Lost in translation……..what’ s your funniest story?

Greyduster, I once heard a falconer explain that 'fed-up' originally meant a tame bird of prey which had had so much to eat that it couldn't be bothered to hunt.

…….. it may be a plunger but it’s one with all sorts of medical applications!

Indigo8

My older brother's German exchange student was staying with us and when I told her the name of my rabbit she couldn't stop laughing.

The rabbit's name was Misty which is sh***y in German.

In fact, many years ago - when it was fashionabe to give car models names - Rolls Royce were seeking a name for the follow up model to their Silver Cloud car. Apparently, they had gone quite a way into organising the publicity etc., for the new Silver Mist before it was pointed out to them the meaning in German!

Correcting a class of fourteen year old Danish childrens' essays, I was at first sight considerably worried by the sentence: First we went to the Zoo, and then we had buggers.

I discovered to my relief that I was not going to need to contact the boy's parents, or social services, when it transpired ,when I asked him to tell me in Danish what he had meant, that after the Zoo , they had gone to McDonalds and had BURGERS.

In the same bunch of essays, a girl informed me that "I played sucker all summer" - she meant "soccer".

It will cause you no surprise that I made a series of flash cards with the words I knew would be mispronounced, misspelt, and misused, along the lines of log - luck, dog- duck, fog-f*ck. properly - probably, dues-dews-juice-Jews etc.

Some years ago, I taught a retired modern languages teacher. His French eas so fluent and accentless that French people thought he was a fellow French man. He told me about a couple of innocent, unfortunate mistakes made by British people. The first is countrywide. What we unsurprisingly call a cul-de-sac is apparently the French equivalent of a*se. The second was a British mayor, who had been staying in a French town (town twinning?) and was making a speech thanking everyone for their hospitality. He wanted to say "thank you, l repeat, thank you." In French, he said: "Merci, je repête, je repĕte encore." He was bemused as the crowd burst out laughing. Apparently he had told them:"Thank you. I trump, I trump again."

My husband-to-be had eaten too much tempting fruit while we were staying in Paris. I went to the chemist and, with my best French, asked for something for "mal a l'estomac" and made appropriate gestures in case my French was inadequate . When I got back to the hostel and consulted a dictionary, we decided that he probably did not want relief for period pain!

When I was very young I had a Saturday job in a lovely toy shop which had a baby equipment shop on the next floor. One Saturday a man came into the toy shop and in a strong accent asked for what sounded like a 'party'. After showing him various items he bought a party hat. He later returned and again kept saying 'party' 'party' but this time pointed to the toilet in the dolls house furniture, which I sold to him. Some time later I was passing through the baby department to the stock cupboard when I noticed the same man at the till buying a baby's potty! Imagine his wife's face when he produced a party hat and then a miniture toilet, when what was required was a potty!!

Myself, and next door neighbours had French people from our twin town staying with us. One of the chaps staying with me said that my neighbour had told her two male boarders, as she showed them the bathroom, that they must use it together! She meant that it was for them alone, as she and husband had an en-suite.

This was a great thread and made me laugh out loud several times. I do remember that my mother's cleaner used to complain of her "ulsters ". Also a dear friend used to admire our "congealed" lighting behind the pelmets.

I'll pass on your appreciation and approval FGT.

My children were very young when we moved to France but they soon picked up the language at school.
My daughter one day told me that my conversaion with the
neighbour was not correct.
To illustrate, she said it was like 'she asked you what time it was and you said Fish and Chips!
My confidence went out the door.

I was having a skiing lesson in Italy and the instructor told me, and my fellow students, to make sure we watched his backside!

When I first came to England I worked at a firm of posh architects. They were very nice and one morning the office manager asked how I was and I said I was 'shagged out' - she looked shocked and moved on. I asked another girl who worked there what was wrong - and she told me what it meant! I thought it just meant tired!

In duty free perfume section with a cool and chic colleague. I said " ooh smell this ..i love this..Poison..." but in an effort to french pronounced it Poisson. Ctinge.

When the children were small we were on holiday in a camp site in France and I went to the toilet block during the night where a very grumpy male cleaner refused to let me enter. I really needed to, and in my best French, I rather imperiously, announced that I had travelled a long distance and paid a great deal of money and would walk on his floor if I wanted to.
The man bowed his head and with a grand gesture said ‘Madame’ and ushered me in. I swept passed him but with an uneasy feeling.
On returning to the tent I instantly consulted the dictionary to discovered I had told him I would walk on his ceiling if I wanted.

Allira

Apparently "Je suits plein" does not mean you've had plenty to eat thank you. I couldn't understand why the French family I stayed with all laughed when I said that.
It's a slang term for "I'm pregnant", apparently.

I was about to type this exact story, as it happened to a school friend of mine who went on a French exchange programme.

You don't live in New Zealand by any chance? Wouldn't it be strange if you were my friend.

I went to Bolton stall. Seconds ie imperfect clothes. Asked assistant what size I was holding up. She said it was on a "twolfsanger". Got her to repeat a few times. Eventually clicked. A size 12 hanger.

HurdyGurdy

Allira

Apparently "Je suits plein" does not mean you've had plenty to eat thank you. I couldn't understand why the French family I stayed with all laughed when I said that.
It's a slang term for "I'm pregnant", apparently.

I was about to type this exact story, as it happened to a school friend of mine who went on a French exchange programme.

You don't live in New Zealand by any chance? Wouldn't it be strange if you were my friend.

😃

No, I don't live in New Zealand.
I was au pair for a French family; it was a very long time ago!

The subtitles also continue to delight - the Best Adapted Screenplay winner was apparently awarded a bathtub at the BAFTAs last night.They gave him a little trophy to carry off, the tub's probaby being delivered later...

A story from my father's army days.
He was stationed in Algeria where French was spoken. One evening some British soldiers went to a bar to get cold drinks and one of them had started drinking a beer, not noticing that there was an insect in the glass.
A local man wanted to warn him about this and kept pointing to the glass saying "Fourmi, fourmi", which means "ant". The soldier thought the man wanted to take away his drink and moved away but the local man just followed him, repeating the same words over and over again.
The soldier got angry and punched the local man, who had only meant well. He only found out after returning to barracks what the local man had been trying to tell him.

My youngest daughter is well known within the family for mispronouncing words. She once stood up in class and confidently announced that an octopus had 8 testicles! She has also described us as her intermediate family and said her friend never battered an eyelash.

@Diplomat
I remember something similar happened to me. Many years ago I was working in a co op when one day a man came in, think he was Turkish, asking for “flagilla,” I didn’t have a clue what he wanted and he kept repeating it over and over.
He was beginning to get frustrated but I still had no clue.
It was only when he put his hand up and made a pssss pssss noise and mimed holding a spray can while repeating “flagilla flagilla” really impatiently, when the penny dropped that he wanted…..fly killer!

Many years ago a colleague (who became a close friend) and I were at a meeting in London. After the meeting we shared a taxi to our respective mainline stations. I asked the driver to take me to Euston, but my friend who was newly diagnosed as Diabetic asked to be taken to St Pancreas! I never let her forget it!

At the end of WW2 my DH's father met a German soldier and they became lifelong friends. In 1966 my teenage DH and his parents were staying with the German and his family when the World Cup final was played, and they watched it on TV in the local pub. When the winning goal was scored my DH (proud of his A-level German) stood up and shouted "Wir haben noch ein tor geschissen" . The German for "scored" is "geschossen". The word he used referred to excavating ones bowels. The raucous laughter of a German pub full of men still rings in his ears!