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If you've ever played Chinese Whispers (also known as the telephone) you know that communication fails, sometimes with funny results too.
And what better way to spend your Internet data than to enjoy people running into hilarious everyday situations? From a husband failing to buy the groceries his wife asked for to a diner unable to respond to the waiter, here are some of the best misunderstandings people have shared online.
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However, we must be careful as these kinds of misunderstandings can lead to conflicts as well. I mean, just think how many times couples have started fighting after one person misinterpreted what the other said or done.
Heidi Grant Halvorson, a social psychologist at Columbia Business School who has researched how people perceive one another, said people don't realize they are not coming across the way they think they are.
"If I ask you about how you see yourself—what traits you would say describe you—and I ask someone who knows you well to list your traits, the correlation between what you say and what your friend says will be somewhere between 0.2 and 0.5. There's a big gap between how other people see us and how we see ourselves," Halvorson told The Atlantic.
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According to her, this gap often arises from what psychologists call 'the transparency illusion'—people's belief that what they feel, desire, and intend is crystal clear to others, even though they have done very little to communicate clearly what is going on inside their minds.
"Chances are, how you look when you are slightly frustrated isn't all that different from how you look when you are a little concerned, confused, disappointed, or nervous. Your 'I'm kind of hurt by what you just said' face probably looks an awful lot like your 'I'm not at all hurt by what you just said' face. And the majority of times that you've said to yourself, 'I made my intentions clear,' or 'He knows what I meant,' you didn't and he doesn't."
The answer to these problems lies within us. "If you want to solve the problem of perception," Halverson added, "it’s much more practical for you to decide to be a good sender of signals than to hope that the perceiver is going to go into phase two of perception. It's not realistic to expect people to go to that effort. Can you imagine how exhausting it would be to weigh every possible motivation of another person? Plus, you can't control what's going on inside of another person's mind, but you can control how you come across."
#9
DBK 5 years ago
That reminds me when I was around 4, I thought our neighbor's horse had 5 legs. Almost 10 years after they told me that It was a male horse...
Courtney Christelle 5 years ago
In her defense, I have a wiener the same colour who has been known to go pretzel from time to time.
Philly Bob Squires 5 years ago
I once spent a 1/2 hour trying to sneak up to photograph a woodchuck... It was a log.
Jane Alexander 5 years ago
My brother was sitting on the couch petting my black furry slippers when the cat walked into the room. You should'a seen his face.
Mishte Tine 5 years ago
Looks more like an overweight Chihuahua to me. Aging eyesight is hell.
#24
Emily Geels 5 years ago
At first I thought he meant the kids got incinerated and I was like I thought this was supposed to be funny?
#28
postboredom 5 years ago
tofurky.. like a tofu turkey? i would rather say the entire thing than call that tofurky
#31
Esca Sav 5 years ago
My dad burned hot dogs in boiling water. I left him so I could handle laundry. I come back to find black hot dogs in boiling water. I repeat... BLACK. SCORCHED. HOT. DOGS. IN. BOILING. WATER... To this day I do not know what happened. To this day I do not know how he defied chemistry. I asked my chemistry professor if this was possible, she said no. I don't trust him with cooking since that day. If anyone has an explanation, please enlighten me. I can't sleep some days thinking about it.
#32
#33
Guy MacGregor 5 years ago
Hum... Water with cheese ? No, you cook pasta, them you add cheese, no ? Or I still don't understand what north americans mean by "Mac&cheese" ?
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Misterscooter 5 years ago
I was cooking hot dogs by boiling them on the stove. The water boiled away and they started to burn so I turned off the heat and ran to the other room where my mom was on the (corded) phone. Upset, I told her that they burned and she said to put ice on it. She thought I had burnt myself and came out to see me rubbing ice cubes on the hot dogs.
Rissie 5 years ago
Don't boil them to begin with, just put them in (max) simmering water. The water in the sausage will start to boil and break the skin in the process. Leaving you with a burst dog.
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YupItsMe1234 5 years ago
This "James Breakwell" is always on these twitter things, sometimes multiple times. Anybody else get the idea that he is making these up?
Chrissie M. 5 years ago
He is quite a successful twitterer (...er), I thionk he is even living off his twitter account, as an author. So yes, he is making things up, although they seem to be inspired by his family.
Load More Replies...
Blue Cicada 5 years ago
My perplexed ex-husband once asked, "what's the difference between putting the dog to sleep and putting the baby to sleep?!" He studied English for two years before arriving in the US, and was often baffled by idioms and other language patterns.
