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50 Times Non-Native English Speakers Tried To Say Something And It Came Out In Funny And Sweet ‘Translations’
Interview With Author
A TikToker shared a funny story of a non-native English speaker creating some beautiful, unintentional poetry when trying to discuss moths and it spawned a frenzy of similar stories, phrases, and wonderful expressions. We reached out to Chris Rory, who created the original TikTok, to hear more about his experience and see some other examples. So get comfortable, pick up a notebook, and get ready to write down some excellent expressions that you should include in your everyday vocabulary. Be sure to upvote your favorites and check out Chris’ TikTok account here.
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Image credits: chris.rory
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Bored Panda reached out to Chris Rory, who created the original TikTok, to ask some more questions. First, we wanted to know if he had any other examples of “accidental poetry that he liked. ”Gosh, it’s hard to think of the beautiful ones, a lot of it is just in the phrasing, adding an extra word here or there that adds emphasis to a sentence that wouldn’t normally be there, but here are some ones I can think of: “Rather is better than better is rather!”
An Italian friend trying to explain something like “It’s better than nothing!” I enjoy that our phrase for remembering how to tighten screws (righty tighty - lefty loosey) has a Spanish equivalent “The Right oppresses, the Left liberates” which I think is wonderful.”
My Italian friend always says, “the pieces are eating each other!” Whenever we play chess. It’s hilarious and adorable.
He was also kind enough to share examples he had heard from friends and acquaintances. “A Norwegian colleague once asked me what the English word for “the first piss of the day” was, which alerted me to the idea that we might not have one, but also, that other people do. My Polish mother-in-law often tells jokes but picks the wrong word for the punch line. “A man walks into the doctor totally naked but wrapped in cling film. The doctor says ‘I can clearly see your balls.’”
I know people who jokingly call Chuckie Cheese’s the kiddie casino.
“I used to live in Japan and I found out while living in Japan that for quite a while, instead of saying ‘housewife’ I had been saying ‘prostitute.’ Turns out I had been mispronouncing either shufu or shoufu,” he added, a good reminder to all of us attempting a new language. Make sure to check if there are similar-sounding words. After all, ship, duck, and stitch are all one letter away from curses.
This got me thinking... Why do we call the shell a house but a slug us a "naked snail" and not a homeless snail?
My mother tongue doesn't have a different word, they're literally called nude snails.
Thats a good question, consodering we germans call slugs „naked snails“ (Nacktschnecke) :)
Everytime i see a slug i will now be thinking of it as a homeless snail, love it
In Italian a slug is a "Lumaca" but a snail is "Chiocciola" which is also the official name for the @ sign. Exchanging email in Italy is a riot. Mario *snail* gmail.com
In Swedish we use the same word for both so I can relate to this perfectly
nearly everyone i know calls slugs homeless snails, and we all speak English only
Well, a snail is called Schnecke and a slug is Nacktschnecke (naked snail), so…
Chris gave some other examples from Japan.” A Japanese friend once got her hair cut and I tried to tell her it was beautiful and it didn’t get the reaction I expected. I later found out I had told her it looked scary or ugly. The Japanese word ‘chin’ means ‘penis’ so when I taught children things like ‘ears, eyes, chin” they were rolling in laughter and I had no idea why.”
“I guess language is flexible and is supposed to be expressive. Poetry is a way of pushing language by playing with syntax and pairing words in novel ways to create feeling and imagery. When people learn a language they do this naturally because they don’t yet know all of the ‘rules’ of the language, so they break them - the same way poetry does,” he added, when we asked about his thoughts on why these phrases sometimes seem so beautiful.
The Japanese direct translation of hedgehog is "needle mouse". I don't remember the actual word though.
“I’m not a linguist and I only know scraps of other languages, not enough to speak, but I did use to live communally with about 15-20 people, many of which were non-native speakers, it made for some excellent late-night conversations.” You can find Chris’ TikTok here where he posts funny sketches and talks about his life experience. He also has an Instagram page, which you can find here as well as a studio photography page, which you can find here.
