# Examples of false friends in different languages, including Brit/US English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162 "2013-03-17T11:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [March 17, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/1 "2013-03-17T11:22:41Z")
This a spin-off from a current thread on the etymology of “bottling it.” It turns out that the phrase means two completely different things in the USA and in Britain. The old “separated by a common language” thing (an aperçu I think of Churchill). “Nervy” was also mentioned: in Britain, it means fearful, nervous; in USA, unexpectedly bold.\* That is, it is a semantic false friend like the more well-known ones boot/boot, lift/lift, etc. But, the US meaning is also expressed in the phrase “he is a bundle of nerves.” Like “bottling it” (Brit backing out or making a mess of it/US declaring something so special someone should sell it-- don’t know if that compounds the discrepancy in meaning of the false friend “nerve.” But, like “bottling it,” if it is linguistically ambiguous (aguess at this point) it is a _phrasal_ false friend. So, any more British-American _faux ami_ out there? Also, how about Castillian Spanish-Latin-South American Spanish, North-German-South German?, etc. Actually, also English from the US South-US North, Brit Wherever1-Brit Wherever2? \*I should add that the Yiddish word “chutzpah”–gutturral sound in the front–is also used in the US, if not in Britain, where there are fewer Jews for the word to enter the flow of language. To be precise, however, it has the additional meaning of being fallaciously, outrageously, or offensively nervy: the classic definition being the murderer of his parents asking the court for mercy because he is an orphan. Note: Had I more patience this post would have been shorter. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/2 "2013-03-17T11:54:21Z")
There are plenty, plenty of words that vary in meaning between the various regions of Spain and Latin America. Sometimes, the people from one region know enough that some words mean something else in another region (but they still use the word in their region in the meaning they know). But sometimes, the people from one region have no clue what the other meaning is in another region. Miscommunication (and hilarity) ensues. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/3 "2013-03-17T12:01:20Z")
I think “chutzpah” is reasonably widely understood in Britain, although I suspect it came to us from America rather than (or more than) directly from our own Jews. We do have Jewish people here, though. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/4 "2013-03-17T12:04:55Z")
“I was so pissed” comes to mind, if I’m understanding your conditions correctly. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/5 "2013-03-17T12:06:03Z")
There is one in Quebec that means “kid” while in France it means “sperm” or semen. Or perhaps it was the other way around. I wish I could remember the word, but I guess hilarity ensues when it gets misused. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/6 "2013-03-17T12:09:57Z")
Another US/UK one: “To table” (something like a motion or proposal) (UK): to put forward formally for (more or less) immediate debate or consideration “To table” (something like a motion or proposal) (USA): to put aside, to delay consideration of ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/7 "2013-03-17T12:12:33Z")
In Jerusalem, the word “_metzitza_” means a hard candy. In the rest of Israel it means a blowjob. This occasionally leads to confusion. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/8 "2013-03-17T12:15:03Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > “I was so pissed” comes to mind, if I’m understanding your conditions correctly. Yes, angry in the USA, drunk in the UK (although “pissed off” means angry, annoyed, resentful in the UK). Oh and: “Fag” (USA): slang/slur term for a male homosexual “Fag” (UK): cigarette ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/9 "2013-03-17T12:18:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > In Jerusalem, the word “_metzitza_” means a hard candy. In the rest of Israel it means a blowjob. > > This occasionally leads to confusion. I can see how it would! How did this happen in such a new, small country, with a new minted language? At least, both these usages must surely be fairly new. (I can’t imagine Biblical or liturgical Hebrew had a word for either.) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/10 "2013-03-17T12:20:34Z")
The Caribbean Spanish vulgar word for penis is the same for the South Ameican Spanish word for “insect/insignificant animal”. We islanders know this, but we still giggle like kids when we hear it said by our southern neighbors. My Chilean coworker kept saying that word (which made sense in our job), and every time I internally giggled. Until one day I asked why he wasn’t doing what he had told me he’d do, and then he said “Because I cannot get a hold of the penis!”. Ok, he meant animal, but for me it was the other one. So I explained it to him. He later admitted he listened to songs using that word “And now it makes so much more sense!”. Yea, they were not talking about animals. An inocuous one: The common word for bus in my region is _guagua_… In South America, that means baby. So when we said “taking the bus”, they understood “taking the baby”, which made no sense. