# 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:** 2
**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, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/21 "2013-03-17T17:13:46Z")
> [@grama](#): > > 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. Correct. _Giggling_ **bardos** , the verb coger varies. In Mexico, yes, in Puerto Rico, no, and in other regions, no. Apparently in the region my Chilean coworker is from, it is not, which surprised me. For once, no verb confusion, and both are clean. Also, while the word _concha_ just means shell to me, I’m well aware it has another meaning in South America (pussy). This town had a Peruvian restaurant named “Las Conchitas Calientes” (I kid you not). I couldn’t not laugh whenever I saw it or heard it mentioned, and I could never go there. It eventually closed and changed names. Yay! ---
**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, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/22 "2013-03-17T17:14:47Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Are you looking for false friends in different dialects of the same language, or completely different languages?"… Thanks to all, and thanks here to **Lamia.** When I wrote “had I more patience this post would’ve been shorter” I meant I would’ve rewrtten it more concisely and clearly. I screwed up on the title, and I fumfa-ed in the post (there’s Yiddish for you, meaning spoke muffled, unclear, perhaps deliberately around the topic, something like humina-humina-humina a la Ralp Kramden). False friends are a fun topic, and every guide/text book goes into them as nouns. Here I was looking for A) false friends that have a both a verb and noun, like “you could bottle it,” which is different in Brit/US, but the verb “to bottle” is the same. I was looking for these “phrase” false friends from completely different languages as well as with intra-language (regional) variants. I call these “phrasal false friends.” Perhaps this is a dead-end query, as the number of examples is too low, or simply relies on a false friend single word, a verb. So, generally speaking, the hell with A). Except you are allowed for the following false friends: Dirty ones. Ones with pitfalls of embarrassment, to mix metaphors. Like, in fact, “embarazada,” which sounds like “to be shamed in public” in English, but “pregnant” in Spanish. B) In a roundabout way i got to regional false friends intra-language. I see now that I simply was surprised by “to bottle,” and it is nothing more than a “boot/lift/pants” thing. I think that the number of intra-lingual false friends in Spanish is much, much larger than English. And French must have lot. Pick your favorite country with an Imperialist past. Nonetheless, dirty ones or ones with pitfalls. This also includes languages _within_ “the same” language in a politically unique area. Usually this happens with large countries. In the US, I can think off the top of my head soda/pop/Coke, bubbler/fountain, and grinder/hoagy/hero/sub. (If these regionalism of US English are unfamiliar to anyone, I’ll sort them out in a post.) Any number of threads have been made on some of these. Even small countries apparently have regionalisms. I knew “metsitsa” was either a separation or blowjob in Hebrew, but was surprised that it was “hard candy” in Jerusalem.\* So: dirty ones. There it is. I hope this is clearer, but it’s probably not. \*As a response to **Alessan** and \*\*njtt] why a New/Old Language like Hebrew would have a separate strain in Jerusalem, I think that is because Hebrew speakers in Jerusalem never left Palestine, and maintained a language inevitably slightly different than the new, re-born ones in the later ones established by religious or secular Jews. A regionalism which is a “chronicalism.” Neat. \*\*Also, **Darth** , Brit “fanny” really means US “vagina?” I thought it only meant “butt.” ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/23 "2013-03-17T17:22:10Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > 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. The other way around, actually. The word is _gosse_, a familiar synonym for “kid” (child) in France and a slang word for “testicle” in Québec. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/24 "2013-03-17T17:23:16Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > \*\*Also, **Darth** , Brit “fanny” really means US “vagina?” I thought it only meant “butt.” UK and Ireland: fanny is a mildly vulgar word for vagina, not rear end. (A butt is also not a rear end over here, BTW. It’s the remains of a cigarette.) Leads to much juvenile hilarity when Americans come over here with fanny packs. The obvious Irish/US one is craic, pronounced crack. It means the fun, the action, as in ‘Where’s the craic?’ or ‘There was great craic at that party.’ This can also lead to confusion. And a friend of mine got caught out when he went over to the US from Ireland, got a Christmas job in retail, and the manager asked him to ‘trim the tree’. Over here we’d say ‘decorate the tree’ for putting on ornaments - ‘trim’ is like trimming someone’s hair - so this guy got out the shears and went at it, till the manager demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/25 "2013-03-17T17:35:15Z")
I’ve heard that “quite” means “a good amount” in US English but in British English can mean “somewhat, so-so”. Hence, if a Brit says you’re quite smart, beware! “Corn” can refer to any number of grains depending on where you are. ---
**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, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/26 "2013-03-17T17:36:56Z")
What’s more, in the US, “to get some trim” is to get some pussy, to get laid. ---
**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, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/27 "2013-03-17T17:39:14Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > I’ve heard that “quite” means “a good amount” in US English but in British English can mean “somewhat, so-so”. Hence, if a Brit says you’re quite smart, beware!. From my reading, I understand “quite” to be in England a (stuffy, upperclass?) way of simple assent. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/28 "2013-03-17T17:51:16Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > … > > Also, while the word _concha_ just means shell to me, I’m well aware it has another meaning in South America (pussy). This town had a Peruvian restaurant named “Las Conchitas Calientes” (I kid you not). I couldn’t not laugh whenever I saw it or heard it mentioned, and I could never go there. It eventually closed and changed names. Yay! Our Mexican co-workers (in the US) called my friend Connie “Concha” and “Conchita” for years. They told her it was the Spanish version of “Constance”. Not sure if it has an innocent meaning in Mexican Spanish, or it was just a veeerrrry long in-joke. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/29 "2013-03-17T17:53:33Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > What’s more, in the US, “to get some trim” is to get some pussy, to get laid. Now \*that \*could’ve left my friend terminally confused. ---
**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, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/30 "2013-03-17T18:07:54Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Our Mexican co-workers (in the US) called my friend Connie “Concha” and “Conchita” for years. They told her it was the Spanish version of “Constance”. Not sure if it has an innocent meaning in Mexican Spanish, or it was just a veeerrrry long in-joke. [hijack] I have to respond with a (not very nice) Jewish joke: Guy goes to Chinese restaurant where all the Chinese waiters have learned and speak in Yiddish. Guy goes to owner: “Hey, that’s pretty cool all your staff speak Yiddish.” “Don’t tell them, they think they’re speaking English.” [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bob\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_X)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/31 "2013-03-17T18:11:45Z")
> [@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.) In Biblical Hebrew it is the root “to suck” in a form like “sucker”, which in English similarly could mean a hard candy, or something else. ---
**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, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/32 "2013-03-17T18:13:26Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Our Mexican co-workers (in the US) called my friend Connie “Concha” and “Conchita” for years. They told her it was the Spanish version of “Constance”. Not sure if it has an innocent meaning in Mexican Spanish, or it was just a veeerrrry long in-joke. Innocent! Concha is also the nickname for Concepción (Conception), not sure if it is the nickname for Constancia (Constance). The double meaning in the name is a South American thing (mostly the Andes region). Mexico is its own different Spanish dialect, and I’m sure there are differences even between the various Mexican states. What just bothers me a bit is that my coworkers know when I’m cursing because they know my type of cursing. When the Chilean curses, they do not know because of the words he uses. But I can tell. So when they say he doesn’t curse, I point out that he does, quite a lot, just that the others haven’t caught on to his words like they have to mine. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/33 "2013-03-17T20:36:48Z")
> [@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. It’s bus in the Canary Islands too, but not in the rest of Spain. Concha is the usual shortening of Concepción in Spain, but yeah, I know a Peruvian(?) caretaker who asked whether it would be ok to address her charge as “Doña Concepción” because of the double meaning. _Embarazada_ doesn’t sound like pregnant, it means pregnant. I’ve told before the story of being in a business meeting involving half a dozen Spanish-speaking nationalities, and having serious problems finding a word meaning “take, pull, grab” which didn’t give anybody the giggles. We eventually settled on _jalar_, but as one of the Argentinians said “there just has to be a place where _jalar_ is dirty, we’re just lucky not to have one of them.” (?): the patient’s family calls her Peruvian, but this nationality has become so associated with caretakers that she might be from a neighboring country. In any case, she wasn’t comfortable saying Concha all the time. ---
**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, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/34 "2013-03-17T21:33:53Z")
**Nava** , thanks for telling me that! 🙂 So now we have another Spaniard group we can blame for our quirks. 😉 I’m just glad the coworker and I can agree on one word that is not dirty. It seems every other week we’re coming up with phrases and words that give each other the giggles. The whole first week he was here, I thought I was offering him a ride/lift, he thought I was offering him a spanking. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/35 "2013-03-17T21:34:53Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > From my reading, I understand “quite” to be in England a (stuffy, upperclass?) way of simple assent. Quite. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/36 "2013-03-17T21:47:47Z")
One classic false friend between the US and UK is the word “jumper” as an article of clothing. In the UK, a jumper is what is called a sweater in the US. In the US it refers to a type of dress, specifically one that is sleeveless and intended to be worn over a shirt or blouse. Denim jumpers are stereotypically associated with conservative, fundamentalist Christian women (i.e. the “denim jumper crowd”). A US jumper is apparently called a “pinafore” in the UK, which is something different (an apron) in the US! ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/37 "2013-03-17T22:01:06Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > 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. That you can’t even depend on for words, evidently! Our Jews are better than your Jews. ---
**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, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/38 "2013-03-17T22:06:56Z")
Never knew that sub-meaning of “jumper.” In the US, I would wager that only clothing design or costume people have ever heard of the word “pinafore” at all. Those who do know it only from \*The Pirates of Pinafore, \*, which only as an adult did I realize that that was why the title was funny. When my parents took me as a kid I just assumed it was the name of their ship, or something. Also, **Malacandra** , would you go so far that anyone (middle-class normal types) saying “quite” in, say, a modern business office, would get pegged as a standout? And do hoity toity and royals and wannabe’s use it normally and frequently in conversation? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/39 "2013-03-17T22:12:03Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Never knew that sub-meaning of “jumper.” In the US, I would wager that only clothing design or costume people have ever heard of the word “pinafore” at all. Those who do know it only from \*The Pirates of Pinafore, \*, which only as an adult did I realize that that was why the title was funny. > > When my parents took me as a kid I just assumed it was the name of their ship, or something. _HMS Pinafore_ was the name of the ship, but _The Pirates of Penzance_ weren’t on it, to the best of my knowledge. ---
**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, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/40 "2013-03-17T22:13:46Z")
:smack: Funny and obvious if I took the time to re-read it. Just had a flood of overlapping G&S happy memories. Betcha mine would’ve been better than both of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162.md?page=3)