Some time ago, I was speaking with a (Spain) Spanish girl, or rather, as it was my attempt to do it in Spanish, I only got about two sentences in. The conversation went as follows: She told me where she was from, and whereas I wanted to say “oh yeah, I’ve heard of that”, I said something to the effect of “oh yeah, I hated that”…not sure what exactly. So, “to hear” is “oir” and “hate” is “odiar”…ok, subtle difference, but consequential. She knew I messed up and wasn’t insulted, but gave me more of a snotty-European-do-you-know-what-you-just-said-you’re-obviously-wrong.
A better story a priest once told me. The verb “to look for” and the verb “f_ck” are similar in polish and some other language. This has comic implications. For example, there was a nun going around saying “I’m looking for a priest”. Well, she wasn’t quite saying that. Even His Holiness wasn’t above it…once, giving an address, John Paul II meant to say “Look for the truth!” Apparently all the Dominican brothers this priest was with that were in the know just kind of put there head in their hands when that came out.
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