It is a word to word translation of the german Word „Staubsauger“
Okay but that phrase is so raw that I had to pause and ponder it for a moment
One of my Grandmas had a birthday cake fire when she turned 90.... it was awesome
Reminds me of my brother at an American wedding. He forgot the name for "best man" and called him "spare groom".
I've had trouble remembering the word colander, so I called it the 'hole bowl'. 🕳 🥣 ☺️
Literally, they translate in Spanish as "Molars of Judgment" (Muelas del Juicio)
When my Pakistani friend was first learning English he would say "I have believe in you!" in place of *I believe in you*. I have never used the latter again. 😂 ❤️
I've heard both "manhole pancake" and "bumpy pancake" for waffle
Long ago my wife had a Japanese room mate in college, who called the shower "the little rain room." The term still gets used occasionally.
Have you ever been to a classical music concert and seen the kettle drum?!
As a Finn, I didn't know the correct English word, so I said a claw that prevents laundry from flying away.
The first thing everyone should know about learning foreign languages is that no matter how good you know a language, if you don't speak it a lot, you won't remember words. So creatively describing stuff in your own words is a very usefull skill to keep the conversation going. These stories here aren't just funny anecdotes, but are testaments to human creativity and our unbreakable will to successfully communicate with each other.
One of the ways people are officially tested for different levels of language proficiency (European Board of language proficiency which starts from level A1- complete beginner to C2 (complete native speaker fluency) is just how creatively non-native speakers can use clever anecdotes or descriptions if they don’t know a specific term. One of the questions you are sometimes asked for c1 or c2 fluency is to teach someone how to tie teach a child how to tie their shoes which is actually a lot harder than you think.
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Because we Brits are so good at foreign words...I once tried to ask my French teaching assistant if I could call her "tu" by saying "puis-je tu toyer", but it came out as "tu tuer", which meant "can I kill you"?
when i was still learning english i once said “i want to utilize your toilet” and have never lived it down amongst my friends
Take some comfort in knowing that a friend of mine once described red, horn-shaped peppers as "horny peppers"😁🌶🌶🌶
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My girlfriend (French speaking) called applesauce “scrambled apples” and we will NOT let her forget
My daughter couldn't think of the word for pidgeons, so she called them "city chickens"
My grandparents told the story of asking a waiter in Germany what something was on the menu. He tried to think of the English word and finally smiled and said "Bambi!" They didn't have the Bambi.
My dad is dyslexic, first language is english. But he regularly needs to be told how to spell something, literally he didn't know how to spell waffles so he just wrote "pancakes with abs".
Being French living in the US, I was changing old windows on my house and told the contractor I needed good isolation instead of insulation. False cognates are dreadful, but we had a good laugh over it.
I say also isolation and I didn't even know that this is wrong 😐
Load More Replies... I love in Turkish how they say grandmother anneanne or babaanne (mother of mother)or (mother of father)
Not a mistranslation, but an Indian doctor I used to work for once referred an awkward patient as "a buggering damn nuisance", which is a phrase no native English speaker would ever say but is perfect, rhythmic and beautiful.
I have a buggering damn nuisance neighbour, this phrase is perfect for describing him!
Load More Replies... Once my head went completely blank and I couldn't remember the word sparkling water, so I had to order water with bubbles.
The Dutch words for sparkling water are literally "water with prick"
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My favorite such instance was the German diner who couldn't remember the word for utensils and asked the waiter for "food weapons." They are now forever food weapons to me 😂
I know people that call knives and forks, 'eating irons'.
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Had a classmate forgot the word "change" (money) and called it "come-back-money" lol
I work in a clothes shop and someone wanted to know if they could have "come-back-money" if they bought something and it didn't fit them, so they meant a refund.
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Reminds me of when my Son was 3 and he wanted to go out splashing in puddles, he said he couldn't find his " rain stick" umbrella have always been called that now
Isn't "rain stick" the stick that is shaken in some African countries when they need rain?
Load More Replies... 4 Danish guys in London had been on a pub crawl and got into a taxi to go back to their hotel. 3 of them filled up the back seat and the fourth guy had to sit in front, but forgetting where he was, he tried to get in on the right side and almost sat down on top of the driver. Forgetting that it is called a "steering wheel" he said "Sorry. Where I come from the rat is on the other side." (Steering wheel = rat in Danish). Before anyone asks: A rat = en rotte.
