Befuddled Brits abroad
The most common lingual mistakes made by British holidaymakers while overseas include calling Greek locals a "squid", asking for a "condom" at breakfast, and declaring yourself "pregnant" to a French waiter. The Greek word for "good morning" - "kalimera" - bears a resemblance to "calamari ", while "Je suis plein" means "I am full" in French, but when mispronounced as "pleine", translates as "I am pregnant". In Portugal and France, the word for "condom" is "preservativo" and "preservatif" and is sometimes mistakenly used when asking for jam. Other mistakes include one holidaymaker who asked for her "head baked al forno" when wanting a hairdryer, and a traveller in Hong Kong who told locals she worked as a "prostitute". The study also revealed that 95 per cent of Britons attempt to speak some of the local language on holiday, particularly those travelling to Spain or France. The most commonly used words and phrases were "hello", "please", thank you", "goodnight", "where are the toilets?" and "a bottle of house red".(Source: Telegraph.co.uk)
We once asked for...
"un vaso di vino della casa rosso" when we made orders at a La Porchetta Italian Restaurant, thinking it meant "a jar of house red" in Italian. But to our surprise, the waiter explained we actually asked some wine made in a red house...:lol
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