So the other day I was visiting with some Brazilian friends (in Portuguese!). We were chatting about a number of things. One of which was what I am hoping Joel will be able to do this summer. So being the chatty person that I am, I start to tell them that I would like Joel to put a sidewalk under our clothes-line/around the house.
However, what I really tell them is that I want him to put ‘panties’ under the clothes-line/around the house.
Now you tell me…don’t you think “calcinha” and “calcada” are close? The first is “panties,” the second is “sidewalk.” And then if those are not close enough, there is also “calcas,” which means “pants.”
Needless to say, we all had a good laugh at my blunder. 🙂 And then I told them that what I said was sort-of true…we already have lots of bloomers around the house….I just don’t like it when they fall in the dirt! 🙂
Language learning is a NEVER-ENDING process. Thankfully we can often find the humor in our mistakes.