Language misunderstandings

[panyasan]

JadziaKathryn Oooh Ouch! That's cold. Funny but cold. Yeah Panyasan we Americans are odd there's no way around that.

Most Americans are very likeable. Besides, Americans gave us American Football and Star Trek.

[WarpGirl]

Well yeah but we're still weird. Is there any other country that boasts the world's largest ball of yarn? Not to mention American English is a mess that even we can't speak properly. That's just odd. What other country would put the word Bootylicious in the dictionary. OK a British dictionary might have done that. But what other country would invent the word?

[Silverbullet]

In Germany some years ago I made the mistake of trying to form a sentence using a couple German word and an English Word.

I said "Ich Bin Warm" Got a lot laughts out of that one. Later learned that I had just said I am queer. Since I ddin't know the German Word for warm I used the English word. Well in German as I used it Warm means Homoesexual. Never used that phrase again.

[Aikiweezie]

When I was working (at a college) one of my jobs was to coordinate the graduation ceremony. A very nice older student came in and asked me if it would be alright if he used a different name to be called to march on stage to receive his diploma. I said sure, whatever you like. He said he didn't want to hear 1,000 people snickering when they called his name. It was _____ Fagg, III.

One day when I was working at the USO some very nice young British officers came in. One young man said, "Now please don't laugh, this IS my real name." It was Robin Hood. I saw his ID. Poor bloke.

Also my riding teacher, who was British, used to say "oh, bloody hell" all the time and I picked that up from him for a while. It still comes out now and then.

[WarpGirl]

Was Mr. Hood cute? Because if he was I would have said "My name's Marion you want to grab a drink" My name isn't Marion BUT I'd fake it for a date with Robin Hood! Although I like the name Robin in general. Most British, Irish, Scottish, names for men are really nice. My great grandmother hassome very shocking Italian profanity that she likes to use when she's angry with someone. But I was programmed to forget it under severe punishment if I didn't.

[Kotik]

In Germany some years ago I made the mistake of trying to form a sentence using a couple German word and an English Word.

I said "Ich Bin Warm" Got a lot laughts out of that one. Later learned that I had just said I am queer. Since I ddin't know the German Word for warm I used the English word. Well in German as I used it Warm means Homoesexual. Never used that phrase again.

They didn't give you all the facts there The word 'warm' means the same in both languages. You made more of a unfortunate grammatical error as the correct sentence of what you wanted to say would have been 'Mir ist warm'; instead you accidentally used the slang for 'I am queer.', because homosexuals in slang are referred to as 'warm brothers' or 'men, who fish on the opposite shore'.

[Aikiweezie]

The word 'warm' means the same in both languages. You made more of a unfortunate grammatical error as the correct sentence of what you wanted to say would have been 'Mir ist warm'; instead you accidentally used the slang for 'I am queer.', because homosexuals in slang are referred to as 'warm brothers' or 'men, who fish on the opposite shore'.

Oh, such fascinating, unsual things I learn on this board!

[Kotik]

Oh, such fascinating, unsual things I learn on this board!

One of the first things you learn in English lessons over here is to beware of 'false friends'. That's words who sound alike in German and English but have different meanings, like the German word bekommen (to get, to receive) and the english word become. A particularily young and inexperienced co-worker once gave our english colleagues - wo where visiting our facilities in Berlin - something to think about, when he said.

"We'll finish visiting this departement and then you will become something to eat."

Let's just say it took a while until our british friends understood that they were not meant to be pushed into the meat grinder

[WarpGirl]

If I ever go to Germany (which will probably be never but a girl can dream) I'm staying with one of my mother's best friends because then I know I can't get into any trouble at all. Because knowing me I would.

[Aikiweezie]

My mom just sent me this yesterday.

You think English is easy???

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present

8 ) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

[WarpGirl]

Well yeah but we're still weird. Is there any other country that boasts the world's largest ball of yarn? Not to mention American English is a mess that even we can't speak properly. That's just odd. What other country would put the word Bootylicious in the dictionary. OK a British dictionary might have done that. But what other country would invent the word?

See Above!

[opal]

Beyond fags as cigs, I'm pretty sure faggots are meatballs in England, aren't they?

Sorry but no, meatballs are definitely meatballs in the UK. Faggots are either bundles of sticks for fuel or a particularly nasty slang term for homosexual males!

[panyasan]

Hi Opal! Nice to see you again! I assume you are the same Opal as the writer of Connections?

[Alelou]

http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogs ... ggots.html

http://www.chow.com/recipes/12833

http://www.yourcounty.co.uk/recipes/faggots.html

Yes, welcome (back), Opal, but I'd have to say I wasn't completely out of bounds with that one. Google even came up with a bunch of food references FIRST for "faggots, English," and I was definitely a little worried about what would come up.

BTW, the first blog may well further interest those of us who enjoy this thread.

[Distracted]

Interesting recipe. I've never in my life had any inclination to eat omentum. (I looked up caul fat and that's what it is...I'm assuming of a cow?) And when you chop up hearts and kidneys, WRAP them in intestinal omentum and fry them in lard I wonder what the cholesterol count of the dish ends up being? It probably is at least competitive with a dish my grandmother used to tell me about that she loved when she was a child. Her father was a South Louisiana cattle farmer. Her favorite childhood breakfast was calf brains and eggs scrambled in home-churned butter. I've always wanted to taste that. Omentum...not so much.