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| JFK was a Berliner – what's your worst linguistic faux pas? | JFK was a Berliner – what's your worst linguistic faux pas? |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| It was a moment of history with an amusing linguistic footnote: 50 years ago, JFK stood in the heart of divided Berlin and said "Ich bin ein Berliner" – which, strictly speaking, can mean two things: "I am a Berliner" or "I am a jam doughnut". | It was a moment of history with an amusing linguistic footnote: 50 years ago, JFK stood in the heart of divided Berlin and said "Ich bin ein Berliner" – which, strictly speaking, can mean two things: "I am a Berliner" or "I am a jam doughnut". |
| We've all done it: a little bit of linguistic adventure, and embarrassment all round. Who hasn't said Je suis pleine (I am pregnant) after a meal in France, or Ich bin heiss (I'm feeling frisky) on a hot day in Germany? | We've all done it: a little bit of linguistic adventure, and embarrassment all round. Who hasn't said Je suis pleine (I am pregnant) after a meal in France, or Ich bin heiss (I'm feeling frisky) on a hot day in Germany? |
| Even those of us who rely on languages for our work get into trouble. A correspondent, who shall remain anonymous, told me that she had embarrassed herself in a gelateria by ordering a trumpet ("cornet") instead of a cone. | Even those of us who rely on languages for our work get into trouble. A correspondent, who shall remain anonymous, told me that she had embarrassed herself in a gelateria by ordering a trumpet ("cornet") instead of a cone. |
| I once caused consternation when opening a French bank account for mixing up my cons and my comptes (it was the former who helped me open the latter). | I once caused consternation when opening a French bank account for mixing up my cons and my comptes (it was the former who helped me open the latter). |
| So, in this confessional spirit, we would like to throw this open to Guardian readers: what is the most toe-curling linguistic mistake you've ever made? Did it cause an international incident? Or, as in JFK's case, involve mid-morning pastries? The full story, please. A copy of Monty Python's Hungarian phrase book to the best submissions. | So, in this confessional spirit, we would like to throw this open to Guardian readers: what is the most toe-curling linguistic mistake you've ever made? Did it cause an international incident? Or, as in JFK's case, involve mid-morning pastries? The full story, please. A copy of Monty Python's Hungarian phrase book to the best submissions. |
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