Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7100 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 9 of 30 20 September 2005 at 8:17am | IP Logged |
ElComadreja wrote:
The “Snickers” candy bar when sold in Britain had a name change or something because it sounded too much like the British word for women’s underwear. |
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The "Snickers" bar was originally called "Marathon" in the UK and the urban legend is indeed that prudish directors were advised that it sounded too much like "knickers" for comfort - don't know how true that actually is but regardless The Marathon Bar is now longer .
Andy.
Edited by Andy E on 20 September 2005 at 8:17am
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tlevine Triglot Senior Member United States thomaslevine.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7098 days ago 127 posts - 130 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, Mandarin, French
| Message 10 of 30 21 September 2005 at 5:35am | IP Logged |
http://www.engrish.com/
http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/all_your_base_are_belong_to_us
Edited by tlevine on 21 September 2005 at 5:37am
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Martien Heptaglot Senior Member Netherlands martienvanwanrooij.n Joined 7102 days ago 134 posts - 148 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, French Studies: Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Latin, Swedish, Arabic (Written)
| Message 11 of 30 24 September 2005 at 8:58am | IP Logged |
Germans who ask in the UK if they can "become a sausage" (bekommen = to get) . Dutchmen who ask on the phone to a German "haben Sie vorher schon gebellt" = "did you bark before" (bellen = to bark in German but to call/phone in Dutch)
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cheemaster Newbie Canada Joined 7042 days ago 35 posts - 35 votes
| Message 12 of 30 24 September 2005 at 2:20pm | IP Logged |
tlevine wrote:
http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/all_your_base_are_belong_to_us
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That is a classic example of poorly translated Japanese video games. I found it quite funny at first.
This site has a lot of funny mistakes :http://www.ojohaven.com/fun/translation.funnies.html
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brandon Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 7044 days ago 54 posts - 55 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French Studies: Dutch, Swedish, Italian
| Message 13 of 30 26 September 2005 at 9:58am | IP Logged |
While studying in Germany, I wanted to tell a friend that I'd stop by, chat a little, see what's up, etc. So, I said "Ich komme bei dir." Now, I was talking to another foreigner when I said this. But one time, a German friend of ours, started laughing when she heard me say that. I didn't get it until she explained it to me.
"Ich komme bei dir." means... I'm going to come at your place, not 'come' as in opposite of 'go' : P
I should've said "Ich komme ZU dir" Mistakes like this make me wonder how many people might have overheard me say "I'm going to come at your place"
Another mess up happened with my own native language. I was giving directions and said... turn right, keep going straight, pass the intercourse, then turn right. I was only maybe 14 when I said that, but I could tell by the woman's facial expression when I said that that I had said something wrong. I asked my mother about it, and she got a nice laugh. : )
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orion Senior Member United States Joined 7018 days ago 622 posts - 678 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian
| Message 14 of 30 26 September 2005 at 10:27am | IP Logged |
My friend, an American, is a Japanese-speaking flight attendant. Once after she first started her job, she asked a Japanese passenger if she could remove his monkey, rather than his tray. He and his fellow Japanese passengers found this amusing!
My wife's family visited England, and were cracking up when the hotel attendant asked them what time they would like to be knocked up!
Edited by orion on 26 September 2005 at 10:27am
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Maggie Newbie Spain Joined 6968 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes
| Message 15 of 30 27 October 2005 at 5:58am | IP Logged |
Funny mistakes, good topic... in December it will be three years since I moved to Spain, and of course, it took me a few months to learn the local lingo well. During that time, I was once in a dinner party at a fancy hotel, and during conversation, I said my father was a bit of a chaperón, which in Latin American Spanish means the same thing it does in French and English - I meant to say that my father tended to overprotect me. There was a brief silence, and one of the guests asked me, half laughing: "And just what does that mean in Venezuelan?". Suddenly I realized my mistake: the word I'd used is almost the same as chapero (male prostitute, in Spain) Gasp! *blush* So sorry, dad! I should have said carabina.
Edited by Maggie on 27 October 2005 at 6:06am
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Farley Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 7089 days ago 681 posts - 739 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, GermanB1, French Studies: Spanish
| Message 16 of 30 27 October 2005 at 6:58am | IP Logged |
In German if you want to say, “I’m warm” or “I’m cold” you have to say, “To me it is warm” or “To me it is cold”. If you make the mistake of saying “Ich bin warm” – “I’m warm” instead of “Es ist mir warm” – “to me it is warm”, you will be making a statement about your love life and not about the temperature.
I learned how to not make this mistake thanks to a Swedish fellow in my German class who told this funny story (much to his embarrassment): He was sitting in a sauna about to leave when two other women came in a sat down next to him. Trying to politely excuse himself he said, “Ich gehe jetzt, weil Ich warm bin” – I’m going now because I’m warm. The women laughed. Curious to find out why they laughed, he ask our teacher, who told him his mistake. It turns out he actual said something like, “I’m going now because I’m gay.” Everyone in the class got a good laugh.
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