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/11 "2013-03-17T12:22:01Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Yes, angry in the USA, drunk in the UK (although “pissed off” means angry, annoyed, resentful in the UK). > > Oh and: > “Fag” (USA): slang/slur term for a male homosexual > “Fag” (UK): cigarette Here in Canada we use both variations of pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/12 "2013-03-17T12:43:33Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I can see how it would! > > How did this happen in such a new, small country, with a new minted language? At least, both these usages must surely be fairly new. (I can’t imagine Biblical or liturgical Hebrew had a word for either.) I don’t know - for some reason, during the 1st half of the 20th Century Hebrew developed slightly different in Jerusalem than in the rest of the country. Not really in terms of vocabulary or grammar, but in the sense that there is (or was, as the country is a lot more homogeneous than it used to be) a distinct “Jerusalem slang”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/13 "2013-03-17T13:20:16Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > An inocuous one: The common word for bus in my region is _guagua_… In South America, that means baby. So when we said “taking the bus”, they understood “taking the baby”, which made no sense. In many countries, “coche” means “car”. In at least part of Guatemala, it means “pig.” So people laughed when I said I was going to ride to town on a pig. In Nicaragua, “mono” can mean “cute,” but in most places it just means “monkey.” A friend who had learned Spanish in Nicaragua but was visiting Mexico was horrified when she found out she had been telling local mothers that their children were monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/14 "2013-03-17T14:00:42Z")
Yea, in Puerto Rico it can have both meanings, although the ones I’ve seen using the cute term are more… nice little old ladies. There’s an awesome YouTube video about the regionalisms in Spanish. I love it, although it focuses more in Mexico/Spain/South America, and gives less to the Caribbean/Central American Spanish (IMHO). ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/15 "2013-03-17T14:28:24Z")
Pants mean underwear in Britain, trousers in the US. Fanny means vagina in Britain, butt in the US. Both have the capacity for hilarity, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/16 "2013-03-17T14:56:09Z")
Large difference between Spanish as spoken in Spain and that of Latin America in the verb “coger”. Several years ago before embarking on a South American trip from Spain, my friends warned me about it. In Spain it is frequently used and has several meanings mostly based upon to take or to grab something… In Latin America it means to f\*\*k. ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/17 "2013-03-17T15:11:29Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > The Caribbean Spanish vulgar word for penis is the same for the South American Spanish word for “insect/insignificant animal”. […] It would be nice if you said what word you are talking about, you know?, I’m assuming it’s “bicho” but I’m still curious. Another one is “pena”, in some places it means “sad”, while in other places it means “embarrassment”, which lead to confusion for my aunt when she moved to Costa Rica. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/18 "2013-03-17T15:35:46Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Pants mean underwear in Britain, trousers in the US. > > Fanny means vagina in Britain, butt in the US. > > Both have the capacity for hilarity, IMO. In a wonderful book titled _The Art of Coarse Acting_, Michael Green describes an incident involving a script that includes the following exchange: > [@](#): > > “Has the doctor seen her, Fanny?” > “Yes, and he says there’s little hope.” Green says that the actress speaking the first line invariably omitted the comma, which caused much hilarity to ensue. It’s funny enough in the US context, but I can now see where it would be exponentially more outrageous in the British context. Apologies for the digression. Carry on . . . ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/19 "2013-03-17T15:49:19Z")
Pan: in English it’s cookware, in Spanish it’s bread ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/20 "2013-03-17T16:12:38Z")
Are you looking for false friends in different dialects of the same language, or completely different languages? A friend of mine has a hilarious story about trying to explain to her German host mother how she liked her oatmeal. Turns out “mushy” (it may be spelled a little differently in German) is a common slang term for a woman’s genitals, basically equivalent to “pussy”. It probably did not help that my friend attempted to clarify her meaning by making slurping sounds and saying (in German) “You know, soft…wet…” While living in Japan I learned that Japanese for “carpenter” is “daiku”, which is pronounced basically the same as the English “dyke”. I had an American coworker who found it very amusing to say that Jesus was a daiku. Not only a daiku, but a bimbo (“poor”) daiku! Not particularly funny, but in Japanese “tako” means octopus…which led to some confusion when trying to explain about Mexican food. Although since there are fish tacos maybe some people would like an octopus taco, or “tako taco”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162.md?page=2)