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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If there's one important thing to learn from this thread, it is that idioms do not translate. At all.
And for some of us they're difficult in our first language. I mean what the fuck does "he wears his heart on his sleeve mean?" He would die.
My favorite is the swedish "att få blodad tand", literally "to get a bloody/bloodied tooth". Somehow it means becoming interested in or finding inspiraton in a topic.
Well you’re obviously sinking your teeth into it so your tooth got bloodied
My favourite English one that makes the least amount of sense is "fucking the dog". Like, of all things, why choose that??