Wednesday 11 July 2012

Funny international things


Being in Paris at the moment, I am seeing a lot of rather interesting things involving words meaning different things in different languages, and this has reminded me of other interesting things that I have seen in different countries.  Firstly, I don’t know what ‘tampon’ actually means in French but there’s a lot of them about in French Children’s literature.  In one book, they are going on Safari:




This made me want to write a book about tampons on safari.  This would obviously be the cover: 


The other is stranger:




Which translates as; "Learning to count...with my tampons!"





ANYWAY...  Foofy found a lovely restaurant called “Speed Rabbit Pizza:” 




I find this funny because, though I want my pizza to arrive quickly, I have never once in my mind associated rabbits with pizza, whether the rabbits are enjoying the pizza:



Or simply on the pizza itself.



I like the first one better.  However, though I have provided the bunnies with some carrots and leeks on their pizza, it's a sobering fact that, owing to the large fat content, if the bunnies ate this pizza, they would probably die.  Anyway, I enjoy greatly the use of the rabbit’s bottom in the logo of this restaurant.  Their marketing technique has definitely worked on me as Foofy and I will certainly be visiting this fine establishment.

This picture is of a sachet of sauce that I had on a plane from Rio de Janeiro to Madrid:



I find this rather off-putting.  I wouldn’t necessarily have no confidence in a chef who also happened to be a bear, but the look on his face is one of concern, and that is not something that I want associated with any food product I am thinking about consuming.  I do like his hat though.

However, possibly the greatest foreign discovery I have made (though I only discovered it via the internet) is this:


I actually own this duck (I call her “Amusing Duckie”) and I can confirm that lay egg IS true. 

What I want to know is, are there any English things that are funny to people who speak different languages? There simply must be!

9 comments:

  1. Hahaha! May I also draw your attention to Zoe's laudable creativity with her tampons on this site. If you buy her 'tampons decoratifs,' you know you are getting a 100% recycled and biodegradable product.

    http://www.les-tampons-de-zoe.com/18-tampons-et-coffrets

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  2. Thank you, Foofy Woofy, I have made a note of this.

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  3. I once stumbled upon a particularly 'tasty' restaurant in France called 'Les Deux Faggots' however I wouldn't recommend it as they use far too much salt...

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    1. I bet they do! Luckily for me I am rather partial to my salty treats.

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  4. A famous English-to-Swedish example is "buys a pink sheet" which to a Swede sounds like "bajsa pink skit" which means "to poo pee shit" which makes it funny to many Swedes, the younger the funnier.

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    1. poo, pee and shit are all very funny things individually, but...together?!? Now you're talking!

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  5. Probably the funniest English thing that I find funny is you. Keep the laughs coming!

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    1. Thank you, Foofy Woofy Woofy Wooo! (1399- that's when Richard II died. I know my kings.)

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  6. Can't think of English things that are funny to other nations off the top of my head (although I'm sure I know some). But if you want to learn a language sure to amuse the native English speaker you could do a lot worse than Dutch... a couple of personal favourites: U kunt means you can, also the word hoor is used to emphasise things eg sorry hoor (sounding like sorry whore) means really sorry...

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