Unfortunately, I was still only 5 months into the mission and my companion was a brand new American. We neither of us knew what the commotion was about until we'd said the word 4 or 5 times. Once one of the teenage kids told us it was hard to act appropriately horrified while laughing.
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Well I did mention dinkle, winkle, dokie, jumblies and ta-tas, but to no avail.
I figure we as a society prefer nicknames over medical terms, so I'm going to blink my googles and bare my choppers and sit comfortably down on my fluffy...preferrably on a sofa.
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My best moment was asking if a lady was "full" after dinner in French when I instead asked if she was "pregnant." When she said no (smiling at my mistake) and that she wasn't feeling well, I humbly asked her, "So are you feeling horny?"
Needless to say I wasn't invited back, and I've never made those mistakes again. Trial by fire...
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My mother visited England, and found out that after a large dinner, you shouldn't declare that you are "stuffed". It means something different over there.
Also, don't refer to your waist-pack as a "fanny-pack" if you don't want to be on the receiving end of a lot of titters.
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quote:Originally posted by KarlEd: I'll admit I thought of that dobie, too, but that is because the word in Portuguese is pronounced exactly like "pennies". This led to a somewhat unfortunate (yet also hilarious) incident on my mission during a lesson with some non-members who my companion and I were teaching about the church. Maybe I'll start a thread about funny mis-translation incidents sometime.
I had a polynesian companion on my mission named Elder Panisi. I never thought anything of it until I introduced him to my Albanian wife at a mission reunion and saw her face go beet-red and her tongue get tied in a square knot. Yes, that's exactly what it means in Albanian.
It's lucky he wasn't sent to that mission.
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I have a good messed up translation story and it makes me seem cool, too.
I was at this club (damn them) in France a couple of years ago. I drunkenly asked this girl in french if I could kiss her, or so I thought. I later found out that I really asked if I could **** her. I got laughed at then kissed.
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Wow...I just realized that even though I have studied French for 8 years, I don't know anything about that kind of mistranslation. I have no idea what was said and what should have been said in either of those stories. Huh. Just goes to show, schoolbook French can only go so far.
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The worst mission language gaffe I've ever heard of is how Mary spent most of her mission teaching that we believe that God has a body of "flesh and boner" in Tagalog.
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Heh. The difference in the two words (bone and boner) is really subtle. It is all about whether you end the last vowel with a glottal stop.
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In French, it was simply asking if you "feel" hot versus "being" hot, and hence the problem. Same with "feeling" full and "being" full (with child).
Of course, I'm the same guy who tricked my companion into asking for a lozenge with the directly translated "Throat Support" which, in reality, means a bra.
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In German, literally saying "I am good" has strong under-the-sheets insinuation, or so I've always been warned throughout high school and college.
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Those wacky Germans and their World Wars! Then again, now they're all hippies... but that doesn't change anything.
Is it strange that on my dad's side, my grandfather was full French and my grandmother was full German, and they got married almost exactly between WWI and WWII?
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Is one more mission story allowed? One of my companions was named Elder Jardon (who was incidentally trained by one Elder Card, I believe ) Anyhow, he would always introduce himself as Elder Jar-don (english sounding j) to English speakers. The reason for this was quite apparent after the mission president's wife decided to pronounce it with a spanish j in zone conference.
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There's a guy who comes into my pharmacy regularly named Mike Hawk. Imagine hearing "I have a prescription to pick up for Mike Hawk" and having to keep a straight face.
There's also a Vietnamese woman named Mai Ho. Her husband always gets her drugs. The phrase "I'm here to get a prescription for Mai Ho" isn't that much easier to deal with.
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There was a family in Brazil with the last name "****" who proudly displayed their marriage certificate on the wall. It freaked out all the Americans.
edit: Huh. The board filters out that name. That name is F-Dash-Dash-Dash
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Back when I was a CSA for Visa, I took a call from a guy named "Harry Quatch". I had to mute my phone several times during that conversation because I couldn't stop giggling. I don't know why that name sounds so dirty to me.
A sister missionary on my mission was bearing her testimony in church one day and mis-spoke "I'm thankful for the bishop" and said instead "I'm pregnant by the bishop". I've never seen a bishop interrupt a testimony before or since, but one sure did then.
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Oh, and I was at a trade show where this vendor's name tag said "Peter Handler". I thought it had to be a joke, but it was on his business card, too. If that were you, wouldn't you at least go by "Pete"?
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When I was a CSA I used to keep a list of weird names I ran across.
Harry Quatch Danson Miaskoff Ruby Licker Joao Viega Leitao Albuquerque Filho Anna Butta Ponce Wigler Harry Bacon Able Hooker Alan Didlick Oliver Feet Franklin Beans Morfila de Bustos Imogene Washer
Those are just the ones I can still remember from that list. I should see if I still have it around somewhere.
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Just goes to show, schoolbook French can only go so far.
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