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The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers For years, I used the expression “up yours” as a congratulatory phrase, and nobody corrected me. Be nice to your foreigners. Correct them when they are wrong.

ombrettadidio , fauxels Report

Final score:

194points

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Nichole Harris 10 months ago

🤣🤣🤣 I need to know why tho

50points

For a better understanding of the language-learning process, Bored Panda reached out to Swedish linguist Fredrik Arhusiander. He agreed to share his insights about the topic.

He said that the biggest mistake you can make when learning a new language is to focus on your mistakes! “When we learn our native language as children, we don't think about mistakes. We just use whatever we know to play and communicate. We only start worrying about mistakes when we start school and have tests.”

If you think you’re bad at learning languages, Fredrik has a different opinion. In such cases, the reality is usually that the methods for learning languages are bad. For example, learning only by reading textbooks and studying grammar is not a natural way to learn a language. “I personally had really bad grades in Spanish, but later, when I learned the language using much more natural methods, I [became] fluent.”

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers When I was learning English I thought having an affair meant to fight, because when I saw having an affair on TV the people were always fighting. Had to write an essay for my English class about a typical morning, and wrote how my mom was having an affair with my brother

wegski , photo nic Report

Final score:

189points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

Questions were then asked

108points

jillybeans80 , RDNE Stock project Report

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I am Canadian. My husband is Australian. Family friend flew over from Australia and offered to nurse a Canadian woman’s baby on the plane. The Canadian very firmly told her “no thanks”. She didn’t understand why the woman was so offended. In Australia when they say nurse a baby, it means to hold. In Canada when we say nurse a baby, it means to breastfeed. We still laugh about it.

Final score:

184points

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Terry Tobias 10 months ago

English is confusing even for native speakers in the same country.

89points

Talking about the steps of learning languages, Fredrik says that when we’re kids, we learn languages by listening and communicating, becoming fluent before we even start to write or read. In the adult world, the studying of grammar is needed. Still, the importance of the natural learning approach should not be underestimated: “Focus on how you can spend more time with the language, what you enjoy about it, [and] how you can make sure it's going to be an integrated part of your life. Anyone who [has] actually learned a language will realize that this is how they learned.”

The linguist says that focusing and listening to informal dialogue is very important. “Only after you've learned the sounds, you should start to read. You don't have to talk in the beginning. It's much easier to learn to talk after you already understand a bit.”

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers So, my beautiful little German grandmother and wife of a minister… asked (in front of a whole group of people at church) a friend that had recently gotten married… if he enjoyed using his dads condom on his honeymoon. She meant condo… condominium.

christimorrow_ , Askar Abayev Report

Final score:

149points

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glowworm2 10 months ago

Aw! This one is funny!

37points

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers Was ordering dinner in Danish in Denmark, the word for chicken is "kylling", but as an American I pronounced it as "killing" which translates into "kitten" - so the waitress at the restaurant was a bit horrified at my request for BBQ baby cat 😂

howdyeliza , Pixabay Report

Final score:

139points

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WindySwede 10 months ago

"Killing in the Name" - Kittens against machines..

64points

You don’t have to tackle the grammar heavily in the beginning, as well. It’s better to first focus on the words and try to notice grammatical patterns. According to Fredrik: “As soon as you get a decent grasp of the language, make most of your studies about getting lots of input at your level. Find material you enjoy. People think you have to take courses and do exercises, but simply spending lots of time with the language, finding things you enjoy, and getting lots and lots of exposure and input, that's what's going to give you most of your understanding.”

Lastly, if you want to reach a high level of the studied language, you have to be brave enough to speak to people in it. Build relationships in that language.

Also, connecting with the culture of the language can be very beneficial, as well. Disconnecting from it can make the journey of learning way harder than it should be. So, in some cases, it might require you to put more effort into connecting with that culture if you want to learn the language. But learning a language doesn't require much effort, right?

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I was going to college in the US when I saw a sign “beware of the pedestrians” and I asked the people I was with what kind of animal a pedestrian is.

msgies , Kaique Rocha Report

Final score:

133points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

The worst kind, very bad. They just jump out in front of you

133points

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I went to Spain with my husband and kept saying “escuchame!” Thinking I was saying “excuse me” And he would die laughing every time. He finally told me I was saying “LISTEN TO ME!” To everyone

jenessa_sturgell , Samson Katt Report

Final score:

129points

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LakotaWolf (she/her) 10 months ago

Oh lawd XD I’m white af but I was adopted at birth into a Mexican family, so I learned English and Spanish. I am endlessly amused by the “just add an o on the end!” misconception that some people have thinking that that is how you say a word in Spanish. So like, “Where is the bathroom-o?” and they think they’re “speaking Spanish” XD

60points

myfrenchplate , Dominika Roseclay Report

At some point during the language-learning process, it’s natural to start questioning if it is worth doing that at all. After all, it requires so much effort, and sometimes, it might feel like you’re not moving ahead fast enough. Well, in such cases, you can remember several ways in which the learned language might benefit your life:

Career prospects;
Getting to know other cultures;
Stretching the brain;
More opportunities around the globe;
Meeting people.

