The Official Writing Challenge
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I really enjoyed your story of mistakes in the Spanish language. Years ago when I was taking Spanish in college, the professor asked me one day how I was. I told him "Tengo hombre." When he asked "where," I told him "en mi estomago." When everyone laughed, he said, "No creo que si, Senorita Cole."
07/26/07
I can certainly relate to this one. My husband picked up some Algerian young men from the airport years ago and asked them, "Etes-vous femme?" instead of "Avez-vous de faime?" The first says, "Are you women?" and the second says, "Do you have hunger?" Those poor young men, new to America, sitting in the back of my husband's big old Lincoln Towncar, practically bolted out on the highway! Thanks for the memories. I really enjoyed your story!
07/26/07
Loads of giggles in here - I've made many of the same Spanish mistakes. Love the title too - great stuff.
We had a missionary from Mexico share some of these same mistakes. We laughed so hard we thought we'd die. Great stuff!
07/27/07
I admire people who can learn languages. I am not one of them.
Play-on-words humor, related to that of translation problem humor, is to me what slap-stick or potty humor is to a five-year-old. Me río hasta que las vacas vengan a casa. (Hope I didn't say anything embarassing.)
Oh, you have just reminded me of yet another mortifying moment of my youth! I took French in college. One day the professor asked me to say in French that I was putting my children to bed. What I said instead, was that I was sleeping with my children... and you can guess how much fun he had with that faux pas!

His eyes grew big, and he sucked in his breath in mock horror: "You! You incestuous woman, you!" The whole class burst into uncontrollable laughter.

I dropped the class and added a French class where I merely had to read French novels and translate them to English.

Thanks for the memories... I think. ;o)

Blessings, Cheri
LOL... Now I'm glad I never tried to learn Spanish...
I laughed at loud at the missionary preacher's invitation. This was a really fun read. Good work.
As a lover of language and all of the fine nuances, I loved this. So funny an so true.
Great title and a fun read. I enjoyed each of the examples of language mis-spoken.
A very enjoyable, lighthearted read!
Language misunderstandings can be frustrating and embarrassing. Good job and good ending!
07/31/07
Oh! I laughed all through this one! Do you know how many sermons I've heard about pescado? The same missionary preached an Entire message about the blood of Christ acting like jamon and washing you clean!! lol. And my dad (!!) got on a bus, sat next to a young lady, noticed her blushing and, you got it, used the embarasada word instead of verguenza! We still howl over that one!! Loved, loved, loved this! :-) abrazos! lol
08/01/07
Ooooh, this is great stuff for a wordplay lover like myself.

Want another one? My daughter went to the Czech Republic with her Christian college group. Her male professor and a male student were walking one evening and were approached by, ummmm, a lady of the evening. They didn't speak Czech, but they knew what she was offering, and they said, "Ahhh, no!"

But in Czech, the word for "yes" is pronounced "ah-no." Much confusion ensued!
Lynda, I'm late with some comments but wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed this one! I too get such a kick out of language faux pas! You've used them well here!