A Swedish friend once told me, "You know, your face is very homely." I blinked at her, confused. she went on: "Is that the right word? Your face reminds me of home. I find it very comforting." It's probably the best compliment I've ever received.
I always get the word homely and comely mixed up so I have to think hard whether it's a compliment or not.
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My Mexican hubby was having a bad hair day and said "I look like I was licked by a cow". (cowlick). Bless.
It's a literal translation of the Spanish phrase :)
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I am a nativ speaker of both Danish and English. But som sometimes mix things up like. As i kid i went to spider/ scout in danish spejde (Pronounced spider) so telling my aunt that i went to spider made her conguesd. Or when I called I called a pedestrian crossing. a zebra crossing (zebrakrys) we dont have that word in danish my friends laugth a lot af that one. But took it up as they found it funny. I am deslexis so wy written English is not good
Nina, you are doing very well. But please can I tell you the word is 'dyslexic'? It's a shame it's such a difficult word to spell. I wonder what your Danish friends would think about 'Pelican crossing'!
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I can never remember the English word "advantages". I'll be talking and out of the blue say front-pieces, because in Afrikaans advantages is "voordele" (voor = front; dele = pieces). People have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'll be like, "You know, the positive aspects!" "Oh, ADVANTAGES!!"
What about benefits? Does it help? It's not quite the same, but you might remember as in "health benefits".
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I had a Spanish friend who said "revenge is a cold plate" instead of revenge is a dish best served cold. Slightly differently, she called peanut butter "p*nis butter" which would make for a totally different sandwich!
Not the topic this actually turned out to be, but when this started out discussing how foreign languages often sound like poetry, I couldn't help think instead of my sister reading my word-for-word translated Greek-to-English bible Because of the way sentences are structured differently, she couldn't help using a Yoda voice. Pretty much nailed it. Nailed it pretty much she did.
Always be kind a patient with people who are learning a new language. It takes an extreme amount of courage as a non-native speaker to speak with a native speaker. As a speaker of a second language I still get nervous and embarrassed when I make mistakes. I know my second language, Spanish, is rusty, but really appreciate native speakers who correct me kindly and teach me fun colloquial phrases. I learned Japanese while working in Spain and first translate the Japanese term into Spanish and then into English. In told truly truly love to learn more Scots Gaelic and to feel closer to my ancestors.
I feel that. My English is my first language b ut being in a multilingual family on my mom's side... I've had linguistic glitches all my life. It's hilarious to hear me, my mom, an dher family speak (the older ones), b/c we're using substitute phrases for English words.
Load More Replies... I love these. German is a very descriptive language, which means that the literal translations of for us totally normal words can be absolutely funny to non German speakers.
Nitka, that is clear from a lot of examples given in this article. I've found it very interesting. . . (and I should have gone to bed ages ago, but I'm fascinated!)
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European migrant lady was looking for "lifting plane" in the supermarket. Seems a friend attributed her recent baking failure to using plain instead of self raising flour.
When she first came to the US, my German friend bought bottle of douche because she thought it was soap to use in the shower.
That's because the word shower is douche in the Netherlands, obviously in Germany too, and probably in France.
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These are hilarious. My boyfriend speaks Spanish and very limited English, we have an absolute blast trying to figure out what the hell we're trying to say to each other. For example Vikingos, the whole time I'm trying to translate bikingos🙄🤦🏼♀️
We Chinese, Korean, Japanese say "chicken skin" when we don't know the word "goosebumps", it's a direct translation.
Laying here at 1am with severe toothache and this is making me smile through the pain
I hope you feel better soon Ashlie. Toothache is awful.
Load More Replies... An Italian friend with whom I'd speak and write both in Spanish and English, described my sister's husband as my "brother-in-love".
I was visiting Iceland, and couldn't find anywhere that served bloody Mary's. Finally an Icelandic woman explained to me that "Icelanders find it strange to drink the juice of tomatoes"! So that explains that.
