‘What’s the funniest thing a friend from abroad has done and said in the UK?’ – 24 moments that got lost in translation
13.
‘My late uncle’s girlfriend (I don’t recall her nationality, long time ago), when asked if she’d had enough to eat, said ‘Yes, I am fed up’. Which actually makes perfect sense.’
–Captain_Snaffles
14.
‘A Spanish friend of mine was trying to get into British TV and was telling another Spanish friend of ours about the famous pair of presenters ‘Ant and Derek’. He also said he’d been seeing lots of clips of EastEnders online and wanted ‘to watch the series from the beginning’.’
–hashbrowns4lyf
15.
‘A Polish colleague (exasperated by management micromanaging the team) said: ‘They’re taking a piss!’.’
–SilasMarner77
16.
‘8 years in the UK and I only found out like last month that when something is annoying it is a ‘ball ache’ not a ‘boiled egg’. Makes more sense now!’
–Alternative-Ebb-8966
17.
‘My French mate once said “Okey dokey lemon squeezy”, which is one of the best things I’ve ever heard.’
–meach_memes
18.
‘A Spanish friend who confused the words ‘handbag’ and ‘husband’ went to Debenhams and when asked if she needed any help by a staff member, she replied ‘Yes, I’m looking for a little black husband’. Then she doubled down when they replied ‘Erm, we can’t help you with that here’ by saying ‘Yes, just a little black husband to carry my things’.
Also, one of their first times taking a bus they asked for a ticket to so-and-so and the driver replied ‘Single?’, she was shocked/disgusted that the driver was hitting on her.’
–Dick_Ramsbottom
19.
‘Had Australian friends pronounce Loughborough as Looga-barooga on a drive once. Having then moved to Sydney and seeing some of their place names I kind of got it!’
–Patch521
20.
‘Seeing a friend wearing a rather short skirt, our Dutch friend exclaimed ‘You’re brave to wear that without panties!’. After friend one’s panic about how much she’d been showing, turns out ‘panties’ is Dutch for tights.’
–nouazecisinoua
21.
‘My wife is from South America. When we had a very annoying creaky back door she said we should get some of ‘that special spray’. I knew she meant WD-40 but I enjoyed all the combinations she came out with: AP-64, DW-39, A2-F4 etc. To her annoyance I wouldn’t tell her the actual name. A few days later we were in Wilko (RIP) and she asked a staff member there if they had any ‘R2-D2′. I enjoyed that very much.’
–Taucher1979
22.
‘A German friend of mine wrote an email to a senior colleague and started with ‘I hope you’re well off’ instead of ‘I hope you’re well’. Similarly she always says to ‘beat someone off’ instead of ‘beat someone up’. It always reminds me of how much 1 word can change the meaning of a sentence.’
–Darkerboar
23.
‘Years ago I worked with a girl from Italy who asked me if I knew about the fairytale she had heard of, she couldn’t remember exactly what it was called, and proceeded to tell me the story about … ‘The Three Pork!’’
–Jammin4B
24.
‘American housemate looked at a packet of digestives for a long time, then finally said ‘Do these make you poop?’.
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