Maybe at least one of these benefits might seem worth the effort? Or maybe you can come up with some other ways that languages are beneficial? Share that with us in the comments!

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers In a business context I once asked a colleague for a favour and added « do I need to do doggy style » (instead of doggy eyes) the whole open space burst in laughter. I didn’t even know what it meant at the time so was very confused but I blushed really hard once the colleague explained in the coffee area 🤔😬🥴

Final score:

127points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

I love how some of these wait till later to explain lol

44points

#10

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I was a high school exchange student in Germany and was eating dinner with my host family. I tried Liver for the first time. I explained it was “mushy”….l didn’t know that Muschi in German slang meant Pus*y. My host family stared at me in shock.

danaaaa_37 , stu_spivack Report

Final score:

125points

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sturmwesen 10 months ago

Fun fact: for the elder generation it's a classic cat name

64points

#11

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers When living in China I raised my arms to adjust my hair and accidently smacked a little kid in the face. I told him "you're welcome" instead of "I'm sorry." Lol.

little_redant13 , Pixabay Report

Final score:

123points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

Didn't know he needed that

53points

thebirdfromblighty Report

#12

A little kid dressed as a dinosaur roared at me in Peru and I said 'tengo mierda' (I have [poop]) instead of 'tengo miedo' (I'm scared). Whoops.

Final score:

120points

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dayngerkat 10 months ago

I bet that scared him

53points

#13

Join a few friends for lasertag when I moved to Germany. Random kids would come to me pointing their guns and they would shout Kartoffel (potato). I had no idea why, just assumed it was slang toall someone you just hit a potato 🥔. So I started doing the same. Bang bang and Kartoffel here and Kartoffel there. I was the queen of the potatos! During one of the breaks a friend ask: hey, why do you keep shouting Kartoffel (potato)? I explained, that was what the kids were saying. My friend first rolled his eyes than he laughed! Turns out the kids were saying 'getroffen' (Hit) 🎯 But my German was still so basic all I heard was potatoes!

mariajblm Report

Final score:

111points

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Hey! 10 months ago

That's really funny.

35points

dashesandpours , Andrea Piacquadio Report

#14

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers Horrified look on cleaning lady's face when I told her I wanted to whack her (pegar) instead of pay her (pagar). Did it with a big smile all proud of myself. When she recovered we had a big laugh.

Final score:

110points

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ShaZam 10 months ago

It's also a saying meaning - to kill a person (Italian Mafia).

30points

#15

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers 100% true story - upon arriving in the UK from Canada I started telling potential new friends about my family enjoying the Canadian pastime of “cottaging”, which for us means “going to your or a friend’s country home to swim and waterski and build bonfires and stuff”. They looked at me aghast because in the UK it means “having gay sex in a public bathroom”. We DID become friends anyway.

jacjacjacr , Tatiana Syrikova Report

Final score:

110points

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PFD 10 months ago

I've heard so many Czech native speakers saying that while speaking English. It's quite an awkward thing to explain in a classroom.

32points

#16

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers When I first moved to the Netherlands, I had a Dutch bf who spoke English very well, but some things got lost in translation. I didn’t speak Dutch at the time, and one day he said his hairdresser friend was quitting her job to become an undertaker. I was shocked and asked why she chose such a drastic career change, and he said, she wants to work for herself and loves making people look beautiful. I thought ok good for her I guess, and we never spoke about it again. It wasn’t until years later (long after we’d broken up) and I’d become fluent in Dutch when I realized, oh…the Dutch word for “entrepreneur” literally translates into “undertaker” (ondernemer). She didn’t want to embalm dead bodies, she wanted to open her own hair salon.

maggstaa26 , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:

108points

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Ace 10 months ago

That's what the original French word means, more or less. Entre is 'between' , prendre 'to take' but the entre morphed into under so in English we can undertake a task, for instance.

36points

#17

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I was in Dominican Republic with an ice cream cone and a local street boy was eyeing up my ice cream, I was calling him over to give it to him but he was getting close and running away over and over, my Dominican friends said I was mispronouncing the words to call him over and instead was shouting “I’ll cut you, I’ll cut you” so he thought I was saying I’ll cut you if you come near my ice cream while I was making gestures to hand it to him repeatedly😂 😂😂 he did end up grabbing the cone and running full top speed away, pretty risky to take ice cream from a foreign woman yelling she will cut you, he must have really wanted that ice cream 😂😂😂

heather.offord , Thegiansepillo Report

Final score:

108points

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Jakoe 10 months ago

Oh my, he was probably traumatized.