Carole Reid 5 years ago
Those idioms will get you every time. I hope you don't have a dog.
Load More Replies...
Karin Lange 5 years ago
My mother once said: look, there are deer in the meadow. It was the neighbor's chickens. She really needed glasses :-D
Carole Reid 5 years ago
My late ex-husband never did any chores. But once he did decide to try and remove some mold off a window sill (we lived in a very humid climate) and he mixed Clorox with Lysol and nearly choked to death. And the only thing he ever cooked (once in 30 years) was a grilled cheese sandwich. He had a real knack for only doing what was minimally required to get along. Even at work. I was the polar opposite.
Mark Serbian 5 years ago
A large collection of Passive Aggressive behavior, either intentionally or not, still ....
Rissie 5 years ago (edited)
Why would you call it passive agressive? A lot of these are misunderstandings from people who just don't understand what was asked or misread something. Projecting aggression onto it, says something about you yourself... Also aggression is hardly ever unintentional. It can be an instant reaction to extreme fear as a defense mechanism, but that doesn't seem to be what's happening in any of these stories ;)
Load More Replies...
Patrick McKemie 5 years ago
Most of these are not misunderstandings, but stupid people being lazy. How do you let food burn when someone asked you to watch it? You are either a passive aggressive jerk or at a level of stupidity the world could do without. RE" Asking a four year to watch something cooking '; you're the idiot.
Ben Steinberg 5 years ago
You really don't get it. You sound like one of those people who thinks everyone has the same understanding and knowledge you do...welcome to reality.
Load More Replies...
Imelikoledvõi 5 years ago
A lot of the cooking ones reminds me of the first few weeks of uni. Watching all the people who had never had to cook or clean up after themselves struggle to learn the basics. Some people just honestly don't know how to do stuff
Margo Jones 3 years ago
We had guy, Andrè, come paint the interior of our house. He was Russian and spoke broken English. He and I would converse a bit throughout the day. Just basic stuff; family, pets, TV shows etc. I have 3 cats and he knew I loved animals. I'm sitting on the couch one day and he comes up; A: You want big c o c k ? Me: 😶😶😶 A: Big c o c k ? Me: Huh? A: I give you big c o c k ? Me: **Kinda shakes head in confusion** A: My neighbor have big c o c k for free. Me: HUH?!?!?! Mario, I don't know what you're saying!!!! A: ***Flaps arms like a bird: BIG C O C K 'THE BEYORD THE BEYORD' !!!! Me: OHHH, PEACOCK 🦚!!!! I was thinking,,,I'm a lesbian. I don't want your c o c k, your neighbors c o c k or any other c o c k. But, I was wrong bc I would love a pea-c o c k !!!! I have NEVER in my life been so happy to be talking about a bird 🤦♀️ Also, I miss "Andrè The Painter
Banjo Peppers 5 years ago
I’m in the process of typing up handwritten recipes right now and admittedly spent a while wondering why anyone would specify a 1 gram egg. Like that’s so specific, usually people just say medium or large! Eventually I figured out that it did in fact say LARGE egg and not 1 g - lg.
Laura Ellis 5 years ago
I lived with an ex and his brother and his girlfriend, brother's girlfriend cooks eggs, leaves them on the stove, an hour or so later, you hear an pop! It sounded likes something exploded in the kitchen. Yep it was the eggs, all over the kitchen, the water boiled out.
Picture Queen 5 years ago
When I was 4 we were camping & stopped at a hotel to freshen up a bit & eat. My Mother went into the bathroom & my brother & I hung out while we waited for dinner. My Dad said to me tell your Mom I went to the john. When my Mom came out of the bathroom she asked where is your dad? I said He went to John's house. lol
Pauline Bennett 5 years ago
I know you've heard this before Stupid is as stupid does. But thank you all for the laughs.
Missy Barton 5 years ago
I'd asked my husband to run the dishwasher one day while I was out. I came home and he had run it. With cold water.
Misterscooter 5 years ago
I was cooking hot dogs by boiling them on the stove. The water boiled away and they started to burn so I turned off the heat and ran to the other room where my mom was on the (corded) phone. Upset, I told her that they burned and she said to put ice on it. She thought I had burnt myself and came out to see me rubbing ice cubes on the hot dogs.
Rissie 5 years ago
Don't boil them to begin with, just put them in (max) simmering water. The water in the sausage will start to boil and break the skin in the process. Leaving you with a burst dog.
