I know a few words from many different languages, and I've recently noticed the immense amount of bilingual failures and facepalm moments in the USA. . . .
For example, there is a restaurant chain called Paneira Bread. And I'm pretty sure that 'aneira' is the word meaning 'bread' in Italian. (pretty sure it's Italian. . . .)
Also, there's an entire national park called the 'grand tetons' in the US. and 'teton' is the word meaning 'the tip of the female breast' in French. . .yeah. . . .
Have any other circumstances of bilingual failures? Post 'em.
The restaurant name is Panera, but that is still funny. I know that there was once a black/mexican girl named blanca (cause blanca is white, and she is black)
There was a story I heard once about a person who hadn't chosen a name for their child when it was born. So when the baby was born, it was just labeled as "Female" when she was brought to the mother. I guess the mom didn't speak the language though, and thought that female was pronounced like "fee maulay" and ended up officially naming the child that. I think it might have been someone who went in to the public aid office (my grandma works there).
My personal favorite weirdnesses when comparing words from different languages, are killing and moar.
Moar, the well known interweb misspelling of more, is Danish word for Mommy. So when you yell "MOAR!", we Danes may think you're yelling for your mom. :3
Killing is simply the Danish word for kitten. We all know kitties are evil like that, right?
Killing is simply the Danish word for kitten. We all know kitties are evil like that, right?
From Fmylife.com-
Today, I realized my new kitten is the spawn of the devil. It decided to go get itself stuck in a tree. I tried to climb up to rescue it. But it kept climbing higher. I was about to grab the cat when I fell. The cat then jumped down and started purring. FML
"Blame it on the Tetons: God I need a scapegoat now."
I like that song. . . .
Anyway, those are also interesting crossovers. I need to learn Danish to find out what other weird mutilations of the language are common in interwebz speak~
Anyway, those are also interesting crossovers. I need to learn Danish to find out what other weird mutilations of the language are common in interwebz speak~
Like how "lul" (lulz is the alternate version of lol) means penis in Dutch?
Because the Romanian one was abused by this kid, and actually used it as a swear word. Language fail: To talk to my parents about computers. Also, some translation fails from English to Danish (TV): "She is such a soccer mom" got translated to "She is such a football mom". "I cannot live without my wife and my son" seemingly is the same as "I cannot live without my wife and my daughter." "And we have fourteen new..." > "And we have four new..."