33points

#18

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers When my first son was a toddler I thought “맴매“ meant dirty in Korean. So we’d be at the park and I would caution him something was dirty. Finally when he was like 2.5 my Korean mom friend told me it actually meant spanking. I’d been threatening to spank my toddler in front of other mothers for years. 😑

mommychachacha , Ketut Subiyanto Report

Final score:

98points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

Oh no no no

25points

#19

When I moved to the UK, whenever I got hungry I told people I was "ravishing" instead of "ravenous". I guess they assumed I just had excellent self esteem 😂

devananatura Report

Final score:

96points

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Andy-Pandy-Panda 10 months ago

I love this :)

14points

kirstenpastel1 , cottonbro studio Report

#20

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers Ooh I have a fun one. I studied abroad in France. Turns out “preservatif/preservative” in French does not mean preservatives like you find in foods, it means condoms. Have never been met with such confused silence in my life.

Final score:

91points

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TheGoodBoi 10 months ago

I want to know how you found out lol. Did someone hand you a condom?

28points

#21

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers When I moved to Hawaii I worked at a bank telephone bill service. Japanese woman called in and every question I asked her she’d respond “HI”, to which I replied HELLO every single time. 😩 I hung up and told my Asian coworker how nice that woman was. I died when she told me she was responding YES in Japanese. 😂😂😂

angiepyatt , Ketut Subiyanto Report

Final score:

87points

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Ace 10 months ago

Hai is often used in conversation not to mean yes, I agree with you, but simply yes, I've heard what you said. Many problems have occurred when people have assumed it was an answer to a specific question.

49points

#22

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers A French-Canadian friend of ours told a great stories from when he was learning English. My favourites were his use of ‘skinny pig’ instead of ‘guinea pig’ and ‘spacegoat’ instead of ‘scapegoat’—both used in business meetings, btw. 😂

fuzzballphotography , Pixabay Report

Final score:

86points

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Terry Tobias 10 months ago

I like "spacegoat"! I can just picture a goat in a spacesuit doing a spacewalk around the space station! 🐐

60points

infinite__wilderness Report

#23

A friend of a friend had moved to the UK from Sweden and had an English boyfriend. In the UK we're quite liberal with curse words and the bf and his mates would liberally use a word beginning with c amongst themselves. The girlfriend thought it was just a cheeky bit of slang like 'mate'. Found it wasn't when having dinner with bf's parents, the mother made a little joke at the girlfriend's expense to which she responded "Ha, shut up you c**t!"

Final score:

83points

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Der Kommissar 10 months ago (edited)

In the UK c**t is used frequently and is a mild curse . In the USA it is a very bad curse word.

78points

#24

In South Africa we call traffic lights 🚦 Robots. You can imagine the confusion on the drivers face when I said turn left at the robots when I first arrived in the U.K. 😱😂

ubuntu_yoga_craft Report

Final score:

81points

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ShaZam 10 months ago

not used in the US either.

26points

#25

When I went to see a friend at Cambridge University a parent of another student asked me what I read. Bewildered I answered "books". Turns out, it's fancy English to ask what one studies. 😅

mini_ginni Report

Final score:

80points

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ShaZam 10 months ago

Wow. I've never heard of that ...

30points

happy_at_work_tunisia , Pavel Danilyuk Report

#26

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I was still improving my French after moving to Tunisia and was at a friend's house with a bunch of her relatives. They were asking me about my then boyfriend and asked "il est d'où ?" (Where is he from? I.e. which region). I understood "il est doux ?" (Is he gentle?). I thought it was a bit of a strange personal question, but answered "yes, sometimes". They all had a good laugh.

Final score:

77points

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Jp@nda 10 months ago

The picture they used for this just looks awkward

7points

deleted.account.20.12 , Marta Branco Report

#27

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers Told my dad that no nut November was cutting out nuts from your diet to raise awareness for nut allergies, he's been telling everyone that he managed a whole month of no nut November!

