Laughing at stupid foreigners.

[gbb]

Arrived at the Hilton in Montevideo, straight to reception.
'Good evening, you have a booking for Mr Colin Whittock ?'
The receptionish looked through the computer, smiled and said...
'Ah yes, Mr Lenon, welcome'

Me......err, thats Whittock yes ?
Yes sir, have a pleasant stay Mr Lenon'



I was never sure if the Uruguayans have a sense of humour or a love of historical names. Two guys i met and worked with! One called Washington Aguirre..the other Lenin, surname forgotten sadly.
Washington and Lenin !...to this day i still dont know if it was a mickey take.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Is that where you live?

I live near the crap town of another county!

 

[ufkacbln]

Laughing with is better!

We had a young lass working with us and doing well with her English

Then we had a spell where our paediatric clinics were cancelled for various reasons.

At a staff meeting we went round the group for AOB...

She then asked:

"Cunobelin...... when are we going to have children?"

Lots of mirth and then explained that in English this suggested that I would be the father.

Years later it is still a source of fun, but in a friendly way

 

[swee'pea99]

Think I can beat that.
In the USA, daughter of a couple was fascinated that we were English, asked us if people in England live in houses.

Bill Brydon reports being asked where he was from, and replying 'Britain', receiving the response: 'You speak real good English for a foreigner.'

 

[Gravity Aided]

I've always heard Americans pronounce it as Des (as in short for Desmond) and Moines to rhyme with 'loins'...

Incidentally, I believe Bill Bryson is from there...

Deh Moyn, around here, but some lingering French influence in this part of the state, especially around Peoria. Lord knows how they pronounce it in Iowa, but it sounds like Dee Moyn, mostly, on the Iowa side of the river.

 

[Globalti]

So Des Moines still baffles me....

Anybody who speaks French should know that French with an English accent sounds as sexy to the French as English with a French accent sounds to us. Middle-aged French women absolutely melt at the sound, I used to use that to my advantage when trying to get past French secretaries to speak with business contacts.

When I was a student in Grenoble my pals and I started hanging around with some French students and one evening, on parting, a girl in our group asked the French boy why they weren't on French "peck on both cheeks terms" yet. Now it needs to be explained that the noun "un baiser" means a kiss while as a verb, "baiser" means, crudely, to f****. The correct verb for to kiss is "embrasser", so when she told the lad: "Tu peux me baiser si tu veux! Pourquoi tu m'as pas baisé?" ("You can f*** me if you want. Why haven't you f***ed me yet") the poor lad was shocked at her forwardness. She should have said "Tu peux m'embrasser....."

 

[Bobby Mhor]

Deh Moyn, around here, but some lingering French influence in this part of the state, especially around Peoria. Lord knows how they pronounce it in Iowa, but it sounds like Dee Moyn, mostly, on the Iowa side of the river.

Peoria..presently the home of a very silly man...HERE

Oops..I'll get my door kicked in and extradited for that...

 

[hoopdriver]

I once spent ten minutes looking for Eingang Straß on a map when I was lost while cycling through Ulm...

 

[Kestevan]

I had the 'stupid Manc' come 'townie' look in (Slough-it) too when asking for Slaith-waite.

I got that "they covet the things in the shop" feeling when visiting for work.

Everyone get's that in Slaithwaite. Especially those bastards from Marsden* - bloody foreigners.

* Marsden is about 2 miles up the valley - but may as well be on the moon (or even in Lancashire).

 

[SteCenturion]

Everyone get's that in Slaithwaite. Especially those *******s from Marsden* - bloody foreigners.

* Marsden is about 2 miles up the valley - but may as well be on the moon (or even in Lancashire).

I was doing some work for the train Co up & down that line inc Marsden to Greatest Manchester.

What I want to ask is, the ale trail thing that is done summertime on that line, the one where lots of guys & some girls dress up as farmers & country gent's, what's it called ??

Looks a load of fun & I have suggested it as a team day for a works outting/P1$$ Up.

 

[DaveReading]

Ah! Is that actually pronounced the French way? I've never known.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqMG7CUzCQ8

 

[Kestevan]

I was doing some work for the train Co up & down that line inc Marsden to Greatest Manchester.

What I want to ask is, the ale trail thing that is done summertime on that line, the one where lots of guys & some girls dress up as farmers & country gent's, what's it called ??

Looks a load of fun & I have suggested it as a team day for a works outting/P1$$ Up.

The Transpennine Ale Trail.
TBH I'd stay clear.... Apparently it's been overrun with stag & hen do's and pi$$ed up corporate days-out......oh......

 

[laurence]

Deh Moyn, around here, but some lingering French influence in this part of the state, especially around Peoria. Lord knows how they pronounce it in Iowa, but it sounds like Dee Moyn, mostly, on the Iowa side of the river.

Peoria..presently the home of a very silly man...HERE

Oops..I'll get my door kicked in and extradited for that...

Peoria is also home to one of the funniest men ever to grace this planet, Mr Richard Pryor.

Just reading Furious Cool, Joe and David Henry's book on him.. a work of beauty, as you would expect from two stunning writers (although not known for book prose) on a wonderfully crazy man.

 

[laurence]

i get to laugh at crazy foreigners a lot as my girlfriend is Polish and her Ponglish is legendary amongst friends....

"that is music to my ey... (changing halfway through as she realises her mistake) ...rs" the phrase "music to my a**e" is now common in my circle of friends.

friend: sorry, didn't reaise you were in the toilet (at their work)
girlski: sorry, i was just having secs... i mean, will be a sec

"shove the love" - no one is entirely sure what this was in regard too, but it is also a common phrase in my circle.

"it's good to laugh" - originally said by an indignant girlski as others giggled at her Ponglish, causing even more mirth due to her inherrent friendly nature. another common phrase.

usually i spend more time laughing at stupid brits using the English language... most can't.

 

[Cubist]

or colin. Yes, colin. A fish called colin. Cool huh? Obviously not pronounced like in the blokes name, oh no. The pronunciation is more disturbing than that. Reminds one of colons.

Anyways, I think you'd more usually see it as colin on the menu in a restaurant, but don't quote me. I think merlu refers to the fish hake that swims in the water, a living breathing fish as a zoologist might call it. It becomes colin when the chef gets his hands on it, and serves it up on a plate. Kind of like 'pig' is the animal and 'pork' is the meat.

Same as the difference between Morue and cabillaud. We found this especially useful of you wanted to call someone a codhead.........