Cultural Faux Pas

[Dont Panic]

Has anyone out there made a cultural faux pas and seconds later gone.....doh!!?

On my first trip to Surin to meet my future mother in law I put my foot right in it. Whilst showing her photos of a recent trip back to Blighty we came across a shot of my Dad flying a kite. I had been told by a friend months earlier that 'flying the kite' in Thai is 'chug wow' so I quickly blurted out in my pigeon Thai....."mare duu pour chug wow!" My wife glanced at me and in a split second I realized exactly what my Thai friend had really taught me.......if you want to say your having a wank just say "chug wow"........Doh!

Luckily my mother in law has a sense of humor and corrected me saying "pour len wow!"

I realize this is more of a language cock up but has anyone else got themselves into a similar pickle??

[the swagman]

C'mon muckypups you must have made some dozzies in your time.

[bazmlb]

Funniest thing i've read all day, no all week!

[John_Betong]

Has anyone out there made a cultural faux pas and seconds later gone.....doh!!?

On my first trip to Surin to meet my future mother in law I put my foot right in it.

Same here when I was in Iran, what I tried to say was 'Today I gave/donated blood'.

I proudly told my mother-in-law in my limited Farsi "Man emruz gehran khoon" instead of "Man emruz gehran khorn".

My wife explained between fits of laughter that I had just stated that today I had given my arse and not blood!

Cheers,

John_Betong

[Tingnongnoi]

in both scenarios you would have felt a prick and then felt sore after

Edited August 10, 2006 by Tingnongnoi