This week my neighbour's dogs escaped. As I was putting the rubbish out I noticed one of the dogs in the street, I ran next door and announced...J'ai vu ton espagnol....he smiled and replied...my epagneul? Immediately I knew I'd just said his spaniard...rather than his spaniel. Anyway the dog was retrieved but it did make me laugh just thinking what he must have said to his wife afterwards.
Daft English woman!
Not to worry, Suzanne...I'm sure it's not the worst the French have heard! My husband who is just learning French keeps saying "Moi non pleut" and gets frustrated when I try to help him with the pronunciation of "plus" !! Ha ha haha ha ha...
Sounds like a fun group. CanI join in? lol
Years ago my missus being lumbered with taking her first keep fit class when the 'pro' pulled out instructed the girls to "Baiser" when she meant "baisser". She wondered why all of the girls were laughing & it wasn't until some months later someone actually told her the difference.
The best was in Australia when my French wife's twin sister came home from the bar/restaurant whe worked in as her English was not that good at the time. She asked me 'Norm what does 'pees-orf' mean?' I immediately bridled and said 'who said that to you rude bastard, I'll have his guts for garters' etc., - very protective at that time was I.
Then she explained that it had something to do with the licensing laws that drinks could not be served after 10.00pm (if I remember correctly). Guys were asking for drinks after hours and she went off and asked the Australian girl who was also waitressing there what she should say (you know what's coming don't you?) - yes, this girl just replied, 'Oh tell 'm to ****- off' which lead Co to spend the rest of her shift politely, in a delightful French accent telling everybody to 'pees-orf'!
I fell on floor laughing as I could visualise all these randy Aussie blokes trying to figure out if they had been insulted or not! A real hoot!
Another was a London mate Ron and his new Finnish wife who came to dinner,when she suddenly asked if she 'could go for a head-sqveeze!' which earned our Ron a clip round the ear from my Mother! Hilka was duly directed to the toilet.
We all get caught - me more than most as the Boss rescues me from my more obvious gaffs all the time - usually very embarrassed!
Just observed a stunner in the car park of the Leclerc supermarket in Chatellerault this afternoon. We in our car and several others were on our way down the exit road between rows of parked cars when the driver immediately in front of us came to a halt. The lane ahead of her was empty, we couldn't see why she had stopped. Immediately the horns began, this being France. We wondered if she was waiting for someone out of our sight, but no-one appeared. The horns broke out again. Finally a passer-by told her she had parked in the road. She had thought it was a nice wide parking space. She threw up her hands, bright red in the face, apologised profusely and removed her car. That little episode, coupled with the sight of someone reversing at about 5kph into the front of a friend's car (parked) this morning in the village, just made our day.
Today, I did one. I was getting on the couch thing for my cardiologist to do my ECG test, I had a Ricola sweet in my mouth was slightly choking on it when he asked me how my health was in general. What escaped my lips in mid-sentence was 'bonsai tree'. He gave me a very quirky look but as soon as my ears stopped burning, the hot blood had left my face again and I had artificially cleared my throat (all in a rapid two seconds or thereabouts) I corrected to 'bonne santé'.
'Cou cou' for hello is fine (my French friends use it all the time). But used as a noun (same pronunciation) it means either a cuckoo or ... a willy. Imagine you were an English-speaking man with a very fine cockerel that you wanted to show off - not too hard to see how that could work equally well (or badly) in English!
Or was it the pronunciation? Like queue(tail), cou (neck) and I believe there is a similar word for a very insulting way of describing lady parts…I avoid saying any of these and point now! Apart from the cou cou which I will now have to stop…
What is cou cou then? I use it all the time to say hello…I thought it was like cooey…eek
Went to the English Fayre yesterday at the local bar to collect my sausages (Cumberland and Lincolnshire) and bacon (Back smoked and unsmoked) and a few other bits and was told the cold stuff had not arrived, consternation all round. I was then told I could collect it on Friday from the Lamb and Cow. My face brightened up considerably as I asked 'where is this aptly named English Pub the Lamb and Cow then?' No, no, no was the response 'The L'Amical Bar at St Fort'. Now either the pronunciation was not great or I seriously need my ears syringing.
Love it…that’s a great one
Not this week, but my dad made a wonderful gaffe some years ago. He was very proud of his cuckoo clock and once asked the son of a local (French) friend if he wanted to come inside and see his 'coucou'. He was very lucky not to be reported to the police!
Just bluff it out & tell him you thought his Spaniel came from Spain !