If you've ever interacted with someone who speaks a different language, what is the funniest misunderstanding you've had?
If you've ever interacted with someone who speaks a different language, what is the funniest misunderstanding you've had?
An example of what I mean:
I, in China, told an English speaking Chinese friend I needed to stop off in the bathroom to "take a shit."
He looked appalled and after I asked why he had that look, he asked what I was going to do with someone's shit.
I had not laughed so hard in a while, and it totally makes sense.
I explained it was an expression for pooping, and he comes back with, "wouldn't that be giving a shit?"
I then got to explain that to give a shit means you care and I realized how fucked some of our expressions are.
What misunderstandings made you laugh?
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I've made this mistake and apparently others have as well: the words for lips (kuchibiru) and nipple (chikubi) got mixed up in my head leading to some awkwardness in Japanese.
6 0 ReplyBut kuchi means mouth… seems not too hard to remind yourself that? Awkward nonetheless haha
3 0 ReplyMy brain isn't consciously thinking about the constituent parts of words as I'm saying them. I definitely don't think "milk neck" when I think nipple, either.
6 0 ReplyKubi means head or top in that case… milk head is a pretty good etymology for nipple ;)
3 0 Reply