Yes, I have done it, TWICE!!!
1 Like
Come on, I donāt believe You All, have never made a ācock upā of something 
No really a cock-up but a language mistake, whilst on a house-hunting trip many years we were looking for somewhere to eat one evening and spotted a pizza restaurant that we werenāt quite sure was open as it was early. I thought I said āis the restaurant openā to the owner but apparently I asked if it was on fire.
1 Like
Trying to think, what you said Tim? So I donāt do the same 
En feu vs ouvert, not that far apart actually so I suspect I could easily make the same mistake in pronunciation.
Well, Iām gobsmacked, wot a lot of faux pasless folks we have on here, 'mazed. 
Some of us have already āowned-upāā¦ 
2 Likes
I can remember going to a āposhā French restaurant, in Dover I think, with my Dad when I was about 12 and had been learning French for a year or so at school. The idea was to practice my French and I did great right up to the cheese course when I asked for āfromage de chevalā instead of āfromage de chevreā. Everybody laughed except me, of course, as I was mortified. Never made that mistake again.
2 Likes
very good Stella!
Do take a look at the rest of the Threadā¦ it carried some lovely storiesā¦ Itās nice to know we can all make āfoolsā of ourselves from time to timeā¦and folk generally react with great kindnessā¦ 
1 Like
Well on an early visit to France in my 20s I remember tu-toiāing by mistake middle aged man I encountered and wanted to ask directions. He responded with enthusiasm by giving me a very hearty embraceā¦ needless to say that was actually very useful as Iāve been much more careful to get it right ever since.
2 Likes
Oh I donāt know about that, I have already asked a man what sex his wife wasā¦
2 Likes
Well, 
can never take things for granted now.
Babeth was describing, how She had a squiddle, scratching at her office door.
She was seriously upset, when I was too thick to understand, what She was āon aboutā.
Turned out, it was actually, a Squirrel, scratching, pleased when we sorted that bit of the ālanguage barrierā out
Many moons ago, out for a drink with a girlfriend, in my first motor, a Morris 1000 van, came out of the pub, a bit āpreoccupiedā, opened van, ushered in āchumā, off down the road, She reached under the parcel shelf, pulled out a book, āDidnāt know you were into this highbrow stuff Billā,
āWott Stuff?ā, quick glance, quick glance around, Oh my G !!!
Back to the car park, out, lock it up, into my identical Van, GO!!!
But the key fitted, security, wasnāt the priority it is now
One of my good friends had a similar experience. Heād borrowed an elderly Mercedes for a day to visit his parents. He stopped to buy some flowers and when he unlocked and got into the car he was surprised to find that it was an automatic when he was sure it had been a manual. At that moment a man tapped on the side window and pointed at a similar car behind. My friend was embarrassed and rushed off leaving his jacket, wallet, passport and the flowers in the car. He spent the day with his parents cancelling his credit cards. The owner of the other car handed all his belongings into the local police station and my friend was reunited with his cancelled cards the following day.
2 Likes
Sorry, but canāt resist !
1 Like
Yesterday, outside the local Utile, I spotted the young bearded chap who had tapped on my window earlier in the week to show me a moribund hedgehog lying on a plastic dustpan he was holding. I recognised the racing bike he was astride, so I greeted him. He looked mystified, so I said āDo you remember meā¦?ā and detailed our odd encounter. I told him the hedgehog had died. He then told me I was mistaking him for Jimmy, who sometimes borrowed his bike. We were shortly joined by Jimmy himself. Both blokes were young, lean and bearded. Jimmy greeted me warmly and I broke the news of the creatureās decease. Jimmyās friend asked if I had eaten the hĆ©risson, which made good eating. I told him that, as the hĆ©risson was clearly ill, and not knowing what maladie afflicted it, I had not tasted its dubious flesh. Jimmy was in full agreement with that. We parted on cheerful terms. I doubt such a curious event would have been available to me if I still lived in suburban Essex.
3 Likes