What are your funniest "lost in translation" moments if you grew up speaking more than one language?
07.06.2025 08:29
To have the next part make sense, here’s background information: I’m German. “Sodomie” in German is sex with animals, what’s called bestiality in English. On the other hand, sodomy in English is anal sex. Until then I didn’t know that.
First, about 15 years ago with a lady friend of mine from the NW USA, smart, funny, polite to a fault. Some months after she married, we spoke on Skype and I asked how she liked married life, including the physical part. She told that it was all very nice, and they were experimenting, great fun.
Second, a bit before that, on a dinner date with a very nice and charming British lady. Over time the conversation turned to basic principles, and I was trying to shape an on-the-fly translation of Kant’s Categorical imperative in my head which slowed my response time. She asked what was the issue, and I said “I’m thinking about Kant”. She blew up right in my face, called me an antisocial troglodyte, proceeded to less polite terms from there. At some point she noticed the stumped look on my face and, to her merit, instead of storming off asked why I was staring at her. I replied that I wouldn’t understand why mentioning Immanuel Kant made her explode like that.
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I have two of those, although they were funny only after.
I guess people can imagine what she thought I had said. Clearing this up resulted in almost half an hour of at least one of us bursting out in laughter again.
So she told me that her husband suggested sodomy, which actually made me sit there and blink a few times because it just wouldn’t jive with how I knew her. Proceeding in a cautious manner, I asked what she thought about that. Imagine my surprise when she said, “yes, of course, why not”….more blinking from my side. What to say next? So I inquired about what they might have chosen….dog, cow, horse, sheep? Silence from her side until a certain disbelief came through: “What on Earth are you talking about?!” After the misunderstanding was cleared up, we laughed a lot. Rather loudly. It was hilarious.