I was talking with a group of non-native Spanish speakers and we were sharing stories of embarrassing language mistakes.

One fellow was with a friend while doing construction work on their church building. He meant to say that they needed some tree branches (ramas) to help them prop up something. What he said instead was “Necesitamos unas rameras para ayudarnos” (We need some prostitutes to help us).

Another was a story shared about a friend of mine who was not there to defend himself, but I am sure the story is pretty accurate based on other things he has said.

The water pump (bomba) did not work at the house he was renting. He went to the land lady’s house to tell her the bomba did not work. But he could not remember the word. He knew it sounded like an English word so he told her “Su pompa no funcciona.” “Pompa” is the word for the sitting down part of the body. The land lady just smiled and patted herself on the rear end and said, “No se funcciona muy bien” (No, it works just fine).

Categories: Mexico
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