Final score:

77points

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dayngerkat 10 months ago

If this is true, that is hilarious

30points

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

See Also on Bored Panda

Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

#28

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers My Dad is Norwegian and made a few blunders when he first moved to the US. 1. He was at a classical concert and said to the people he went with “see you after the intercourse” instead of intermission. He was so embarrassed he did not return. Which probably made it even more embarrassing 😂😂😂. 2. Having a meal he said “my teeth are running in water”. Which is literally what we say in Norway for “my mouth is watering”. Not embarrassing but still funny 😄

intuitive.healing.praktijk , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

77points

POST

WindySwede 10 months ago

"Don't say hippo!" - Steve Taylor, in Coupling (British TV series)

8points

matchbyjulia , Polina Tankilevitch Report

#29

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I have some similar doozies in my book. When we immigrated to America from the former USSR, we didn’t speak English and also didn’t understand that you just can’t abbreviate certain words. My mom was a microbiologist working in a lab and had to leave a note for her lab assistant. She started the note with Dear Lab A*s.., because she was in a rush. Next day she was very confused why that assistant wouldn’t speak with her 😂

Final score:

77points

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John George 10 months ago

I've seen "assorted" abbreviated to hilarious effect..."a*s(orted) fudge"...

33points

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

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“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

#30

A female friend who's quite senior in advertising has been using 'balls deep' liberally for years, thinking it just meant 'lets do this' and was genuinely mortified when someone explained the actual meaning

cridom Report

Final score:

73points

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Hey! 10 months ago

OK, we use it for sex but it's also used when you're "balls deep in trouble" - in real trouble, but never like with the mafia, more with your mother or the teacher.

29points

#31

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I lived in Canada for few years now and at the tim hortons I always ordered bagel with ‘urban garlic cream cheese’ and they always got the order right but last week I bought a cream cheese that said ‘ herb and garlic’ no one ever corrected me and I just believed it might be some type of Garlic 🫣

humanbee_30 , RDNE Stock project Report

Final score:

71points

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Jess Ovo 10 months ago

This one reminds me of " Knowledge is power, France is bacon."

10points

Some guy 10 months ago

I don't get it.

1point

Frank Russell 10 months ago

Does the suburban garlic taste different?

6points

Ace 10 months ago

Presumably in Canada the H is silent like in the US? So realistically nobody would have noticed.

5points

Astro 10 months ago

Not always! My family says herb with the H but I’ve definitely met ‘erb people. In my little corner of west coast Canada at least, it almost feels like 50/50

4points

Ropre 10 months ago

I came to the U.S. from Italy when I was only 2 1/2. I had many American cousins so my sister and I learned English quickly but I do remember calling white bread American bread because Americans called Italian bread Italian bread...so it made sense to us that white bread must me American bread. We also called all Cereal Cheerios.

3points

David 10 months ago

Urban Garlic - more intense and gritty than that country garlic. /J

3points

Nicole Trabucco 10 months ago

Something similar happened to me when I was 13. There was an Asian restaurant in our local grocery store that my mother and I always got dumplings from. We always pointed to what we wanted because of the language barrier. One day I worked up the courage to ask what they were. So for months I would go in and order ‘pasticka’. They finally got labels for the food - I had been ordering pot stickers in an Asian accent. I was horrified.

1point

thea 5 months ago

rural garlic must hit different

0points

DustBunny 10 months ago

These sound pretty much the same in casual English so I doubt anyone realized you thought it was “urban”. Theres a salad restaurant near me called Herb N Beets (urban beats).

0points

Nightshade1972 10 months ago

In the US, the H sound isn't pronounced at the beginning of "herb," it's pronounced "erb." In both AU and the UK (dunno about other places), the H sound is pronounced, like you'd pronounce "hello" or "have."

0points

Tuna Beach 10 months ago

They both are pronounced exactly the same, so you wouldn't know the difference unless it was written..

0points

JB 10 months ago

Iss dat real Street garlic, doe!

0points

Robin Roper 10 months ago

"Home Boy" Garlic

0points

Wesley Frei 10 months ago

Garlic from a rooftop garden

0points

#32

My godmother was invited to her neighbor's house for a pot party. She thought they meant like a potluck. She was the only one who brought food. 😂

elviralynn84 Report

Final score:

69points

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Jean Alexander 10 months ago

But of course you bring food to a pot party.

71points

#33

When I was in the hospital almost 19 years ago for alcoholism, my husband came to visit me. When he went up to the desk, the worker asked if he needed validation. His first thought was, "Tell me I'm good!" It had been a rough few days since I was hospitalized. I've been sober since February 14, 2005

rashaforreal Report

Final score:

69points

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Hugh Cookson 10 months ago

Good for you, booze can be a curse to some.

