Job Discussion Forums

[Lynn]

Okay, it's about time we had a good laugh in here like we did back in the day. I know you guys are just full of stories. I guess I'll start it off:

When I was an exchange student in Japan I took my bike to the repair shop because I had a flat tire. I said in perfect Japanese, "Excuse me, Sir. Something is wrong with my bike" (and beemed proudly that I actually got to use that expression I had learned in class)

He took a look and said (in Japanese)....Ah... a punk?

I was shocked and appalled. I replied (in Japanese) "I am not a punk! I am an exchange student!"

He just kinda shrugged it off."yeah...so...a punk, right?"

Again, I explained myself. He just looked at me like I was nuts, so I started explaining my whole story. "I am the international exchange student from XXX University representing XYZ University. I am a good girl. I am in no way shape or form a punk!"

He eventually gave in, although never apologized and agreed to fix my bike. As I was walking out the door, it suddenly remembered ...

Ah..."Punk" is the Japanese word for "puncture"

I felt so stupid

[Sweetsee]

What do Japanese call peanutbutter?

Roughly sounds like: peanus cream.

Okay, that was weak.

[Sheep-Goats]

Although I knew better, without thinking I stepped on a coin that was rolling across the floor during a class here in Thailand. Which means I stomped on the king's face. With the whole Buddhist "the foot is the lowest part of the body and unclean" thing added to it. This would be something like taking a crap on an American flag in a classroom in the US -- except Thailand lacks most of that sense of rebelliousness agianst authority that is somewhat encouraged in America.

Have you ever heard 35 adults suck air in through their teeth simultaneously? I have.

[IanN]

When I was learning Spanish I once, in a cafe, asked for a 'bocadillo con polla'.

For those that don't speak Spanish a bocadillo is a sandwich, pollo (which I meant to say) is chicken and polla is a part of a man's anatomy.

I got a very strange look.

[valley_girl]

One day in Taiwan, while I was still wet behind the ears and didn't yet have the tones of Mandarin down, rather than greet my coworker with "how are you?", I inadvertently told her she was a good horse. (Ni hao ma)

[Lynn]

These happened to a friend:

After a night of drinking she got lost in Japan but knew she lived next to the hospital. She went into a convience store and said, "I am lost. I know I live next to the hospital. So, where is the hospital." She knew the Japanese word for hospital, so she kept repeating it "boin! Boin! Where is the Boin".

They blushed and giggled nervously. She later found out she was not saying hospital. She was saying "big boobs! Big boobs! Where are the big boobs?"

[Ben Round de Bloc]

A friend of mine tells of one of her most embarrassing moments when on a high school student exchange program in Mexico. She frequently used -- or intended to use -- the expression �Qu� pena! (What a shame! What a pity! What an annoyance!) At first, her host family didn't want to offend her by correcting her Spanish, but finally after a week or so, they pointed out to her that the expression was �Qu� pena! rather than �Qu� pene!, which she had been saying. (Pene = p e n i s.)

[Guy Courchesne]

[blue jay]

When I was staying with my cousin's family in a small town in Mexico, I learnt how to say "I am hungry" in spanish..or so I thought..I kept saying to them "Tengo hombre" over and over again..while they laughed and laughed! Apparantly "Tengo hombre" means I have many boyfriends while "Tengo hambre" means I am hungry.

[Deconstructor]

You're gonna love this!

When in Korea I regularly engaged in debauchery more than teaching. So much so that even Marquis de Sade would've been proud. As a result, I got the crabs. I went to a local doctor and explained my predicament. He asked me to step into his office and drop my pants. It was, without an ounce of exaggeration, a large broom closet. He took a look and said, "only a rash". I informed him of my native English debouchery methodology. "Ahhh, good teacher" he replied. "Thank you", I said, "I aim to please". He promptly gave me some cream.

Two days later I saw the doctor drive by the language school where I worked. There were many students in front as well as the DOS and other teachers. The good Dr. rolled down the window and bellowed from about 50 yards away, "How is your crabs? Are you using your cream? Remember don't put it on your p*nis, only around it.�

"Humm", I thought to myself, "this is a pickle, an onion in the ointment". So I decided to make things even worse. I let out a nervous laugh and explained that we had been to a theatre together where pennies were given out to those who clapped the hardest. (Guys, common, I was a drowning man.)

Do you know what it�s like being under the squinting gaze of couple of dozen people with whom you work every day?

Then one of my students approached me, "What's a crap?"
My response: "It's what I'm in right this very minute up to my eyeballs".

[some waygug-in]

[Sweetsee]

Moral majority speaking?

[marblez]

Gross, but interesting.

[some waygug-in]

[Sweetsee]

Never heard of the spectrum. Would that be North Korea?