Bloopers while abroard

[gbb]

We've all done it..(havn't we ? ) i know i have...
Working in South America, Spanish there is slightly different to Spain.
I'd asked for a small beer, so asked the guy at the hotel how to say it in Spanish...'ah, una cerveza pequena'. So thats what i asked for...
Visiting Spain the next year i had two dissapointments/bloopers in one.
I'd gone out for some quick lunch with one of the guys i was working with..i fancy a beefburger and chips..i saw on the menu 'hamburgueza' (sp), that'll do..only to find it was a 'hamburger' of course. Vile..left 90% of it which was embarrassing because he paid for it.
At the same time, i thought i'll order a beer in Spanish..'una cerveza pequena por favor'...
The waiter looked at me.. 'you want a 'little boy beer !!!!'

Bugger...i still never knew whether the waiter in Uruguay was having a laugh..they did muck about a lot. I can imagine them snorting and giggling every time i ordered a beer . Or maybe i'm being paranoid.

Same trip in Spain, i was recommended a mountain resturaunt in Castellon, nothing fancy but a really nice location. i didnt know any Spanish, there's no English on the menu, they dont speak a word of English. Jamon...i know thats ham...'jamon por favor'. The waitress asked me several things, none of which i understood. She shrugged and went off. 5 minutes later i was presented with...a small plate of pieces of ham, nothing else.
Bugger...i was hungry as well !!!


Surely i'm not the only one....please !!!

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

My German-speaking cousin once told me in French (our best working language) that the family had been on a 2 week skiing holiday. Unfortunately, when she tried to say ''schifahren'' (or whatever the German verb for skiing is) in French she chose the French verb ''chier'' ''Nous avons chié pendant deux semaines''

Which, of course, translates into "We shat for two weeks.'' Multi-lingual families can have their funny side!

 

[Maz]

I was in Barcelona once and wanted straws for my kids' drinks. I didn't know the word for straw so I asked one of the customers what the word for straw was (whilst miming the action of someone sucking on a straw). He told me it was caña.

However, this word only means 'straw' in Catalunya...in Madrid I ended up getting a beer...which was no good to me as I'm TT!

 

[Fnaar]

"Do you speak David Bowie?" ... friend of a friend in a Spanish record shop.

 

[gemsno4]

'una cerveza pequena por favor'...
The waiter looked at me.. 'you want a 'little boy beer !!!!'

Bugger...i still never knew whether the waiter in Uruguay was having a laugh..they did muck about a lot. I can imagine them snorting and giggling every time i ordered a beer . Or maybe i'm being paranoid.

I think the Uruguayan was right. That is how I would ask for a small beer, although I did learn Spanish in Peru. I think the waiter in spain was perhaps reacting to asking for a small beer, like someone may if you asked for a half in this country.

Although, also Spanish related, we were in a mountain town in Chile, went to a restaurant and the guy came over and asked what we wanted. We asked for the menu.

Him "there isn't one, what do you want?"

Us "what have you got?"

Him "Huevos" (eggs)*.

Us "anything else?"

Him "no".

we then left.

The odd thing about the meaning of huevos in Chile is it is also some kind of slang swearword so I really don't know what he was trying to say.

Although when we then arrived in New Zealand from Chile the passport control guy (an absolutely huge but lovely Maori guy) moaned about all the Chileans not being able to speak English and asked me to teach him something abusive to say in Spanish. I taught him to say "no me hueves" which (apparently - never verified) means "Don't f**k with me", but only in Chilean Spanish. I felt a bit sorry for the nest person who turned up at the desk with a 6 foot 6" 25 stone guys who is responsible for border control repeating that to them

*the rest was in spanish too, just can't be bothered with translations

 

[rualexander]

At a diner in the States I was asked how I'd like my eggs.
I said ' fried please'..... cue laughter from my american cycling companions!
I was being asked if I wanted them 'sunny side up' or 'over easy'.

 

[ThePainInSpain]

At the same time, i thought i'll order a beer in Spanish..'una cerveza pequena por favor'...
The waiter looked at me.. 'you want a 'little boy beer !!!!'

