Laughing at stupid foreigners.

[yello]

[QUOTE 3148078, member: 45"]A friend of mine lived in China for 7 years. On a plane home once he needed a pen. He asked a flight attendant if he could borrow hers, but the word he thought meant pen actually meant ladybits.[/QUOTE]

And I believe that is the origin of the phrase 'the pen is mightier than the sword'.

 

[yello]

Apparently its the same word, same letter pronunciation but a different tone/inflection.

Tonal languages freak me out. SO easy for us neanderthals with no ear for tonal differences to get wrong.

Where's Keith O, I'm sure he could give us some amusing anecdotes!!!!!!!!!

 

[yello]

There's a lot of ambiguity in French (one word with several meanings). There's ambiguity in most languages but if you consider there are around only 300 - 350 words in common everyday usage in French (so someone told me) and 3 times that in English, you realise there's a great deal of more scope for overlap and potential confusion. Invariably, context resolves as in any language.

'I am' and 'I follow', for instance are exactly the same; je suis.

 

[nickyboy]

I've heard this too, and a very bad word for lady bits at that! Apparently its the same word, same letter pronunciation but a different tone/inflection.

Correct. The word is "bi". With a flat tone it is a very coarse word for ladybits, with a falling then rising tone it means pen

jie ni de bi keyi ma? Can I borrow your pen/c***

 

[nickyboy]

There's a lot of ambiguity in French (one word with several meanings). There's ambiguity in most languages but if you consider there are around only 300 - 350 words in common everyday usage in French (so someone told me) and 3 times that in English, you realise there's a great deal of more scope for overlap and potential confusion. Invariably, context resolves as in any language.

'I am' and 'I follow', for instance are exactly the same; je suis.

Same in Chinese. Eg. the word for "borrow" is the same as "lend" and the word for "he" is the same as "she"......so "can he borrow some money" sounds exactly the same as "can she lend some money"
Even excellent Chinese speakers of English mix up "he" and "she" as there is no spoken concept of this in Chinese

 

[Gravity Aided]

jie ni de bi keyi ma? Can I borrow your pen/c**
Puts a whole new spin on please write me.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Same in Chinese. Eg. the word for "borrow" is the same as "lend"...

Interchangeable in England too, ie 'can you borrow me a pen'.

 

[yello]

You hear some English people (and in some regions particularly) do the same thing; 'can you borrow me a pen?' for instance.

There is a verb for borrow in French, emprunter, but 'tis true that prêter gets used for loan and borrow, by some folk anyway. But then it's also true that some speak in the present tense all the time - because they don't know any other tense!

Edit: I see 3bm has said the same thing! Great minds etc...

Takes me ages to type a post on this silly little tablet keyboard!

 

[yello]

My wife says 'fetch it here' when asking the dog to come to her with the ball/stick she's just thrown. At first, I thought it just her getting her words muddled but she always says it like that.

We all have our unique grammers.

 

[robrich]

Not really sure in this example which of us is the stupid foreigner....

A few years ago I was lucky enough to be staying for a while with my girlfriend in San Diego.
We became quite friendly with the Iranian owner of the local liquor store
One day we both walked in and asked if he sold any Pernod. He looked a bit confused but said that he might have some old stuff out the back and went off to take a look. My gf and I looked at each other a bit puzzled but I said perhaps he doesn't sell much of it and anyway it's not likely to go off is it?
He returned a short time later saying he didn't have any.
I asked if he could order some in as it is one of my favourite tipples and he was always helpful like that.
He explained how he'd love to help but couldn't really as it's not stocked by his suppliers but if I really wanted some he might know someone who could get it for me.
I said I was a bit surprised as Pernod was a drink you can generally find in the US and most countries.

Suddenly I saw the penny drop by the look in his face and his smile broke into a laugh as he said 'Pernod! Oh the drink. I thought you were asking for porno!'

I didn't enquire into the old stuff he thought he might have out the back

To finish it off in true US service culture style we had a bottle hand delivered to the house a few hours later free of charge with a note thanking us for the best laugh he'd had in ages

 

[yello]

I'm reminded of another Americanism; 'I hate when that happens'. They don't say 'I hate IT when that happens'.

I like the US version. To me, it suggests an internalised seething hatred. In the English English version, the hatred is externalised; aimed at something or someone.

 

[stephec]

Not a laugh at foreigners, but funny sayings.
My cousin's lived in Ireland that long that he's picked up the accent and mannerisms. Last time we went to visit I told him about the tourist attraction we'd visited that day, his reply was, "I was never there," as in he'd never visited it.

 

[DRM]

A couple of years ago we were on holiday in Italy, on a visit to Sorrento we decided to see how much the ferry to the island of Capri cost, an American woman in front of us at the ferry ticket kiosk asked how much for her and her kids to get there and the man in the kiosk told her how much and what time it sailed in the morning, however she wanted to go now and demanded why the he'll can't we catch the damn bus.
Another time in a Starbucks in Oxford, an American woman commented on the amount of fire exit signs, her companion stated loudly that it's because of the London fire 200 years ago

 

[swee'pea99]

I'm reminded of another Americanism; 'I hate when that happens'. They don't say 'I hate IT when that happens'.

I like the US version. To me, it suggests an internalised seething hatred. In the English English version, the hatred is externalised; aimed at something or someone.

My daughter told me earlier that she was pissed about something. No, you are pissed off. Americans are pissed, but you are not an American.

Incidentally, how did the word like come to mean both resemble and appreciate?

 

[swee'pea99]

Gordon Bennett - a word for urinate which goes back to Chaucer gets blanked out by the anti-swear software! I know we have to protect the innocent childers who wander in from time to time, but that's farking ridiculous.