano while in South America.

To clarify, one means years, the other means anus. He was trying to ask somone how old they were which in Spanish is "how many years do you have?"

So yeah, he asked somone how many assholes they had. The dude replied "solo uno".

 

[Sir_Auron_the_Badass]

You good sir automatically get a cookie for the Monty Python reference!

OT: Not really, I met some German and Japanese students (from our town's sister cities) back in high school, and they seemed incredibly fluent in English. A little more than a year after that I went to Japan, and our group never had issues communicating with the locals.

 

[Dags90]

Other than some basic capelli/cappelli stuff in Italian class, not too bad. One means hair, one means hats, so it doesn't even sound that off in conversation. My mom tried to order a "spOO-ya-del" once on vacation, when she actually wanted a sfogliatelle. And my sister had trouble telling a lady when she had enough olives in her bag. We ended up buying nearly half a kilo of olives. In general though my mom just made me cringe with her horrible Italian-Americanisms.

 

[Spade Lead]

So, Escapist... In what way have you been terribly misunderstood in conversation? Was it accidental or deliberate? Was it funny or was it embarassing?

For myself, I can think of both instances of severe Freudian Slip and, in fact, going on about something in a manner that makes sense to ME, but everyone else is so lost that even drawing 'em a map doesn't help.

What about you?

Mentioning the Freudian Slip made me think of this Frasier quote:

Niles: A funny thing happened the other day. One of my patients had a rather amusing Freudian slip. He was having dinner with his wife and he meant to say "Pass the salt," but instead he said "You've ruined my life, you blood-sucking shrew."

 

[delvin313]

"Pants".... it doesn't mean the same thing in American vs British English. Funny as hell though.

 

[The .50 Caliber Cow]

Never really noticed English differences until a visiting Aussie asked me if I had a rubber while I was in a bank. Where I come from, rubber means condom so I looked at him rather strangely.

 

[Kyoufuu]

I seem to be having tremendous difficulty with my lifestyle.

 

[StANDY1338]

I thought a freudian slip was what was going on?

 

[Coop83]

"Please FONDEL my buttocks?"

Most of my misunderstandings from foreign people addressing me have been strange - they catch me out of the comfort zone, when you're working in a shop at home and you generally don't expect tourists where I live... well, not foreign ones. Still, those issues aside, I've had translation problems, but that was because I was 12 and in the North of France, while my parents were trying to negotiate with a Frenchman, who didn't have the best grasp of English.

My parents only really having the grasp of "mai oui!" etc, this was never going to be a good combination, but the look of disgust on the guy's face, as I ran basic translator for him to parents and back, just made me laugh even more when we finally got back in the car.

"I don't think he liked you, Dad."

 

[Lawnmooer]

"Do you waant to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?"

OT: This happens to me quite a lot... But mainly because I live in England and constantly switch between using the English slang for around where I live, American slang (That no-one around here seems to know... I think I watch too many American comedy shows...) some Russian and some German.

A lot of people hear "Yes" when I try to say no in Russian...

Another thing that happens is since I am very dirty minded, all of my friends asume I'm saying something dirty when I'm not.

 

[FalloutJack]

"Pants".... it doesn't mean the same thing in American vs British English. Funny as hell though.

What does it mean over there?

"Please FONDEL my buttocks?"

The station? It's that way.

*Points in a direction*