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Has Achieved Nirvana |
https://getpocket.com/explore/...source=pocket-newtab
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
And then there's the "this word means something else in another language" situation:
More examples here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59090067
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Minor Deity |
Any of our names can mean any number of undignified things in one language or another. 
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
The Chevy Nova ("no go") was a classic one in Latin America. | |||
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Šitas (the first letter is pronounced "sh") is the Lithuanian word for "this" or "this one". When I was a kid, I'd point to things in the store and say.... You get the picture. People thought my mother was terrible person....
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
The Russian word "шит" means "sewn". It might be troublesome to note on your customs form when sending a package to Germany that it contains a "gift".
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
Chariot in French means trolley, streetcar, etc. I thought people were just being sarcastic. | |||
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
In French, "pet" means "fart". My wife had a teacher from France living with her and he was always taking pictures of signs that said "no pets". He thought it was the funniest thing ever.
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Minor Deity |
Just a few I've happened onto over the years. Not that the Turkish meaning predominates, but Derek Bok, former president of Harvard, sure sounded funny to Anatolians since bok means S**t to them. As for my ex-s first name, Savaş (means both war and struggle in Turkish), it tickled me speaking French, that it's pronounced the same as "sa vache". "Vache" in French means cow and in slang, "stupid, idiotic". "Sa vache" is the feminine possessive, thus coming out as "her idiot/moron" (giving me an internal chuckle especially when speaking French. heheheh.) Made me wish we'd spent much time in France. OTOH I was less than enchanted to learn that a "manda" is a water buffalo in Turkish.
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| Minor Deity |
And the following anecdote still makes me blush. My landlord in Jerusalem, and I were chatting one afternoon in the kitchen. Going over various items his family had left in the cabinets, he suddenly asked me (to my astonishment), "Do you have syphilis, Ahuva?" (Hebrew Name). I was so stunned, I was speechless.. Non-plussed, he repeated his query. Twice, thrice. Even without understanding my shocked expression, he himself began turning a little pink. Turns out a "Sypholux" (סיפולוקס) was a CO2 cartridge used in soda chargers then, and he was offering me some spares in case I had a charger. https://www.worthpoint.com/wor...tzer-soda-1844974395  We fell all over each other apologizing/explaining once the false cognate was identified. 
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| Minor Deity |
My Brit room-mate never got over her enchantment at hearing me use the word "shag" (as in Shetland pony to USians) even though we both were long aware of its very different usage in our respective homelands. She'd ask me repeatedly to utter the to-her tabu word, doubling over in merriment. Tears would sometimes come to her eyes as I'd find ever-new contexts for the word which must have struck her as hilariously vulgar. It's quite an interesting phenomenon come to think of it, that it had that effect on her despite our (almost) sharing a common native language.
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| Minor Deity |
Besides which "Gift" in German itself means poison!
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| Foregoing Practicing to Post Minor Deity  |
I had the experience at an English stationery shop of asking for an eraser and getting puzzled looks. After I explained in more detail, the clerk said, “Oh! You want a RUBBER!”
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Minor Deity |
+1 That was the first one that came to mind..A classic.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
That was the point.
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