Misunderstandings That Resulted In These 50 Hilarious Fails

NPR tells the 1912 story of a Mrs. Joseph C. Yeager who flew into panic after receiving a wire from her husband. Mr. Yeager had been described as a "horseman, gambler and all-around plunger". So it’s no surprise that when his wife "hastily scanned" a telegram from him while he was at the racecourse, she went into a spin.

"Broke. Even lost on Dollie," she read, and immediately started doing damage control, unable to imagine a life without money.

NPR reports that Mrs. Yeager went out and pawned $35,000 worth of jewels. She only received $6,000 for them, but accepted out of desperation. Imagine her surprise when her husband rocked up at home with money in his pocket… “but not enough to get his wife's jewels out of hock.”

As it turns out, the telegram had actually said "Broke even. Lost on Dollie." According to media reports, the couple eventually divorced.

Even big brands aren’t immune to missing the point. When Parker Pen released a ballpoint pen that promised not to leak, it was a hit. In America, at least. Their English ad slogan went along the lines of, “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” But when the pen was released in Mexico, someone either stuffed up big-time, or intentionally set out to take the p*ss.

It's reported that Parker Pen "mistakenly" thought that the Spanish word for ’embarrass’ was embarazar. That word actually means "to be pregnant." The result? An expensive campaign rollout with an advert that translated into “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.” Oops!

Vehicles aren't cheap to make, export or sell. So when automobile companies embark on a mission to sell their goods in another country, one would like to think that they've done all the research needed. It turns out that's not always the case—and some big motor manufacturing brands have learned the hard way.

According to this hilarious but insightful e-consultancy blog post, "Mitsubishi launched ‘the masturbator’ in Spain, Toyota offered Puerto Ricans the chance to drive an 'ugly old woman', while nobody at General Motors managed to clock that ‘Nova’ (or No Va) translated to ‘It doesn’t go’."

The consultancy continues its post calling Kia out for its unfortunate oopsie in Brazil. "Although a popular model in other countries, the Besta van performed poorly in Brazil," reads the site. "While ‘besta’ can mean ‘beast’, it also doubles as a rather derogatory term for an idiot."

But it must be Ford that took the cake in the early 1970s. "The Ford Pinto is a relatively unremarkable name for a car at face value, and sold well in Europe," explained the marketing and e-commerce platform. "But, in launching the imported model into Brazil, that they discovered ‘Pinto’ is Brazilian Portuguese slang for small male genitalia."

After losing money, and face, Ford changed the car model's name to Corcel, which apparently means horse or steed.

Keynote speaker and best-selling author Tony J. Hughes has a LinkedIn post about companies getting lost in translation. He lists a number of funny fails including this classic:

“Australian brewer Castlemaine launched its XXXX (‘four-ex’) beer in the USA using their trademarked jingle ‘I can feel a four-ex coming on’ which had proved so successful in the Australian market. Unfortunately the company was unaware that XXXX was the brand name of a successful American condom manufacturer!”

Miscommunication, mistranslation, and mishaps are inevitable, even between those who speak the same language. "People bring their wants, experiences, likes, and dislikes to any communication interaction they engage in," says interpersonal communication lecturer Anita Vangelisti, from the University of Texas at Austin. "The things they bring to any interaction affect how they interpret others' communication and how they respond."

But the expert wants you to know that "miscommunication isn't always a bad thing." According to her, in some cases, miscommunication can actually be beneficial to your relationships.

"Romantic partners who are satisfied with their relationships engage in a form of miscommunication," explained Vangelisti. "They often interpret each other's communication more positively than it was intended. In this way, miscommunication can help us keep our relationships happy."