Funny Language Barrier confusions

[Peggy 1]

Here in the South they say........Did you mash that button on. Or can ya cut that light off.

Sometimes they say...I might could do that

They all laugh when I say pop too. Or washroom. I call them flip flops too. A thong to me is something that goes up your butt

[KarenCee 3]

Here in the South they say........Did you mash that button on. Or can ya cut that light off.

Sometimes they say...I might could do that

They all laugh when I say pop too. Or washroom. I call them flip flops too. A thong to me is something that goes up your butt

LOL...oh have i got the book for you! send me your address and i'll mail it to you....its called "How To Speak Southern"....its the funnies lil book...

[Aymerlu 3]

The Middle East gals can appreciate this one. We have joked about this before in previous threads. I love the dish "couscous," however when I said it to my fiance......I was saying it wrong. The way I was pronouncing it is a part of the female body!

[Satisfaction 1]

1. my wife confusing terrorist and tourist while we were practicing for our AOS interview. I cleared that up before the interview

They are smashed.

That's a good one! : Imagine the scene: "I'm here for the terrorist visa"

[Cristy 4]

I was not involved in this and it is not as funny as some of yours but....

Casey was camping with friends and there happened to be a Canadian girl there.

This one guy came out of his camper with a knitted cap (I think that is what Americans call it lol) and the Canadian girl said 'your toque is on crooked.' Everyone just stared at her wondering what she was talking about. Only Casey knew!

[anya-D 8]

I'm boring

I'm depressing

are you boring???

;p

[kc456 0]

I sometimes make up my own words if I don't know the exact term.

The latest one was: "Where is ... hmm... the scooper?" (meaning ladle, while serving soup). To my husband it sounded like I was looking for the cat poo scooper.

We had a good laugh about it.

[mr4422 0]

I'm boring

I'm depressing

are you boring???

;p

yes, that is funny ....

how about having problems with the "r" in words for thais ... like saying I eat lice instead of i eat rice. After I explained to my finacee what lice was, she quickly learned to say rice, of course with a very pronounced R sound to make sure she gets it right.

[Jaylen Brit 0]

I must admit to a streak of bloody-mindedness when Iw as in the US previously - myself and expat Brits often PURPOSELY used Brit-slang to confuse the Americans

Loo we used all the time, and 'wanker' as often as possible (tho its making the transistion into yank-speak now - annoyingly, lol), we also grew very pronounced London accents and made sure we swallowed s many H's and T's as possible (Tho I was once on the phone with someone, a Japanese American, telling him an address and he just COULDN'T understand my pronounciation of the word EIGHT - he kept repeating 'EYET? Aight?' even when I said '1,2,3,4,5,6,7 EIGHT')

We also began using WAY more cockney rhyming slang than Ive EVER used in the UK (I live in London and we hardly use any here, lol), and generally being d!cks about the whole language thing

[Sharon 1]

I was not involved in this and it is not as funny as some of yours but....

Casey was camping with friends and there happened to be a Canadian girl there.

This one guy came out of his camper with a knitted cap (I think that is what Americans call it lol) and the Canadian girl said 'your toque is on crooked.' Everyone just stared at her wondering what she was talking about. Only Casey knew!

If a toque's a hat....what's a threeque?

We also began using WAY more cockney rhyming slang than Ive EVER used in the UK (I live in London and we hardly use any here, lol), and generally being d!cks about the whole language thing

Yeah hubby absolutely LOVES to watch me befuddle sales associates here in Virginia when I walk up to them and ask "Excusez-moi, mais est-ce que tu peut m'aider?" Their faces are PRECIOUS! And I always get the proverbial "HUH?"

[Mand 1]

US.......................................Ireland

Line(of people)......................Queue

Pick somebody up in a car.....Collect somebody

Visit someone's house...........Call over

1:30/2:30/3:30 etc...............half 1/half 2, half 3 etc

Sex.....................................ride (see Julia's post

Cupboards...........................Presses

Paper Towels.......................Kitchen Paper

Trunk(of car).......................Boot

Hood(of car)........................Bonnet

Sweater..............................Jumper

They're some of the main ones I've noticed here, people have no clue what I'm talking about when i say those. Also when I say 30,40,50 etc, peopple think I'm saying 13,14,15 etc

And of course there's all the different words...craic, bollocks, langer=wanker, #######, #######-head etc...BUT!! langers= p*ssed, drunk etc, ghoul-bag=sh*t head, Hmmmm..lots of curse words there..oops!

But, luckily Rob knows all these too from his years in Ireland..whew!! Imagine the trouble if he didn't!!

[Fandango 1,439]

We also began using WAY more cockney rhyming slang than Ive EVER used in the UK (I live in London and we hardly use any here, lol), and generally being d!cks about the whole language thing

I once worked with this guy years ago who was a Londoner & we became very good friends. He knew I was headed over to the UK, so he started teaching me CRS....it became our way of talking in code at work.

Anyways, there was this guy he didn't like there, so he always used to call him Tommy....(Tommy Munt...you get the idea)well, one day, this guy walked into work with a white dress shirt on, and across the whole back of the shirt was the outline of the name TOMMY (it was hilfiger)

Well, I have never laughed so hard at work in my life....my friend turns to me and says 'who says there's no truth in advertising?'

Edited January 30, 2006 by LisaD

[Melo 1]

I once called a bloke a wanker on a band's forum. The chap responded after a while that it was not very nice of me to call him a masturbator... I was hysterical with laughter so was a member of the band and his partner.

[Elizabethnhenry 0]

Anyways, he askes D how he feels, D says still jetlagged...and very dryly my father says to him 'Hey mate, keep your pecker up' Now to me, it sounded like there was a question on the end of it, like he was challenging us because he knew. I had also never heard that before...I was shocked my father was being so vulgar! I turned beet red & got so flustered cos I thought we were busted...D starts to laugh (I thought it was a nervous laugh, but I was wrong) & I whine Dad!' all shocked..and then he says 'What??? it's in that book!...I didn't make it up!

We all still laugh about that to this day.

Oh, I've got loads of these stories, but this one always tickles me. What's yours?

That was funny, Lisa! I have a vision of your dad's toast at the wedding. "I read that whole book waiting for David to go back his room!"

Edited January 30, 2006 by Elizabethnhenry

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

(Tho I was once on the phone with someone, a Japanese American, telling him an address and he just COULDN'T understand my pronounciation of the word EIGHT - he kept repeating 'EYET? Aight?' even when I said '1,2,3,4,5,6,7 EIGHT')

A friend of mine, who is deeply brummie, went to NYC and kept on asking directions to Avenue I -- everyone insisted there wasn't an Avenue I and he insisted there was.

It turns out he wanted Avenue A