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25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages - Nairaland / General - Nairaland

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25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages by RoyalBlak007: 3:04pm On Jan 30, 2016
English is a funny language, we all know that. But today it has become the lingua franca of the world. That is certainly a good thing. As an English speaker you can comfortably travel almost anywhere in the world. Even if you are visiting remote tribes, most translators are capable of at least some level of communication in English. We all know that North America, Australia, and the British Isles speak English. But so does most of Africa, a significant portion of Asia (to which India and Pakistan contribute significantly), and almost everybody in Northern Europe. And right now we are only talking about people who consider themselves fluent. In fact, there has never been a language in history that has commanded such widespread influence. Even Latin was contained to only a few continents at best. Either way, the advantages of using English can also be quite comical. Because it has borrowed heavily from other languages, many words often sound the same. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful. Although in English a “pet” is an animal you keep at home, don’t think that in French it’s the same. If you tell a Frenchman that your pet stinks, he will understand that your fart stinks! That’s right, “pet” means fart in French! These are 25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages!
http://list25.com/25-english-words-that-hilariously-mean-something-else-in-other-languages/

Lalasticlala Ishilove



25 Brat

In Russian, it means “brother” (брат)

24 Fart

In Norwegian, fart means “speed” i.e. how fast you are traveling.


23 Gary

Although the pronunciation is a bit slanted. “Gary” is essentially the Japanese word for “diarrhea”. So, for all the Gary’s planning on visiting Japan…you’ve been warned.

22 Bra

In Swedish, it means “good”


21 Smoking

In French, this is a tuxedo.
Re: 25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages by RoyalBlak007: 3:07pm On Jan 30, 2016
20 Retard

Another word with a different meaning in French, this time it means “delay”

19 Die

In Italian, this literally translates to “from” but colloquially it means “Come on!”.


18 Gift

Possibly one of the most ironic words on this list, in German “gift” means “poison”.


17 Sean Bean

Although the pronunciation is different in Irish, the spelling is exactly the same. Sean Bean (the actor) translates to “old woman”.
Re: 25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages by obanqua(m): 3:23pm On Jan 30, 2016
Laffing already!
The rest?
Re: 25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages by RoyalBlak007: 3:27pm On Jan 30, 2016
15Vader

In Dutch, it means “father”.


14 Trombone

In French, this is a paperclip.


13 kiss

In Swedish, “kiss” means “pee”.


12 Dump

This means “bump” in Swedish. If you’ve been paying attention you’ll have noticed that “speed bump” in Swedish would be “fart dump”.

11 Air

in Indonesian, this means “water”.
Re: 25 English Words That Hilariously Mean Something Else In Other Languages by psucc(m): 3:47pm On Jan 30, 2016
Air to water? Truly, one man's meat is another's poison.

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