24points

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

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French Diver’s “Jewels” In Tight Swimming Trunks Become Talk Of The Town At Olympics

#34

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers i have one! spanish is my second language and i use it at work sometimes if i need to. i was talking to a husband and wife from venezuela holding their newborn baby and i was asking her about breastfeeding/milk expression. i used teta for breast because i had known it to mean that? lol like i didn’t know in some countries it means titty. so they get really wide eyes and the husband says so me “esa palabra es un poco grosera, no?” meaning that’s a little crude, isn’t it? okay so the right term is pecho 😐 but then weeks later i had a family from argentina and the grandmother used teta! so i told her the story and she laughed and laughed and said to them it’s not vulgar but it is in other countries. now i know 🙊

ashley.camilleeee , MART PRODUCTION Report

Final score:

66points

POST

Ace 10 months ago

Argentinian Spanish is a law unto itself, with hugely different pronunciations and word usage even from neighbouring Chile, with often both of them varying hugely from Spain and from other Latin American countries. So that one doesn't surprise me, but I would have expected them to realise that it had different connotations in other places, such that they would not be offended by its use.

29points

#35

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers On my second year here someone told me they’re having a hard day because they had to put the cat to sleep. I asked why couldn’t she sleep by herself?

dp98g , Ihsan Adityawarman Report

Final score:

63points

POST

Céline Remy 10 months ago

Pet euthanasia, for anyone wondering

34points

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

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Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

#36

oh yes I remember my first time in the US, I was 16. I was by myself in a mall, and had to pee. I looked everywhere, on every floor..Nothing. All I could find was signs for chill out room, "restroom". when i finally found the Toilet, I had learned a New word :)

mrs_kro Report

Final score:

62points

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Tucker Cahooter 10 months ago

I had a similar experience many years ago, not a foreigner / local situation but a civilian / military difference. I was spending a few days at a naval establishment (HMAS Cerberus) doing some IT work. I spent ages trying to find the toilets until I realised they still called them "heads" just like on actual ships (fortunately I twigged in time)

26points

wafflesthebrindle , Tânia Mousinho Report

#37

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I’m from the US..I visited my friends in Scotland for some time and after the first night staying with them, in the morning my friend asked “how was your lay?” I was so embarrassed thinking that she thought I brought someone home. I guess that’s how they ask how you slept

Final score:

61points

POST

John George 10 months ago

Did someone come and knock you up in the morning?

43points

#38

I’m English and was working in a theme park store in the states, a customer asked how many dollars for a pack of postcards, I said in my Essex accent, free (3), she walked out with a whole bunch, had to chase her down and explain it’s my accent, they’re not free 😂😂

lk_plus_three Report

Final score:

59points

POST

JB 10 months ago (edited)

To those who are wondering… three, as in “three bucks”. To others who are wondering, yes, we do struggle to understand each other, even within the tiny country that is England, never mind the slightly larger Britain, then UK.

24points

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

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“This Breaks My Heart”: People Stunned—And Angry—After Woman Buys Lost Luggage From Airport

#39

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers More cultural barrier than language barrier. On the train I overheard some Americans “digestive biscuits… do those really work?”

nic_good_life , DiscordDonut Report

Final score:

52points

POST

Mrs.C 10 months ago

This is one, as an American, I struggle with. Turns out, that's exactly why they're named "Digestives." The term digestive is derived from the belief that they had antacid properties around the time the biscuit was first introduced due to the use of sodium bicarbonate as an ingredient. Historically, some producers used diastatic malt extract to "digest" some of the starch that existed in flour prior to baking.

45points

#40

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers When I was in Spain and spoke limited Spanish, I was in a public restroom asking anyone if there was any “sopa” for “soap” instead of “jabón.” Maybe the same day I ordered lasagna from a beachside restaurant, and nobody brought me silverware to eat it with. I couldn’t remember the word for “fork,” “spoon,” or “silverware,” and I was too embarrassed to pantomime, so I just ate it with my bare hands and then went into the ocean to wash my hands like that was normal. 😅

ms.heathercita , William Rouse Report

Final score:

46points

POST

Blue Mar 10 months ago

Sometimes I don't understand people... Author was embarrassed to ask for cutlery but not to eat by bare hands lasagna in restaurant?

68points

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#41

Our American neighbors had an Italian exchange student who asked them what the word “kazatil” meant. When asked to use it in a sentence, he replied “like you can’t have a snack kazatil ruin your dinner.” (Because that will. . .)

krisricig Report

Final score:

25points

POST

Stephanie Did It 10 months ago

In the old Beverly Hillbillies TV show, the character Jethro [Max Baer] was proud of his sixth-grade education, especially his gozintas. As in, two gozinta four twice, etc. That always made me laugh!