I asked my husband to put the cold water boily thing on (kettle) and I'm English
I like that Annie, I might just adopt that! (I'm English too.)
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Labor Day is "dag van de Arbeid" in Dutch. Foreign student asked teacher "i dont understand "dag van de Aarbei" litterally "Strawberry Day" It has been years since the teacher told me but I'll always call it Strawberry now. I work as a cleaner at a school, that uses a lot of construction cabins for extra room. We call them the containers, but my foreign co worker who doesnt speak Dutch very well yet and uses a translate app keeps calling them The Caravans and it sounds like a holiday park :-D
In Australia we call those cabins/classrooms 'portables' despite the fact that they are often there for decades, which I find quite funny. Even funnier was the one we had at my primary school. Everyone called it the 'new building' but my mum said it wasn't even that new when she was at the school 20+ years before me!
Load More Replies... I had a few Chinese friends in primary school who said the same thing
Load More Replies... My father had a leader in WWII army, French Canadian chap who didn't know the phrase "mark time". He commanded the men "forward March, don't go some place."
Amaryllis, "Don't go SAME place", is that right?
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My dad is not so good at english, and wanted to say, turn left by the church, but he couldnt figure out, the exact word for church, so he said: Turn left by the Jesus Christ House
Ancsuri, that is brilliant, becos it's God's house. Well done your dad.
Load More Replies... When I was learning English, I was trying to give someone a recipe that included baking powder. I called it "Oven Dust".
Once, at a cafe in Paris, I asked for a Cendrillon, instead of a cendrier (Cinderella instead of an ashtray)😬
English is my first language and I say things like this all the time. I just forget words. I also use sound effects and hand gestures like yk with the whoosh and the flrflprlfprlfrprfl and the doodloodloo or the wlalwlalalwlaalwlwlal
I have a friend who lives in Sweden and she's Danish and she can obviously speak both languages she can also read, write and speak English. We were talking about our cats and she asked me what my cat's cat name is, and what she meant was what is my cat's pet name which I thought was very sweet.
My ex boss, a German, couldn't think of the word dentist so, told our colleague she needed to visit the toothache doctor.
There was a dentist who wanted a special reg plate for his car, so he got one saying "2TH DOC"
Load More Replies... I spent two years calling leftovers "leftlovers" until my British ex kindly pointed it out (and had a good laugh about it). Another time l told another ex (American) that he had to be mushed (smashed, l meant smashed).
My Peruvian step-mother picked up my sleeping little brother and said, "He's limping like a dishrag," instead of limp as a dishrag.
Uuuh, i didn't know word for hangover, so next morning after party i told everyone that i have an ape (as we say that so). And other time pointing kiosk to customer as a cottage XD
This.... This is my life :-) Grew up with a ton of immigrants, then learned other languages as an adult. Now I can get stuck and say, "That... thing..." and what comes out is anyone's guess! (Once, in a Spanish-speaking country, I got lost for the word for tree for some reason ------ blame the altitude? ------- and wound up saying "la cosa de holz". Yeah, that last one is German for word. The wood thing.)
My husband is Hungarian. Once he wanted to ask me if I remembered to buy Miracle Whip but asked if I'd remembered the "Magic Marmalade"
A friend prepping for a slide show (antique power point for you young folks) forgot hte word for extension cord & asked for the string which electrifies things
South Seas traders and the natives they bartered with invented a patchwork language (which existed in several versions) called Pidgin English. It was often clumsy but had some splendid expressions. During WW2 an air raid was "steam pigeon drop plenty bad s**t," and sunrise was the poetic "Number One Pigeon, he cry." An old but still used Italian expression (not a translation or mis-translation) for giving birth is "tpo give to the light"--truly beautiful.
Instead of saying you don’t realise my Spanish colleague said you no really lies . It was so cute I didn’t correct her.
