#language fails

[angryjewishcockroach]

I have been thinking about this video nonstop since I first saw it on Instagram. I hope everybody has a very happy tuchus!

[Video ID: A Jewish woman (Rabbi Yael Buechler, @midrashmanicures on Instagram) speaks to the camera: We have reached a new low in holiday product fails. This treat box is for Sukkot. It's featured on Amazon and Sukkot is a holiday that doesn't get a lot of love so kudos for having a product for Sukkot. It says Happy Sukkot and in the Hebrew it says--wait for it--tuchus! Happy tuchus! Tuchus is Sukkot spelled backwards. The product clearly wasn't vetted in the Hebrew. This other treat box just says Tuchus. I'm thinking we should create some sort of governing body that "certifies" Jewish holiday products as being "kosher" because this is a new low. Anyway I want to wish you all a very happy Tuchus." The first box she shows is pale green decorated with images of apples, pomegranates, and branches and the words "happy sukkot" and תוכוס. The second treat box is pale orange with a similar motif and the word תוכוס. End ID]

[chrisengel]

“War is what happens when language fails.”

Margaret Atwood

[danielapelli]

war is what happens when language fails

[jxlecler]

Friend, telling me a story from when they were born: this was a one off occurence of me being freshly ripened

Me:

Friend:

Me:

Friend: I can't remember the word for a fetus that was release d

Friend:

Friend:

Friend:

Friend: NEWBORN

Friend: how and why am I in college

[sporadically-studies]

Story Time (Pt. 2)!

Gather round, friends, for an amusing story about my most embarrassing language fail yet!

So, for the past few weeks, my language exchange partner and I have been reading Aesop’s fables in Korean to help me with my studies. Usually this involves me dazzling my language exchange partner with a well paced and coherent opening sentence that quickly devolves as the story continues. For this particular day, we were reading Aesop’s fable about a very greedy dog who wanted a larger piece of meat to eat and ran across the following line:

“저 개의 고기가 내 고기보다 훨씬 크잖아.”

This line (loosely) translates to mean: “That dog’s meat is much larger than my meat.” (For context: the dog is looking at his reflection and thinks that his reflection is a real dog with a larger piece of meat in its mouth.)

However, when I got to this line and read it out loud, I said the following:

“저 게이의 고기가 내 고기보다 훨씬 크잖아.”

Which loosely means “That gay person’s meat is much larger than my meat.”

Needless to say, once my (infinitely patient) language exchange partner gently pointed out my mistake, I was super embarrassed and apologized profusely for creating a sentence that sounds a bit suggestive in English. That’s when my language exchange partner helpfully informed me that in fact, I was just half a mispronunciation away from saying the following:

“저 게이의 거기가 내 거기보다 훨씬 크잖아.” (where “거기” can be slang for a very particular part of the male anatomy, if you will.) 

So yes; I very nearly said “That gay person’s ~meat~ is much larger than my ~meat~.” (Cue me simultaneously wanting to melt into a puddle out of embarrassment but also finding this whole situation incredibly funny.)

So remember, friends: always check your pronunciation! It’s important!! But more importantly, remember that it’s okay to make mistakes!! If I can utter these words out loud to a native speaker and not get immediately banned from speaking the Korean language, then I promise, you can make mistakes, too! So in the words of Ms. Frizzle:

Study well, y’all!!

[itsoundslikedrummmmmaang]

Today I learned that the french say I have shit in my eyes (j'ai de la merde dans mes yeux) to mean being blinded by love.

And now I'm questioning why I spent four years trying to learn the language

[venuscomb]

Dehydration is real.

I just looked over at my sister a little bit ago, gazed at her for a long moment, and finally just said, “La.” At her inquiring look, I had to admit that it was the only part of her name that I could remember in that moment.

[amberandmetal]

So in swedish "smutt" is slang for "great" or "awesome". Like

- Hey I got us pizza for dinner!

- Ah, smutt!

And it always, always feels plain wrong.