15points

"I Didn't Start The Dryer": Karen Gets Taught A Lesson After Throwing Out Neighbor's Wet Clothes

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#42

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers On my first years living in US, i got really really confused when i asked a friend to go out, and he/she would say: i’m down for that. or the other day, they would say: i’m up for that. my mind goes wild by my own visualization of hands up or hands down. to be clear, i always asked is it YES or NO, whenever they responds with UP/DOWN to the matter with all the questions. 😆

rad_214 , August de Richelieu Report

Final score:

25points

POST

Wonky 10 months ago (edited)

Interesting how both "up" and "down" mean pretty much the same thing in this context

24points

#43

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers My mom said when she first started working in the States and someone asked her if “she got it” to confirm if she understood, and every time she would look around wondering what she was supposed to go get 🤣🤣

irenemcho , Jopwell Report

Final score:

24points

POST

#44

I thought ‘frisky’ meant chilly. I had been living in the UK for close to 20 years before I was corrected

marklemarigold Report

Final score:

21points

POST

Debbie 10 months ago

As a Dutch person, I think many Dutch people (maybe me also) would assume that too. In Dutch, "fris" means Chilly (or soda/softdrink).

9points

“All Three Shot Out Pink”: Triplets' Baby Shower Turns Sour, Pregnant Wife Wants A Divorce

See Also on Bored Panda

College Student Does Exactly As Told After Roommates Demand They Keep Their Stuff In Their Room

#45

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I thought supervisor was super wiser, someone really smart. I also thought people were irritating the ground instead of irrigating and I wondered how and why would you irritate the fields.

finnishicemaiden , Tony Wu Report

Final score:

20points

POST

Chintan Shah 10 months ago

This super wiser thing can make for a wonderful greeting card if anyone is interested in wishing their supervisor

1point

ashwina_archana , cottonbro studio Report

#46

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers In my first year in Australia in high school, I asked the girl sitting next to me if she had any "Twink" - which is the brand for white-out correction fluid for fixing my mistake on paper which was written in ink... well, that's not how we use the word...

Final score:

20points

POST

Ace 10 months ago

Snowpake or Tippex. Did you get onto durex and rubbers as well?

10points

#47

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers Working in India, I brought a box of cookies for the staff to share. Their supervisor was holding the box when I looked in the almost empty box and said the staff had made a dent in it. The supervisor then examined the box, looking for the dent 😄.

lisapearlk , Budgeron Bach Report

Final score:

19points

POST

Geoffrey Scott 10 months ago

Our Danish exchange student was with us at a restaurant and being that americans talk fast, the waitress asked "soup or salad?" asking if she wanted it with the meal. Camilla asked "I don't know, how big is it?" (super salad)

2points

#48

American living in Australia - for a first date a guy said “we’ll meet in the arvo”. I spent so long googling and looking at our campus map for “the Arvo”. When I told him I needed the address for the arvo he explained to me it meant “afternoon”

katctenner Report

Final score:

17points

POST

Tucker Cahooter 10 months ago

We are notorious for doing these sorts of contractions. Make sure you study a list of common ones if you are coming here

8points

#49

The Internet Can’t Stop Laughing At These 40 Language Oopsies Made By Immigrants And Travelers I used ‘I got so high’ liberally in my first few months in England to describe how drunk I had gotten, since that’s what we say in India. Turns out I was high on [substances] all those times as that’s what’s understood by the term in the West.

peri.desai , Hudson Marques Report

Final score:

15points

POST

Ace 10 months ago

High used to mean drunk in Britain too. Like a lot of English, India has often kept with the existing meaning while the rest of the world has moved on. Reading Indian English-language newspapers is an exercise in archaic English in itself.

14points

#50

My moms first years in Canada she had to take the bus.. my uncle told her to ask the bus driver if he was going to a specific intersection. He kept nodding and pointing at the coin collector so she could pay. After asking him multiple times, angered he said yes and pointed once again to the coin collector.. so my mom went over to the coin collector and whispered if the bus was going to the intersection. 😂😂 the bus driver couldn’t help but laugh and just let her through… 😂😂😂

7th7etter Report

Final score:

11points

POST

dayngerkat 10 months ago

She didn't know he was pointing for her to pay

5points

#51

I would love parking validation every time I make it into a parallel spot

vickilynnehill Report

Final score:

10points

POST

kitten levels tokyo 10 months ago

“You are a good parker.” There.

15points

I am a writer at Bored Panda. I have loved creating and writing down stories about people and things since I was little and I think this passion led me to get degrees in sociology, communication, and journalism. These degrees opened various paths for me, and I got a chance to be a volunteer in the human rights field, and also try myself out in social research and journalism areas. Besides writing, my passions include pop culture: music, movies, TV shows; literature, and board games. In fact, I have been dubbed a board games devotee by some people in my life.