Really don't know what the waiter was talking about.
As you may see from my location, I live in Spain and have for the past 10 years, and that is exactly how I would order a small beer.

HOWEVER................Chico is Boy (Chica is girl) also it means small, so a beer can be ordered as cerveza chico, which literally translated could be 'boy beer'.

But any Spaniard would know what you meant.

 

[snorri]

When on holiday in Canada I was introduced to a guy who proudly claimed to be a fifth generation Canadian, "You're almost a native then" I quipped. A difficult silence followed .

 

[661-Pete]

HOWEVER................Chico is Boy (Chica is girl) also it means small, so a beer can be ordered as cerveza chico, which literally translated could be 'boy beer'.

Following on from that idea:
Maybe the waiter was showing off his rather imperfect English, translating chico back into English literally, so he said "little boy beer" in good faith.

Slang meaning of 'huevos'. Pretty obvious innit, what parts of the body are - well - egg-shaped?

According to my invaluable Cassel's, beware of walking into a small shop (the sort where you have to ask for things) in Latin America, and asking "¿Tiene huevos?"! Could mean "have you got b*ll*cks?" Much safer to say "¿Hay huevos?" apparently.

 

[ThePainInSpain]

The funniest is when the tourist ask the waiter for a polla grande instead of a pollo grande.

The difference is the second is a large chicken the first is a large 'dick'..................

 

[zacklaws]

After being on exercise in Germany, we went into Hannover for the day, for a bit of I & I (intercourse and intoxication) and thought we would get something to eat as well. After deciding on we would all have steak, we could not understand the waiters reaction as he just stood looking at us as if we were idiots, eventually he told us that we had ordered three bowls of gravy.. In our defence the menu was all in German.

Then when I was out in Kenya on exercise we went into the game lodge and ordered some butties, eventually the waiter came out and laid out a big tray of butties, all posh ones as well, on a table then came across to us and said something but we did not understand. Eventually we came to the conclusion the butties must be ours so we grabbed the tray and scoffed the lot. Then the waiter returned with three little plates of butties, saw the empty tray on our table and went loopy with us. We had eaten all the guests staying at the lodges butties, needless to say he never gave us our little plates of butties.

 

[Brains]

When on holiday in Canada I was introduced to a guy who proudly claimed to be a fifth generation Canadian, "You're almost a native then" I quipped. A difficult silence followed .

Old World Humour. Lost on the new world

Remember the difference between the old world and the new world.
To the old world 200 years is yesterday and 200 miles is a long way.
In the new world it's the other way around.

 

[Hover Fly]

When on holiday in Canada I was introduced to a guy who proudly claimed to be a fifth generation Canadian, "You're almost a native then" I quipped. A difficult silence followed .

When I was courting Mme HF we went to a right posh do, throat attack of the black butterflies job. I found myself sitting next to "cousin posh" the daughter of a count("We own 'alf of Leebourne"). Wine flowed as it can only flow on these occasions and under strict instructions from the future "her indoors" to make small talk, I found out that her ancestors had fought against the English at Castillon and in the peninsula wars. "Still that's all in the past, it's the entente cordiale now" I said, (pause) "So, why weren't your ancestors beheaded during the revolution?"

 

[Globalti]

In Spanish Spanish and South American Spanish there are as many possible bloopers as with English English and American English.

In Spain you say "Voy a coger el bus..." meaning "I'm going to catch the bus". Say this in Latin America and everyone will crack up because you've just announced that you're going to shag the bus.

And so on. I discovered a few when I taught English in Spain and half of my students were Venezuelan. Oh and I also had an Argentinian GF during the Falklands war.

 

[gbb]

Really don't know what the waiter was talking about.
As you may see from my location, I live in Spain and have for the past 10 years, and that is exactly how I would order a small beer.

HOWEVER................Chico is Boy (Chica is girl) also it means small, so a beer can be ordered as cerveza chico, which literally translated could be 'boy beer'.

But any Spaniard would know what you meant.

Ahhhh, it was a while ago..thats the way round it was. cerveza chico was what the uruguayn waiter told me..not the other way round. I looked it up after the Spanish waiter seemed surprised and came up with cerveza pequena. Brains going...
Muchos apologios