An ex gf of mine was English. I am French. I once mistranslated a bow tie as a "butterfly knot" as it is known in French ... She laughed and laughed and laughed... and I laughed too ! :)
This sort of applies, but when my daughter was about 4 y/o, I pointed to a billboard and told her I want to take her to that play called, "Annie Get Your Gun". Some days later she asked if we are going to see Andy Come Pick Up Your Gun.😂
A Hungarian man went into an English tobacconist's shop to buy cigarettes by saying (as shown in his guide book) "I will not buy this record. It is scratched." To ask for matches, he announced, "My hovercraft is full of eels." I won't tell you the Hungarian translation of "six shillings."
The first thing everyone should know about learning foreign languages is that no matter how good you know a language, if you don't speak it a lot, you won't remember words. So creatively describing stuff in your own words is a very usefull skill to keep the conversation going. These stories here aren't just funny anecdotes, but are testaments to human creativity and our unbreakable will to successfully communicate with each other.
One of the ways people are officially tested for different levels of language proficiency (European Board of language proficiency which starts from level A1- complete beginner to C2 (complete native speaker fluency) is just how creatively non-native speakers can use clever anecdotes or descriptions if they don’t know a specific term. One of the questions you are sometimes asked for c1 or c2 fluency is to teach someone how to tie teach a child how to tie their shoes which is actually a lot harder than you think.
Load More Replies... Because we Brits are so good at foreign words...I once tried to ask my French teaching assistant if I could call her "tu" by saying "puis-je tu toyer", but it came out as "tu tuer", which meant "can I kill you"?
when i was still learning english i once said “i want to utilize your toilet” and have never lived it down amongst my friends
Take some comfort in knowing that a friend of mine once described red, horn-shaped peppers as "horny peppers"😁🌶🌶🌶
Load More Replies... My girlfriend (French speaking) called applesauce “scrambled apples” and we will NOT let her forget
My daughter couldn't think of the word for pidgeons, so she called them "city chickens"
My grandparents told the story of asking a waiter in Germany what something was on the menu. He tried to think of the English word and finally smiled and said "Bambi!" They didn't have the Bambi.
My dad is dyslexic, first language is english. But he regularly needs to be told how to spell something, literally he didn't know how to spell waffles so he just wrote "pancakes with abs".
Being French living in the US, I was changing old windows on my house and told the contractor I needed good isolation instead of insulation. False cognates are dreadful, but we had a good laugh over it.
I say also isolation and I didn't even know that this is wrong 😐
Load More Replies... I love in Turkish how they say grandmother anneanne or babaanne (mother of mother)or (mother of father)
Not a mistranslation, but an Indian doctor I used to work for once referred an awkward patient as "a buggering damn nuisance", which is a phrase no native English speaker would ever say but is perfect, rhythmic and beautiful.
I have a buggering damn nuisance neighbour, this phrase is perfect for describing him!
Load More Replies... Once my head went completely blank and I couldn't remember the word sparkling water, so I had to order water with bubbles.
The Dutch words for sparkling water are literally "water with prick"
Load More Replies... My favorite such instance was the German diner who couldn't remember the word for utensils and asked the waiter for "food weapons." They are now forever food weapons to me 😂
I know people that call knives and forks, 'eating irons'.
Load More Replies... Had a classmate forgot the word "change" (money) and called it "come-back-money" lol
I work in a clothes shop and someone wanted to know if they could have "come-back-money" if they bought something and it didn't fit them, so they meant a refund.
Load More Replies... Reminds me of when my Son was 3 and he wanted to go out splashing in puddles, he said he couldn't find his " rain stick" umbrella have always been called that now
Isn't "rain stick" the stick that is shaken in some African countries when they need rain?
Load More Replies... 4 Danish guys in London had been on a pub crawl and got into a taxi to go back to their hotel. 3 of them filled up the back seat and the fourth guy had to sit in front, but forgetting where he was, he tried to get in on the right side and almost sat down on top of the driver. Forgetting that it is called a "steering wheel" he said "Sorry. Where I come from the rat is on the other side." (Steering wheel = rat in Danish). Before anyone asks: A rat = en rotte.
A Swedish friend once told me, "You know, your face is very homely." I blinked at her, confused. she went on: "Is that the right word? Your face reminds me of home. I find it very comforting." It's probably the best compliment I've ever received.
I always get the word homely and comely mixed up so I have to think hard whether it's a compliment or not.
