Watch What You Try to Say in A Foreign Language
This is a true story....
Back in the day, I was a 20 something on my first business trip. It was to Puerto Rico. At that point in my life, I had the command of about 20 words in Spanish. My rule of thumb was, if you didn't know the Spanish word, use English and put an O on the end.
Anyway, my trip extended over the weekend. On Saturday, I thought why not go to the beach. Only I didn't know where it was. So, I went down to the receptionist in the hotel and asked her in my "Spanglish" Dande Est El (where is the) Beach-O (my version of Spanish for beach. Well, this lady quickly reddened in the face and ran into the office. Out came the manager. He proceeded to blast me a new asshole in Spanish. I had to call time out and explained I did not speak Spanish. He then said, "you need to be very careful what you say in Spanish". I had to wait until Monday morning when I went into my office. I pulled one of the guys over and asked him what that phrase meant. He nearly fell on the floor and explained that beach-o is Puerto Rican slang for penis.
Be careful what you say in a foreign language.
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