Oooops! I said that??? What's your biggest foreign language Faux Pas?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Nobody from Albany says All-Benny. I and my wife were born here and still live here, it's not All-Benny, It's Albany, just like that town in New York that it was named after

I do not know where that started, but seemingly a lot of people not from here think it's All-Benny, it's one of my pet peeves.

Maybe that was from a previous generation or maybe you're from the ejicated side of town but I have a couple of in-laws that were born in Albany and that's how they always pronouncced it. They are in their 80s so that could be an antiquated pronunciation or could be they were run out of town for demeaning the good name of Albany.

To me more accurate they didn't say All-benny so much as put just a bit more accent on the first syllable and lengthen it a little more than the folks in NY say it. So more like AWLLL-bany.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Sorry about that, but I was born there too and ah have always called it all-benny. Though OK, I did spend most of my time in sa-VAN-nah.

sa-VAN-ah? My family always pronounced it sa-VA-yana.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by skipmac

sa-VAN-ah? My family always pronounced it sa-VA-yana.

Hum. I guess my relatives are more back woodie. They all said sa-Vannn-ah. Still have aunts, uncles, etc living there. All with thick southern accents.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Years ago, while asking an attractive young waitress for change in Spanish, I mispronounced "dolar" (dollar) as "dolor" (pain). She cocked her head, raised an eyebrow, and said "Qué tipo de dolor es lo que quieres? " (what kind of pain do you want?).

I just laughed and didnt answer that question, but I think if I had it would have cost me more than a dollar!

We got sidetracked with our Southern entertainment, and want to acknowledge this one as a great ...

Say it with me in Suth'n...

Fawks Paws...

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by dannc

Trying to stay out of this conversation but that last one got me laugh'n.
I have a pretty good ear for picking up accents and I work with many people who speak English as a second language. There have only been two people I struggled to understand what they were saying in English. One was a guy from Liverpool England and the other guy was from the Piedmont of NC.

Later,
Dan

Dan... You got that right... The hardest to decipher for me was part of the OBX, and NC where she runs into KY/TN... Whew!

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Lordy, how else would you say Biewfort or All-Beny. I was born in All-Beny after all. Ya'll are mak'n me home sick.

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Nobody from Albany says All-Benny. I and my wife were born here and still live here, it's not All-Benny, It's Albany, just like that town in New York that it was named after

I do not know where that started, but seemingly a lot of people not from here think it's All-Benny, it's one of my pet peeves.

We're about right in the middle of you two.... But our Albany has a New in front of it... maybe that's why... Leans towards ALLbeny tho...

[Jim Cate]

I got in trouble in the really deep South: New Zealand, that is!

When we first arrived there in 1990, a group of yotties was invited by a friendly Kiwi to gather at his house for a communal Thanksgiving dinner. What a deal... so we got all the normal supplies together and arrived at the house. We were gonna share out the jobs, and I wondered why all the Kiwi's there broke up when I volunteered to stuff the turkey.

They sure talk funny down under. I've grown pretty used to Strine, but Kiwi still is a mystery at times... like finding that a chap who plays the saxophone is called a "sex-oftenest". I have known some musicians who were like that...

And the above mentioned "rooting" can be amusing, while knowing that a woman's "fanny" isn't behind her, but more to the front can save some embarrassment.

Travel is sooo educational!

Jim

[redhead]

Jim, Translation please. Since Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I don't want to offend or amuse any stray Kiwi's....stuffing a turkey????

[JPA Cate]

Hi, redhead, and everyone else,

"Stuffing" is akin to the "f" word. If Jim had said he would put the dressing in the turkey, no one would have looked askance; he had suggested an "unnatural act."

One time, I went into a small market in Mexico. Now, I had learned that the word for "eggs" is "huevos" in my Spanish class, taught by an Argentinian woman. So, Ann goes into the market and asks the man behind the counter, "Donde estan sus huevos?"
Great hilarity resulted. I just meant where were his eggs, right? However, it turned out that there, they call "eggs" "blancos" (whites).

...and yes, "huevos", locally are testicles! Very red face for me!

Ann

[El Pinguino]

Root beer?

I always assumed 'root beer' was another name for Boags. Boags Beer being the 'social lubricant' tassie ugly sheilas feed to their men when they want a root.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Root beer?

I always assumed 'root beer' was another name for Boags. Boags Beer being the 'social lubricant' tassie ugly sheilas feed to their men when they want a root.

It is said that koala bears eat roots, shoots, and leaves.

When he visits his girlfriend, an Australian man eats, roots, shoots, and leaves.

Wonderful thing, the comma.

Ann

[El Pinguino]

Something for visitors to these parts to remember...

Acceptable Australian foreplay 'Brace yourself sheila!'
Acceptable Kiwi foreplay 'Are you awake?'

[garrobito]

Originally Posted by skipmac

One problem I have with Spanish is that it's very different country to country. Example, from Mexico, to Central to South America and Spain the word for banana could be:

banana
guineo
platano (where the green cooking plantain then becomes platano verde)

One country a local slang expression "le provoque un tinto" roughly translates as "can I talk you into a cup of coffee" but elsewhere could mean "does red wine provoke you".

I was diving in Mexico and called my weight belt cinta instead of cinturon. That got a laugh as cinta meant ribbon. Guess the idea of a ribbon around my wet suit was amusing.

Ohhh yahhh!! Spanish words means different things, depend country, accent and position in a phrase...
On my poor spanish I have thousand of histories... chaqueta means condom on Mexico but jacket in Argentina; pingo means horse in Uruguay but pennis on Paraguay... cachucha means cap on Mexico but something totally different in Chile... :bigg rin:

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by garrobito

Ohhh yahhh!! Spanish words means different things, depend country, accent and position in a phrase...
On my poor spanish I have thousand of histories... chaqueta means condom on Mexico but jacket in Argentina; pingo means horse in Uruguay but pennis on Paraguay... cachucha means cap on Mexico but something totally different in Chile... :bigg rin:

Oh...really??? Oh dear......

[redhead]

El Pinguino Something for visitors to these parts to remember...

Acceptable Australian foreplay 'Brace yourself sheila!'

I beg to differ, Australia may accept it but it comes from their Irish forebears only with a slight name change: "Brace yourself, Brigid!"
Hear at a Pub "The Usual Place" Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland May 1984. Drunkard delivering it: name unknown.