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I am a visual editor here. In my free time I enjoy the vibrant worlds of art galleries, exhibitions, and soulful concerts. Yet, amidst life's hustle and bustle, I find solace in nature's embrace, cherishing tranquil moments with beloved friends. Deep within, I hold a dream close - to embark on a global journey in an RV, accompanied by my faithful canine companion. Together, we'll wander through diverse cultures, weaving precious memories under the starry night sky, fulfilling the wanderlust that stirs my soul.

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What do you think ?

POST

PFD 10 months ago

In Czech, the indicator on a car is "blinkr" (from blinker, I assume). During a driving lesson I asked my instructor if I needed to "blinkat" before a roundabout, and almost crashed the car he laughed so much. It means vomit.

15points

Der Kommissar 10 months ago (edited)

My cousin who moved to USA from Europe thought "downtownelleh" was the name of a city when in fact people were saying "downtown L.A. "

10points

Astro 10 months ago

I live in ✨ Downtownellée ✨

2points

Céline Remy 10 months ago

I have two similar stories. The first is from an italian friend who came to study in Brussels, saying to his flatmates that he 'understood a tomato' : "j'ai compris", for "ho comprato" (I bought). I couldn't recount that story without laughing for years. The other one was me and my bestie travelling to Uzbekistan, having learned a modicum of both uzbek and russian. We would ask for the price in what we thought was uzbek, and be frustrated when the answer came in russian, because we only knew the numbers in uzbek. Turns out we were asking in russian... it took us some days to realise that.

9points

Apatheist Account2 10 months ago

Something I was handily taught in O Level German - Ich bin warm does not mean you're at a nice temperature, it means you're gay. Then one has to explain why gay no longer means light-hearted and happy.

6points

Feathered Dinosaur 10 months ago

I'm German and I didn't know, is it an older expression maybe? Anyway, you would say "Mir ist warm" if you're feeling warm

0points

Marcellus II 10 months ago

Had a (native English speaker) ask me to “knock her up in the morning”. Don’t mind if I do, but the point was she had no reliable alarm and an important presentation so wanted a knock on the door to ensure she’d get up… sad times.

4points

Ginger Grumpybunny 10 months ago

In olden times before alarm clocks, "knocker-upper" was a job: people could hire someone to knock on their door or window to wake them in the morning.

1point

Stardust she/her 10 months ago

I remember we had this cousin who came from abroad. In Marathi he meant to say “ I’m waiting for them” but ended up saying “I’m farting for them”.

4points

Hey! 10 months ago

At the time, my husband was First Elder in a church and my oldest son came to live with us; the members only knew my two youngest. I kept introducing him with his name and saying "we're only 15 years difference! Isn't that cool?" Yep. I meant to say he was 15 y.o. and I got a lot of horrified looks. That was over 20 years ago and my son was just reminding me about that not a week ago.

4points

glowworm2 10 months ago

Not one I ever said out loud but when in middle school taking Spanish, I mixed up enfermo (sick) with infierno (hell). I quickly figured it out myself, but at first was wondering why we were given writing exercises on writing that someone was in Hell. 🤣

4points

Patricia Soeiro 10 months ago

Last year a tourist in Lisbon went into a restaurant and tried ordering pomegranate juice but instead of saying "romã" for pomegranate he said "granada" which means grenade in portuguese. The employees thought he was threatening them with a bomb so they called the cops. There was a huge commotion and the guy was taken to the police station for questioning. Must have been his worst vacation ever.

3points

IndigoViolent 9 months ago

Ah, the dangers of etymology. ("Grenade" is French for pomegranate, and when the explosive was invented, they thought it looked like the fruit, so they named it that, and then other languages adopted the name for the explosive.)

0points

Der Kommissar 10 months ago

I spent about a year and a half in Thailand. I learned some Thai, a language that has tones; short, long, rising, falling etc. I ordered some rice soup with egg and the waitress laughed, as the tone on "egg" was wrong and I actually ordered rice soup with testicle.

3points

FaceTime Audio 10 months ago

Before I started learning Spanish, my (Spanish-speaking) tío asked me something in Spanish, and I obviously couldn’t understand, but I still wanted to respond in Spanish because he likes when I do that. I wanted to say “no hablo español” (I don’t speak Spanish). I said “no tengo español” (I don’t have Spanish). He got my point. I also screw up in my native English language, though. Meant to say “throw blame around” and “point fingers” and ended up saying “I don’t throw fingers.” And learning two languages at the same time is even worse: I once had a hard time figuring out how to say “happy holidays” in Spanish because I could only thing of “חגים שמחים” (an almost certainly bastardized happy holidays in Hebrew), and I’ve created many a mongrel Spanglishbrew sentence (typically English grammar, Spanish verb, and Hebrew noun).

2points

Jack Burton 10 months ago

In Cuba Papaya mean female sex parts. And of course there is a lot of papaya fruit so be aware that they live have fun with this.