Load More Replies... YupItsMe1234 5 years ago
This "James Breakwell" is always on these twitter things, sometimes multiple times. Anybody else get the idea that he is making these up?
Chrissie M. 5 years ago
He is quite a successful twitterer (...er), I thionk he is even living off his twitter account, as an author. So yes, he is making things up, although they seem to be inspired by his family.
Load More Replies... Blue Cicada 5 years ago
My perplexed ex-husband once asked, "what's the difference between putting the dog to sleep and putting the baby to sleep?!" He studied English for two years before arriving in the US, and was often baffled by idioms and other language patterns.
Carole Reid 5 years ago
Those idioms will get you every time. I hope you don't have a dog.
Load More Replies... Karin Lange 5 years ago
My mother once said: look, there are deer in the meadow. It was the neighbor's chickens. She really needed glasses :-D
Carole Reid 5 years ago
My late ex-husband never did any chores. But once he did decide to try and remove some mold off a window sill (we lived in a very humid climate) and he mixed Clorox with Lysol and nearly choked to death. And the only thing he ever cooked (once in 30 years) was a grilled cheese sandwich. He had a real knack for only doing what was minimally required to get along. Even at work. I was the polar opposite.
Mark Serbian 5 years ago
A large collection of Passive Aggressive behavior, either intentionally or not, still ....
Rissie 5 years ago (edited)
Why would you call it passive agressive? A lot of these are misunderstandings from people who just don't understand what was asked or misread something. Projecting aggression onto it, says something about you yourself... Also aggression is hardly ever unintentional. It can be an instant reaction to extreme fear as a defense mechanism, but that doesn't seem to be what's happening in any of these stories ;)
Load More Replies... Patrick McKemie 5 years ago
Most of these are not misunderstandings, but stupid people being lazy. How do you let food burn when someone asked you to watch it? You are either a passive aggressive jerk or at a level of stupidity the world could do without. RE" Asking a four year to watch something cooking '; you're the idiot.
Ben Steinberg 5 years ago
You really don't get it. You sound like one of those people who thinks everyone has the same understanding and knowledge you do...welcome to reality.
Load More Replies... Imelikoledvõi 5 years ago
A lot of the cooking ones reminds me of the first few weeks of uni. Watching all the people who had never had to cook or clean up after themselves struggle to learn the basics. Some people just honestly don't know how to do stuff
Margo Jones 3 years ago
We had guy, Andrè, come paint the interior of our house. He was Russian and spoke broken English. He and I would converse a bit throughout the day. Just basic stuff; family, pets, TV shows etc. I have 3 cats and he knew I loved animals. I'm sitting on the couch one day and he comes up; A: You want big c o c k ? Me: 😶😶😶 A: Big c o c k ? Me: Huh? A: I give you big c o c k ? Me: **Kinda shakes head in confusion** A: My neighbor have big c o c k for free. Me: HUH?!?!?! Mario, I don't know what you're saying!!!! A: ***Flaps arms like a bird: BIG C O C K 'THE BEYORD THE BEYORD' !!!! Me: OHHH, PEACOCK 🦚!!!! I was thinking,,,I'm a lesbian. I don't want your c o c k, your neighbors c o c k or any other c o c k. But, I was wrong bc I would love a pea-c o c k !!!! I have NEVER in my life been so happy to be talking about a bird 🤦♀️ Also, I miss "Andrè The Painter
Banjo Peppers 5 years ago
I’m in the process of typing up handwritten recipes right now and admittedly spent a while wondering why anyone would specify a 1 gram egg. Like that’s so specific, usually people just say medium or large! Eventually I figured out that it did in fact say LARGE egg and not 1 g - lg.
Laura Ellis 5 years ago
I lived with an ex and his brother and his girlfriend, brother's girlfriend cooks eggs, leaves them on the stove, an hour or so later, you hear an pop! It sounded likes something exploded in the kitchen. Yep it was the eggs, all over the kitchen, the water boiled out.
Picture Queen 5 years ago
When I was 4 we were camping & stopped at a hotel to freshen up a bit & eat. My Mother went into the bathroom & my brother & I hung out while we waited for dinner. My Dad said to me tell your Mom I went to the john. When my Mom came out of the bathroom she asked where is your dad? I said He went to John's house. lol
Pauline Bennett 5 years ago
I know you've heard this before Stupid is as stupid does. But thank you all for the laughs.
Missy Barton 5 years ago
I'd asked my husband to run the dishwasher one day while I was out. I came home and he had run it. With cold water.
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