# English words foreigners often get confused **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990 "2013-09-16T18:00:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/101 "2013-09-24T01:51:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Quoth leahcim: > > > > I’ve known a few people who spoke English as a second language very well except for the difference between CONsole (as in computer terminal) and conSOLE (as in, make you feel better). > > There are a number of English words that follow this pattern, noun with stress on the first syllable and verb with stress on the second. The only one that’s coming to mind, though, is “record”… Years ago I saw this cartoon: Sign over the outside of a school door: “Girl’s entrance.” Graffito: “They certainly do.” ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/102 "2013-09-24T03:48:00Z")
I would say English dialect is very hard even for people who first language is English. In the southern US states pop is called coke other southern states soda . In southern US states shopping card is called buggy. In the UK sidewalk is called pavement and apartment is called a flat .In the UK and Canada refrigerator is called fringe.In the UK couch is sofa or chesterfield . The fire department in US is called the fire brigade. A elevator in US is called lift in the UK , and subway in the US is called tube in the UK. Yes it is English but the dialect is different. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/103 "2013-09-24T08:30:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m laughing my ass off here. I just love the “They’re often a nuisance” line. > > I also remember a bit of confusion on my part in reverse, when I only knew a very few words of German, and not realizing “Dickkopf” meant "stubborn/obstinate (literally, “thick head”) instead of “dickhead.” My world made a lot more sense to me once I figured that out. Another English / German mess-up which I like, involves the German verb “bekommen” – receive – which sounds like the English “become”. And – department telling-the-time – English “one o’ clock”, “two o’clock”, etc., is in German “Ein Uhr”, “Zwei Uhr”, etc. So; scene in restaurant in England – irate words to waiter, from German customer whose lunch is taking a very long time to arrive: “I have been here since one hour. When do I become a pork chop?” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/104 "2013-09-24T08:34:30Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Another English / German mess-up which I like, involves the German verb “bekommen” – receive – which sounds like the English “become”. And – department telling-the-time – English “one o’ clock”, “two o’clock”, etc., is in German “Ein Uhr”, “Zwei Uhr”, etc. > > So; scene in restaurant in England – irate words to waiter, from German customer whose lunch is taking a very long time to arrive: “I have been here since one hour. When do I become a pork chop?” From _Casablanca_: **Mr. Leuchtag:** Come sit down. Have a brandy with us. **Mrs. Leuchtag:** To celebrate our leaving for America tomorrow. **Carl:** Oh, thank you very much. I thought you would ask me, so I brought the good brandy. And - a third glass! **Mrs. Leuchtag:** At last the day is came! **Mr. Leuchtag:** Mareichtag and I are speaking nothing but English now. **Mrs. Leuchtag:** So we should feel at home when we get to America. **Carl:** Very nice idea, mm-hmm. **Mr. Leuchtag:** [toasting] To America! **Mrs. Leuchtag:** To America! **Carl:** To America! **Mr. Leuchtag:** Liebchen - sweetness, what watch? **Mrs. Leuchtag:** Ten watch. **Mr. Leuchtag:** Such much? **Carl:** Hm. You will get along beautiful in America, mm-hmm. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/105 "2013-09-25T06:07:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > From _Casablanca_: > > **Mr. Leuchtag:** Come sit down. Have a brandy with us. > **Mrs. Leuchtag:** To celebrate our leaving for America tomorrow. > **Carl:** Oh, thank you very much. I thought you would ask me, so I brought the good brandy. And - a third glass! > **Mrs. Leuchtag:** At last the day is came! > **Mr. Leuchtag:** Mareichtag and I are speaking nothing but English now. > **Mrs. Leuchtag:** So we should feel at home when we get to America. > **Carl:** Very nice idea, mm-hmm. > **Mr. Leuchtag:** [toasting] To America! > **Mrs. Leuchtag:** To America! > **Carl:** To America! > **Mr. Leuchtag:** Liebchen - sweetness, what watch? > **Mrs. Leuchtag:** Ten watch. > **Mr. Leuchtag:** Such much? > **Carl:** Hm. You will get along beautiful in America, mm-hmm. I have, for complicated personal reasons, an extreme “thing” about Humphrey Bogart, and _Casablanca_ – which film I have sworn never to watch. Reading the above; for the first time ever, I slightly regret that vow ! ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/106 "2013-09-25T06:26:59Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > In the UK and Canada refrigerator is called fringe. No, it’s not. It’s a fridge, just like it is in the US. The only usage of fringe in the UK that isn’t the same as in the US, is using it for what the US (and Canada) call ‘bangs’. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/107 "2013-09-25T08:33:30Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I have, for complicated personal reasons, an extreme “thing” about Humphrey Bogart, and _Casablanca_ – which film I have sworn never to watch. Reading the above; for the first time ever, I slightly regret that vow ! Why on earth would anyone vow never to watch the greatest film ever made? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/108 "2013-09-25T09:18:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Why on earth would anyone vow never to watch the greatest film ever made? 😕 Briefly – an awful smug “put-down-your-neighbour”, ostentatious film-buff prat of an ex-“friend” of mine, who spent several years “high-hatting” me about what a cool cat he was about his film-buffery, and what a clueless spastic I was, not to be into films the way he was. And he was \*\*\*\*ing obsessed with \*\*\*\*ing Bogart in \*\*\*\*ing _Casablanca_, and endlessly did impressions of the \*\*\*\*er therein. I’m probably losing out here – like the many folk for whom Shakespeare has been forever ruined, by their having had to “do” him in school, under the aegis of uninspired teachers – but in the circumstances, I’m happy to miss out on the – in some people’s view – greatest film ever made. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/109 "2013-09-25T09:28:42Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I can’t tell if this is intentional or one of the best typos ever. Referring to the French President’s wife faux pas above: 'Appiness ensued ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/110 "2013-09-25T09:37:22Z")