2points

Laura 10 months ago (edited)

I called the hole punch hole pamper for years Nobody corrected me but everybody laughted

2points

nini 10 months ago

I needed cutlery in Italy and asked for "bistecca" - which means steak. (as in German, "Besteck" means cutlery and I thought close enough) When I wanted to pay, I asked for "lo sconto" (discount) instead of "il conto" (the bill). Had some italian at school, but apparently I needed some refreshers 😅

1point

tresgatos72 10 months ago (edited)

I am from California, so I learned Mexican Spanish in school and later at work. I had always heard folks say "pendejo" to mean "b*****d" and "pinche" meant the F-word. But when I went to Nicaragua I was shocked to hear little kids say "pinche", and my friend there explained it meant "stingy" or "selfish." I also was quickly informed that I shouldn't say "pendejo", as that is a REALLY BAD word in Nica Spanish. 🤯

1point

James Doe 10 months ago

My Bavarian wife studied in Aachen (most western city of Germany). She is a petite blonde angel. She had a study partner that she met every day, commuted together every day, etc. After more than a year he finally had the guts to tell her that he is still really confused about her extremely dry humor. He couldn't understand how a nice girl would casually say "fück you" every single time she said goodbye to anyone. It took us a while to understand what he meant, and we nearly died laughing when we then had to explain that she was saying "Pfiad di/eich" which is Bavarian short for "God be with you".

1point

James Doe 10 months ago

Real life equivalent of: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie53_NTRxvM&pp=ygUZbXIgYmVhbiBmbGlwcGluZyB0aGUgYmlyZA%3D%3D

0points

marianne eliza 10 months ago

Sometimes you don't need to leave your home country to make a big, huge, language faux pas. Back in the 70's mom went to buy a gee (clothing for martial arts) for my brother who had gotten into martial arts. She asked the Asian salesclerk for a gook.

1point

Catastrophisticate 10 months ago

My French teacher in college (Canada) was married to a Frenchman. His mother came to visit, and was rather quiet on the drive from the airport to their home. When they had a chance to sit and chat, the mother asked why everyone here liked to advertise that their garage is dirty? She kept seeing signs that, in French, mean "dirty garage"... Garage SALE

1point

Petra Schaap 10 months ago

oh... so many. Recently. UK friend gave me a ride, we stopped on the way at a truckstop to buy food and gas, and i sneaked up to the check out without my friend to pay for both the food and the gas. Me: "i wanna pay for the gas too" clerk "petrol?" me "no, i wanna pay for the gas too!" clerk "petrol?" me "we didnt buy petrol! I wanna pay for the gas!" points at pumps. Clerk "?!?!" In walks friend, walks up and says "let me pay the petrol" TODAY I LEARNED. I felt so silly. In the Netherlands, where we use all kind of foreign words. When i was really young, I once asked my mom after buying a ticket from the driver on the bus "why do you say "nasi" to everyone mom" mom laughed out loud, she was saying "merci" Once on a crowded backseat on a long drive "can you move your feet to that side so boyfriend can release his leg" in stead of "relieve"

1point

DeoManus Argentem 10 months ago

Britney Spears' break-out song, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" was supposedly written by a Danish writer who didn't understand the American phrase, "Hit me up" (which means "call me"). "Hit me one more time", along with the rest of the lyrics, makes it sound like she's either pining for a return to an abusive relationship, or something far too sexual ("hit" can also mean intercourse in the US) for her age/audience at the time.

1point

MellonCollie 10 months ago

Oh no! I have always wondered about the meaning of that song.

1point

Sugar Shack 10 months ago

My hovercraft is full of eels...

1point

IndigoViolent 9 months ago

In English, we have phrasal verbs, which is when you put a verb and one or two particles together and get something totally different; for example, you might not be actually running when you run into someone you know. If you're a native speaker, you probably have never even thought about it, but if you're learning the language, it's incredibly confusing. For example, if someone says, "I'm going to throw up"...

0points

POST

PFD 10 months ago

15points

Der Kommissar 10 months ago (edited)

My cousin who moved to USA from Europe thought "downtownelleh" was the name of a city when in fact people were saying "downtown L.A. "

10points

Astro 10 months ago

I live in ✨ Downtownellée ✨

2points

Céline Remy 10 months ago

9points

Apatheist Account2 10 months ago

6points

Feathered Dinosaur 10 months ago

I'm German and I didn't know, is it an older expression maybe? Anyway, you would say "Mir ist warm" if you're feeling warm

0points

Marcellus II 10 months ago

4points

Ginger Grumpybunny 10 months ago

In olden times before alarm clocks, "knocker-upper" was a job: people could hire someone to knock on their door or window to wake them in the morning.

1point