BootsnAll Travel Community

Language differences - gotta love 'em. Like when I was in Scotland, I had a picture of one of my friends, wearing what I, a Yank, would call a 'fanny pack'. And then my Scots friends, once they stopped laughing, explained to me what 'fanny' is to them - for those who don't know, it's the, ahem, 'female genitalia'.

Another time there, I was at work and one of the girls there kept asking everyone for 'a rubber' - which to her was an eraser, but to me was a condom!

Who else has some silly local-language stories

I'm laughing because you can get those same types of misunderstanding and never leave your home state! I admire that you venture to areas where languages are different. When I become a real traveller (I'm still seeking adventures in the U.S.) I can add a real insightful comment to your question. Communication is the key..but language?? Smiles work wonders..never a misinterpretation there..

I'm laughing because you can get those same types of misunderstanding and never leave your home state! I admire that you venture to areas where languages are different. When I become a real traveller (I'm still seeking adventures in the U.S.) I can add a real insightful comment to your question. Communication is the key..but language?? Smiles work wonders..never a misinterpretation there..

When I travelled in Indonesia I used to ask for a 'copi susu' ( coffee with milk ). A couple of years later I spent 6 weeks in the Philippines and one morning asked the waitress for a copi susu. She looked at me in amazement and explained that copi susu meant coffee with breast.

Never ask 'tiene huevos?' (have you eggs?) in Mexico. This might be construed as 'have you balls?'. You can imagine the sorts of responses you might recieve.

I don't know if this is along the lines of an urban legend or if it really happened, but a Kiwi mate told me a story once that fits this theme.

She and a group, including an American girl who had recently come to New Zealand, had spent the afternoon at a Highlanders rugby match and headed to the pub after. While waiting for drinks at the bar, the American girl announced, "Boy my bum hurts from rooting all day." This brought some interesting looks since 'rooting' in NZ is sex.

I was driving a Yellow Cab in Santa Barbara California some years ago when I picked up a large Mexican lady who could speak no English. I asked where she wanted to go and she replied "Swami Goleta". Now Goleta is 10 miles from Santa Barbara but I didn't know where 'swami' was. I checked my map.....no Swami St, I asked the dispatcher and he'd never heard of a place called Swami. I was thinking she was miss using an English word, could it be 'swimming'? I gestured with my arms, "you want to go swimming in Goleta?" "Si", she says nodding her head. Something just didn't seem right. I pulled into a gas station and asked the attendent to translate. "She wants to go to the swap meet ( flea market ) in Goleta."

On another occassion I had a Mexican lady who jumped into my cab and said "San Francisco". I couldn't believe it! San Francisco was 330 miles away and my fare would be huge. I jumped on the freeway, called my dispatcher and started counting those bills in my head. Once again something just didn't add up, I had done trips to LA before ( 100 miles ), but SF was just so far it seemed. I pulled into a gas station and the attendent laughed and said,"No she doesn't want to go to San Francisco, she wants to go to the St. Francis hospital downtown."

Oh well, a $5 fare was my reward

I found the Malaysians' liberties with the spelling of English words a constant amusement. Taxi is spelled "teksi". "Electric" = "letrik". And so on. But my favorites were the ubiquitous signs for beauty parlors - which advertised themselves as "beauty saloon" or "styling saloon". I also laughed when ordering breakfast at a place near the Thai border, where I ate "bacon and eegs".