Those crazy foreigners (no racism/xenophobia)

Lockstep · 22-02-2008 12:22PM #1

I always find it amusing when people mispronounce things in foreign languages. I have the odd couple of examples.

Was asked by my french teacher my hobbies and I told her I liked "le guitar baise". Doh. Meant bass.
Baise means f*ck in french,

was around six and had a danish friend who was still learning english. Teacher asked him what his religion was.
"I am a prostitute"

Cousin went to France, big aul farm boy and thanked a shopkeeper with "Mercy Buckets"

Doctor DooM · 22-02-2008 12:30PM

My dad is repairing a cheap house he bought in france. He got in a work man to repair the fireplace. When asked if he was happy with the job, my dad replied in broken french:

"Yes, I am very pretty."

22-02-2008 12:50PM

When in Chicago last was driving down a street and there was a sign over a cafe that said "Biscuits and Gravy."

Was out to dinner with a lad last year to one of those all-you-can-eat restaurants in the States. My date ate too much, and at the end of his meal he leaned back in his chair grabbing his belly and proclaimed, "Gee I am stuffed!"

Radharc na Sleibhte · 22-02-2008 02:05PM

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

When in Chicago last was driving down a street and there was a sign over a cafe that said "Biscuits and Gravy."

and............????
Thats what they eat!!!!

I once said Dave Fanny instead of Dave Fannning to my dad.
I was about 12 at the time, so it was quite mortifying.

Tha Gopher · 22-02-2008 02:11PM

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

. My date ate too much, and at the end of his meal he leaned back in his chair grabbing his belly and proclaimed, "Gee I am stuffed!"

.........I dont get it

Unless he pronounced gee as gey (sounds like key)

Ya know.....

is_that_so · 22-02-2008 02:14PM

A woman I knew was discussing, in Spanish, the merits of jam making with her prospective elderly in-laws. She was talking about the problem of "preservatives" and wrongly assumed that in Spanish it was "preservativos". Needless to say the old pair were much put out by the idea of condoms in the jam. "Preservatives" in Spanish is "conservantes".

Once when I was a teenager, I claimed to be able speak French with some exchange students. What i could say , sounded good, and could understand a reasonable amount. However when one of them, a very pretty one, was going home, we had the usual cheek kissing after which she said sur les lèvres(on the lips). At this point I smiled, nodded and walked off.

shane86 · 22-02-2008 02:30PM

In a mates one night and a cute blondie Israeli bird rings the doorbell to show us some canvas paintings she was selling, large yokes. Was half time in a match and we had a few cans in us, we werent intending to buy but sure why not have a chat with the young one. Shows us one painting

"And this is the Fountain of Piss" (peace, we later found out)

"Eh?"

"The fountain of piss in New York!"

"Sorry, the what?"

"Fountain of Piss!"

We werent actually taking the..eh...piss....we honestly hadnt a clue what she was on about, and when we couldnt stop laughing she makes it worse by asking "are you guys high or something?"

Alot of foreigners cant get my name right on their first attempt. Ive been called everything from Sha to Shay, Shake, Sean and even Shame :rolleyes:

The Shame one was when we were out on the lash one night, mate was getting stuck into some cracking Russian yoke and I was stuck with the drunk mate who barely spoke a lick of English. "Shay?...Shee?...Shame? Ahahah, shame on you! Shame on you!" Starts laughing, roaring this and dancing around.

Then my mate joined in the singing

Fast forward a few months and Im lying in bed with the radio on and some song comes on repeatedtly with the words "shame shame shame on you!" Gave me a laugh anyway

(mate told me its by Republic of Loose, which are some mediocre student band who will never play a bigger venue than Crawdaddys so Im told)

Another time in town was talking to some French one who couldnt get my name right

"No, its Shane"

"Ah! Like...eh....Shayne Ward!"

"Yeah, the same"

"Or Shane Horgan"

I rather embarassingly paused, realised I heard the name and then had to ask her to remind me of who Shane Horgan is again. Rugger really is not my game :rolleyes:

Saint_Mel · 22-02-2008 02:37PM

A girl I know once went to a deli and accidently
asked for a ham and cheese punani instead of panini!

Mortified wasnt the word ... no, actually mortified was the word!
She still hasnt lived it down

Doctor DooM · 22-02-2008 02:37PM

In bordeaux there is a sports shop called althletes foot... Actually I think thats kinda clever.

Bulgarian people insist on pronouncing my second name Giggley, and English people have no idea how to spell it.

chopperbyrne · 22-02-2008 02:42PM

English people have a tendency to pronounce Ger with a hard G if they are reading it.

Really annoys me!

Beanstalk · 22-02-2008 02:48PM

When my German friend came over here during the summer we went to an off-licence to buy booze. He saw a bottle of 'irish mist' whiskey and could'nt stop laughing...('mist' means dung in german)

22-02-2008 02:49PM

kickoutthejams wrote: »

was around six and had a danish friend who was still learning english. Teacher asked him what his religion was.
"I am a prostitute"

"

Should be happy that teacher wasn't Gary Glitter so

:D

lorweld · 22-02-2008 02:56PM

I know its a bit off topic but i find it very amusing. A few years ago i was on the galway-dublin train coming home from college. Across from me sat really loud annoying americans, ye know the type. For those of ye that aren't familiar with coming into tullamore on the train theres a large halting site and a bridge beside it covered in grafitti. Anyhow on this bridge in large spraypainted letters was up the ira, one of the americans saw this and all the caravans and shouted 'oh my gawd look thats where the ira live' i couldn't stop laughing.