Load More Replies... My Mexican hubby was having a bad hair day and said "I look like I was licked by a cow". (cowlick). Bless.
It's a literal translation of the Spanish phrase :)
Load More Replies... I am a nativ speaker of both Danish and English. But som sometimes mix things up like. As i kid i went to spider/ scout in danish spejde (Pronounced spider) so telling my aunt that i went to spider made her conguesd. Or when I called I called a pedestrian crossing. a zebra crossing (zebrakrys) we dont have that word in danish my friends laugth a lot af that one. But took it up as they found it funny. I am deslexis so wy written English is not good
Nina, you are doing very well. But please can I tell you the word is 'dyslexic'? It's a shame it's such a difficult word to spell. I wonder what your Danish friends would think about 'Pelican crossing'!
Load More Replies... I can never remember the English word "advantages". I'll be talking and out of the blue say front-pieces, because in Afrikaans advantages is "voordele" (voor = front; dele = pieces). People have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'll be like, "You know, the positive aspects!" "Oh, ADVANTAGES!!"
What about benefits? Does it help? It's not quite the same, but you might remember as in "health benefits".
Load More Replies... I had a Spanish friend who said "revenge is a cold plate" instead of revenge is a dish best served cold. Slightly differently, she called peanut butter "p*nis butter" which would make for a totally different sandwich!
Not the topic this actually turned out to be, but when this started out discussing how foreign languages often sound like poetry, I couldn't help think instead of my sister reading my word-for-word translated Greek-to-English bible Because of the way sentences are structured differently, she couldn't help using a Yoda voice. Pretty much nailed it. Nailed it pretty much she did.
Always be kind a patient with people who are learning a new language. It takes an extreme amount of courage as a non-native speaker to speak with a native speaker. As a speaker of a second language I still get nervous and embarrassed when I make mistakes. I know my second language, Spanish, is rusty, but really appreciate native speakers who correct me kindly and teach me fun colloquial phrases. I learned Japanese while working in Spain and first translate the Japanese term into Spanish and then into English. In told truly truly love to learn more Scots Gaelic and to feel closer to my ancestors.
I feel that. My English is my first language b ut being in a multilingual family on my mom's side... I've had linguistic glitches all my life. It's hilarious to hear me, my mom, an dher family speak (the older ones), b/c we're using substitute phrases for English words.
Load More Replies... I love these. German is a very descriptive language, which means that the literal translations of for us totally normal words can be absolutely funny to non German speakers.
Nitka, that is clear from a lot of examples given in this article. I've found it very interesting. . . (and I should have gone to bed ages ago, but I'm fascinated!)
Load More Replies... European migrant lady was looking for "lifting plane" in the supermarket. Seems a friend attributed her recent baking failure to using plain instead of self raising flour.
When she first came to the US, my German friend bought bottle of douche because she thought it was soap to use in the shower.
That's because the word shower is douche in the Netherlands, obviously in Germany too, and probably in France.
Load More Replies... These are hilarious. My boyfriend speaks Spanish and very limited English, we have an absolute blast trying to figure out what the hell we're trying to say to each other. For example Vikingos, the whole time I'm trying to translate bikingos🙄🤦🏼♀️
We Chinese, Korean, Japanese say "chicken skin" when we don't know the word "goosebumps", it's a direct translation.
Laying here at 1am with severe toothache and this is making me smile through the pain
I hope you feel better soon Ashlie. Toothache is awful.
Load More Replies... An Italian friend with whom I'd speak and write both in Spanish and English, described my sister's husband as my "brother-in-love".
I was visiting Iceland, and couldn't find anywhere that served bloody Mary's. Finally an Icelandic woman explained to me that "Icelanders find it strange to drink the juice of tomatoes"! So that explains that.
I asked my husband to put the cold water boily thing on (kettle) and I'm English
I like that Annie, I might just adopt that! (I'm English too.)
