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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

#1

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TonyTee
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always look forward to the moment of the strawberries 🍓 😋

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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.”

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#4

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Lauren S
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

English is my first (and only) language. And I most certainly asked for the drink-sucking-through-er today. Straw. I wanted a straw.

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#6

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Skyla King
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My Italian friend always says, “the pieces are eating each other!” Whenever we play chess. It’s hilarious and adorable.

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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.’”

#7

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“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. 

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.”

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“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. 

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#18

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Phoenix(or nix)they/them
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Japanese direct translation of hedgehog is "needle mouse". I don't remember the actual word though.

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“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.

#21

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Luke Branwen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Okay but that phrase is so raw that I had to pause and ponder it for a moment

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#23

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Luis Hernandez Dauajare
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reminds me of my brother at an American wedding. He forgot the name for "best man" and called him "spare groom".

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#28

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Amber
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When asking someone in Spanish how old they are, you ask how many years they have

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#30

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Becca Kuehn
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had trouble remembering the word colander, so I called it the 'hole bowl'. 🕳 🥣 ☺️

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#40

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Tanja J
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Do you suffer tickling" is a direct translation from italian for asking if you're ticklish.

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#48

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Shehzadi Amal
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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. 😂 ❤️

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#50

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T5n
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The German word for gloves directly translates to “hand shoes”

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#54

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Ghx
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When my sibling was a little kid, they called the part under the knee a "leg armpit" 😆

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#55

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sbj
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's a very common English phrase for something we don't like/want to do

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#59

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Luna Crow
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unwilling participant.. why don't we get to choose? I would've been a great dog or bird or something

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#60

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Dekker451
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't really a mistranslation so much as a usage that's more common in British English.

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#61

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Lauren S
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s cute. At my kid’s school some of the kids say “cheese and crackers” instead of Jesus Christ. My son started saying “Jesus Crackers”. So close my boy. (Ps, I’ve never corrected him because I love it).

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#70

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Kel_how
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Excellent description! I always love my ELL student descriptions when they don't know a word.

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#71

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Matthew Currie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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#73

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Mary Peace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Have you ever been to a classical music concert and seen the kettle drum?!

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#74

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#75

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Amanda Rose
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That sounds like a description of staples rather than paper clips.

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#76

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Ace
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In what strain of English is this _not_ correct and normal usage? I guess the poster is thinking of it as only ever meaning considerate.

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#80

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Mari
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Avoir des fourmis= having ants In Dutch we say "mijn been slaapt"= my leg is asleep

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#81

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Martine Borge
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Norway the direct translatation is egg plums (eggeplomme)