English English vs American English. What Americans pronounce from the letters missile in England is only a catechism manual if one has never heard American English (which is impossible). My favorite US/England anecdote is when the pilot announces that the plane will be taking off momentarily. Momentarily in US English means ‘soon’, in English English it means sporadically- mental picture of plane bouncing along the ground towards its destination. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/111 "2013-09-25T14:37:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are a number of English words that follow this pattern, noun with stress on the first syllable and verb with stress on the second. The only one that’s coming to mind, though, is “record”. My personal favorite, as seen on trash receptacles in the UK: “Refuse to be put in bin.” Well, I _won’t_. I just won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/112 "2013-09-25T21:57:51Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Briefly – an awful smug “put-down-your-neighbour”, ostentatious film-buff prat of an ex-“friend” of mine, who spent several years “high-hatting” me about what a cool cat he was about his film-buffery, and what a clueless spastic I was, not to be into films the way he was. And he was \*\*\*\*ing obsessed with \*\*\*\*ing Bogart in \*\*\*\*ing _Casablanca_, and endlessly did impressions of the \*\*\*\*er therein. I’m probably losing out here – like the many folk for whom Shakespeare has been forever ruined, by their having had to “do” him in school, under the aegis of uninspired teachers – but in the circumstances, I’m happy to miss out on the – in some people’s view – greatest film ever made. You sure showed him. Boy, is his face red! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/113 "2013-09-26T03:18:55Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Briefly – an awful smug “put-down-your-neighbour”, ostentatious film-buff prat of an ex-“friend” of mine, who spent several years “high-hatting” me about what a cool cat he was about his film-buffery, and what a clueless spastic I was, not to be into films the way he was. And he was \*\*\*\*ing obsessed with \*\*\*\*ing Bogart in \*\*\*\*ing _Casablanca_, and endlessly did impressions of the \*\*\*\*er therein. I’m probably losing out here – like the many folk for whom Shakespeare has been forever ruined, by their having had to “do” him in school, under the aegis of uninspired teachers – but in the circumstances, I’m happy to miss out on the – in some people’s view – greatest film ever made. Still, I urge you to get over it and do yourself a favor by watching it. I believe you will find it more entertaining than you found your ex-friend. (He would never have to know.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/114 "2013-09-26T05:56:27Z")
Not related to pronunciation, but two things I often find butchered in translation are geographical references (specially if the name used is something you won’t find in a standard map book, such as 'Bama) and military ranks: a Gunny is not the same as an Artillery Sergeant but the same as a _Brigada_, an Ensign isn’t a flag (_enseña_) but an _alférez_. The specific correct translations would vary depending on which army is being used as a reference, but the butchering applies everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/115 "2013-09-26T12:33:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Why on earth would anyone vow never to watch the greatest film ever made? 😕 4th. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/116 "2013-09-26T15:06:54Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > What Americans pronounce from the letters missile in England is only a catechism manual if one has never heard American English (which is impossible). I read this seven times, trying to figure out what a “letters missile” is, until I realized that it meant “the letters M-I-S-S-I-L-E.” But I still can’t quite parse the rest of the sentence. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/117 "2013-09-26T15:11:44Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Still, I urge you to get over it and do yourself a favor by watching it. I believe you will find it more entertaining than you found your ex-friend. (He would never have to know.) Maybe you’re right ; I last saw the guy some twenty years ago. Silly, perhaps, to hold this kind of a grudge for decades. I might possibly put watching _Casablanca_ on my bucket list – in more than one sense – I’d make sure of having a literal bucket to hand, in case the experiment went badly and I got an acute urge to throw up. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/118 "2013-09-26T15:19:50Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > What Americans pronounce from the letters missile in England is only a catechism manual if one has never heard American English (which is impossible). > [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I read this seven times, trying to figure out what a “letters missile” is, until I realized that it meant “the letters M-I-S-S-I-L-E.” But I still can’t quite parse the rest of the sentence. I’m not Pjen; but I think what’s under discussion is “missile” – something thrown or shot; versus “missal” – the standard Catholic prayer-book. Just to confuse things completely: I seem to remember, from some fifty years ago, reading about a – seemingly rather lame – attempt by some Catholics in the UK, to “steal some of the enemy’s thunder” re the widespread media boom at the time, of irreverent satire; by starting their own satirical magazine, couched in trendy terms but championing all things conservative-Catholic. Said magazine was called “Roman Missile” (nudge, nudge…) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/119 "2013-09-28T03:53:17Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Another one would be “feudal” and “futile”, which sound the same to me in some American accents. I once played a computer game called _Serf City: Life is Feudal_. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990/120 "2013-09-28T07:52:29Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > I’m not Pjen; but I think what’s under discussion is “missile” – something thrown or shot; versus “missal” – the standard Catholic prayer-book. > > Just to confuse things completely: I seem to remember, from some fifty years ago, reading about a – seemingly rather lame – attempt by some Catholics in the UK, to “steal some of the enemy’s thunder” re the widespread media boom at the time, of irreverent satire; by starting their own satirical magazine, couched in trendy terms but championing all things conservative-Catholic. Said magazine was called “Roman Missile” (nudge, nudge…) Yes, I meant Missal. The anecdote is unlikely to be English however as we pronounce missile Mis-eyal, second syllable sounding like the letter I. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-foreigners-often-get-confused/668990.md?page=7)