Load More Replies... Labor Day is "dag van de Arbeid" in Dutch. Foreign student asked teacher "i dont understand "dag van de Aarbei" litterally "Strawberry Day" It has been years since the teacher told me but I'll always call it Strawberry now. I work as a cleaner at a school, that uses a lot of construction cabins for extra room. We call them the containers, but my foreign co worker who doesnt speak Dutch very well yet and uses a translate app keeps calling them The Caravans and it sounds like a holiday park :-D
In Australia we call those cabins/classrooms 'portables' despite the fact that they are often there for decades, which I find quite funny. Even funnier was the one we had at my primary school. Everyone called it the 'new building' but my mum said it wasn't even that new when she was at the school 20+ years before me!
Load More Replies... I had a few Chinese friends in primary school who said the same thing
Load More Replies... My father had a leader in WWII army, French Canadian chap who didn't know the phrase "mark time". He commanded the men "forward March, don't go some place."
Amaryllis, "Don't go SAME place", is that right?
Load More Replies... My dad is not so good at english, and wanted to say, turn left by the church, but he couldnt figure out, the exact word for church, so he said: Turn left by the Jesus Christ House
Ancsuri, that is brilliant, becos it's God's house. Well done your dad.
Load More Replies... When I was learning English, I was trying to give someone a recipe that included baking powder. I called it "Oven Dust".
Once, at a cafe in Paris, I asked for a Cendrillon, instead of a cendrier (Cinderella instead of an ashtray)😬
English is my first language and I say things like this all the time. I just forget words. I also use sound effects and hand gestures like yk with the whoosh and the flrflprlfprlfrprfl and the doodloodloo or the wlalwlalalwlaalwlwlal
I have a friend who lives in Sweden and she's Danish and she can obviously speak both languages she can also read, write and speak English. We were talking about our cats and she asked me what my cat's cat name is, and what she meant was what is my cat's pet name which I thought was very sweet.
My ex boss, a German, couldn't think of the word dentist so, told our colleague she needed to visit the toothache doctor.
There was a dentist who wanted a special reg plate for his car, so he got one saying "2TH DOC"
Load More Replies... I spent two years calling leftovers "leftlovers" until my British ex kindly pointed it out (and had a good laugh about it). Another time l told another ex (American) that he had to be mushed (smashed, l meant smashed).
My Peruvian step-mother picked up my sleeping little brother and said, "He's limping like a dishrag," instead of limp as a dishrag.
Uuuh, i didn't know word for hangover, so next morning after party i told everyone that i have an ape (as we say that so). And other time pointing kiosk to customer as a cottage XD
This.... This is my life :-) Grew up with a ton of immigrants, then learned other languages as an adult. Now I can get stuck and say, "That... thing..." and what comes out is anyone's guess! (Once, in a Spanish-speaking country, I got lost for the word for tree for some reason ------ blame the altitude? ------- and wound up saying "la cosa de holz". Yeah, that last one is German for word. The wood thing.)
My husband is Hungarian. Once he wanted to ask me if I remembered to buy Miracle Whip but asked if I'd remembered the "Magic Marmalade"
A friend prepping for a slide show (antique power point for you young folks) forgot hte word for extension cord & asked for the string which electrifies things
South Seas traders and the natives they bartered with invented a patchwork language (which existed in several versions) called Pidgin English. It was often clumsy but had some splendid expressions. During WW2 an air raid was "steam pigeon drop plenty bad s**t," and sunrise was the poetic "Number One Pigeon, he cry." An old but still used Italian expression (not a translation or mis-translation) for giving birth is "tpo give to the light"--truly beautiful.
Instead of saying you don’t realise my Spanish colleague said you no really lies . It was so cute I didn’t correct her.
An ex gf of mine was English. I am French. I once mistranslated a bow tie as a "butterfly knot" as it is known in French ... She laughed and laughed and laughed... and I laughed too ! :)
This sort of applies, but when my daughter was about 4 y/o, I pointed to a billboard and told her I want to take her to that play called, "Annie Get Your Gun". Some days later she asked if we are going to see Andy Come Pick Up Your Gun.😂
A Hungarian man went into an English tobacconist's shop to buy cigarettes by saying (as shown in his guide book) "I will not buy this record. It is scratched." To ask for matches, he announced, "My hovercraft is full of eels." I won't tell you the Hungarian translation of "six shillings."