5starpool · 22-02-2008 02:59PM

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

When in Chicago last was driving down a street and there was a sign over a cafe that said "Biscuits and Gravy."

Was out to dinner with a lad last year to one of those all-you-can-eat restaurants in the States. My date ate too much, and at the end of his meal he leaned back in his chair grabbing his belly and proclaimed, "Gee I am stuffed!"

I fail to see the guffaws contained therein...........

jester77 · 22-02-2008 03:13PM

Schwul and Schwül in German, can be a bit embarrassing when you get those 2 mixed up!

Adam · 22-02-2008 03:14PM

Saint_Mel wrote: »

A girl I know once went to a deli and accidently
asked for a ham and cheese punani instead of panini!

Mortified wasnt the word ... no, actually mortified was the word!
She still hasnt lived it down

You made me lol. That is epic.

balon · 22-02-2008 04:53PM

Saint_Mel wrote: »

A girl I know once went to a deli and accidently
asked for a ham and cheese punani instead of panini!

Mortified wasnt the word ... no, actually mortified was the word!
She still hasnt lived it down

Brilliant!

Was in 1st year maths class doing all those subsets A union B intersection C etc... When I was asked to identify a relationship on the board, I said A intercourse B. The class had to be contained!!

Sangre · 22-02-2008 04:56PM

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

When in Chicago last was driving down a street and there was a sign over a cafe that said "Biscuits and Gravy."

Was out to dinner with a lad last year to one of those all-you-can-eat restaurants in the States. My date ate too much, and at the end of his meal he leaned back in his chair grabbing his belly and proclaimed, "Gee I am stuffed!"

Ehh...those are both perfectly correct.

Latchy · 22-02-2008 04:57PM

Anybody remember the girl on countdown who got her answer to question wrong and answered (much to her emmbarresment and everybodys amusement ) ' The Kama sutra ' ?

They still show it on those tv bloop outakes

the dee · 22-02-2008 05:03PM

shane86 wrote: »

Alot of foreigners cant get my name right on their first attempt. Ive been called everything from Sha to Shay, Shake, Sean and even Shame :rolleyes:

You wouldn't believe how Deirdre gets mangled by anyone who isn't Irish. Hence I go with Dee most of the time...

Fratton Fred · 22-02-2008 05:05PM

I nearly punched a guy in a store in the states. My wife was trying on jeans and he told it fitted perfectly around her fanny:eek:

Latchy · 22-02-2008 05:08PM

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I nearly punched a guy in a store in the states. My wife was trying on jeans and he told it fitted perfectly around her fanny:eek:

As long as the refer to us as european and not youropeeing

Toto Wolfcastle · 22-02-2008 05:08PM

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

When in Chicago last was driving down a street and there was a sign over a cafe that said "Biscuits and Gravy."

Was out to dinner with a lad last year to one of those all-you-can-eat restaurants in the States. My date ate too much, and at the end of his meal he leaned back in his chair grabbing his belly and proclaimed, "Gee I am stuffed!"

Biscuits in the states are kind of like scones.

The rest of what you wrote, I don't understand.

Latchy · 22-02-2008 05:13PM

janeybabe wrote: »

Biscuits in the states are kind of like scones.

The rest of what you wrote, I don't understand.

Gee is somtimes refered to in some circles as a methophor for vagina

AckwelFoley · 22-02-2008 05:16PM

I had a polish guy come into the hardware looking for a "Frozen" yesterday.

Cake for the person that guesses what he wanted.

Text answers to the usual number standard service charges apply.

Il give the answer out at the end of the show.

Dinter · 22-02-2008 05:17PM

latchyco wrote: »

Gee is somtimes refered to in some circles as a methophor for vagina

Yes but they're both pronounced differently.

I'd understand it being funny if the date wrote it or something.

Gee as in vagina is pronounced to rhyme with pea. Geeeee

Gee as in an exclamation would have a more softer J sound.

Don't get it.

Latchy · 22-02-2008 05:25PM

Dinter wrote: »

Yes but they're both pronounced differently.

I'd understand it being funny if the date wrote it or something.

Gee as in vagina is pronounced to rhyme with pea. Geeeee

Gee as in an exclamation would have a more softer J sound.

Don't get it.

Yeah , i only got the Gee/pea connection and not the ' joke ' itself

Dinter · 22-02-2008 05:46PM

Maybe the joke is being "stuffed"?

Latchy · 22-02-2008 05:47PM

Dinter wrote: »

Maybe the joke is being "stuffed"?

Possible connotations, yes

Dinter · 22-02-2008 05:53PM

MikeySligo wrote: »

I once said Dave Fanny instead of Dave Fannning to my dad.
I was about 12 at the time, so it was quite mortifying.

Going by the thread title I have to ask is your dad a foreigner or are you the foreigner?

If it's your dad who's foreign you don't need to worry because he probably wouldn't be familiar with Dave Fanning and if it's you who's foreign then it's excusable because you mightn't be too sure of his name either.

roughan · 22-02-2008 05:57PM

I was working in London and at lucnch i told my Collegue i was so starvin i could murder a Sambo :eek:

He looked horrified later on i found out Sambo was a term for a black man and the correct term was sarnie!:D

Those crazy foreigners (no racism/xenophobia)

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