# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/41 "2013-03-17T22:31:18Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > In Nicaragua, “mono” can mean “cute,” but in most places it just means “monkey.” > [@KarlGrenze](#): > > . . in Puerto Rico it can have both meanings, although the ones I’ve seen using the cute term are more… nice little old ladies. In Colombia it means cute by way of being fair-haired. > [@bardos](#): > > In Latin America it means to f\*\*k. But that’s mostly just in Mexico. In other places in Latin American it’s used similarly as in Spain. Between Mexico and the rest of Latin American I’ve found food to be the source of the most “false friends.” Everything from _quesadillas_ to _pudin_ seem to mean something different from country to country. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/42 "2013-03-17T23:15:52Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > 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! Oh dear. Some people may have a funny idea of what I look like then… (I’m just English, not a fundamentalist Christian, ok!) In Brazil they call sellotape “durex”, which in Europe is a brand of condoms. I never got used to people randomly asking me for a condom. We’re doing something totally innocuous, making some posters for kids or something, suddenly you want a condom?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/43 "2013-03-18T00:06:03Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > 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. Haha! Thats it! Thanks! Related: my friend says “sprogs” for kids, but in some places it means sperm. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/44 "2013-03-18T00:22:18Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > :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. Turns out [it’s been done.](http://www.musiclinedirect.com/the-pinafore-pirates-senior.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/45 "2013-03-18T01:05:42Z")
I worked with a woman from Puerto Rico back in the day at Wally. It was a small store and she was the only latina working as a cashiers. The store backed up on the real country and day laborers shopped there a lot. They’d always go to her assuming she spoke spanish. Of course, she did. One day she and I were chitchatting and she told me–“I have to be careful, b/c the language is the same, but sometimes the words mean different things.” ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/46 "2013-03-18T01:49:06Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > […]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.”[…] At least here in Chile, _jalar_ means \* to snort\*, usually cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/47 "2013-03-18T01:50:37Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > 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. Yesterday I saw some poor old bloke scabbing fag butts off the footpath. Presumably to recycle the tobacco. Don’t mention your fanny pack in polite company in Australia either. I think ‘cracker’ is a rude word in the US. The TV show Cracker was renamed for the US audience. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/48 "2013-03-18T01:53:53Z")
Ah, this reminds me of a Canadian/Canadian false friend. In 6th grade we had a Newfoundlander join our class. He was the nicest kid, very polite and earnest. Our teacher however, was a nasty old bat, and thought the worst of all her students. It was in a small northern town in the 1980s. We were innocent and naive kids back then. The kid, whose name suddenly escapes me, put his hand up. “Ms Cat? May I borrow a rubber?”. That is her real name. She can sue me if she wants. If she is still alive. She said, “What did you say?” “May I borrow a rubber miss?”, he says again. She blew her top and dragged him to the principals office, where she tried to have him expelled. They were gone a good long while. His parents came to the school, and eventually it was established that he merely needed an eraser to correct his work. That was the end of her teaching career, at least at our school. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/49 "2013-03-18T02:00:50Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > 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 I’ve heard that this caused problems during D-Day planning between the US and the UK - the UK representatives would want to table an issue - and the US would object that the topic was too important to table, etc. German has some false friends - “Gift” is German for “poison” and “Mist” is German for “manure”. On the other hand, the German verb “to travel” is “fahren” (analogous to the English word “to fare” hence “farewell”); a common form of the verb though is “fahrt” which is pronounced just about the way you’d think it was (and the noun form “Fahrt” is the word for vehicle, so you see the word a lot in Germany) ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/50 "2013-03-18T02:11:28Z")
In American English, the verb “root” usually means to cheer, or to dig. In Australia it’s slang for “fuck”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/51 "2013-03-18T02:14:54Z")
Knocked up American English: to get or be pregnant British English: wake someone up, often by banging on the door. The sentence ‘He knocked me up yesterday’ was very confusing to my college roommate spending a year in York! ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/52 "2013-03-18T02:15:26Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > 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”. In Japan, taco is generally transliterated as ‘takosu’, from tacos. So it would be _tako takosu_. Incidentally, ‘tako’ also means kite.　It is also a town in Chiba prefecture. God forbid they start making kite-shaped octopus tacos there. A famous false friend exists in written language between Chinese and Japanese:　手紙 (‘hand’ and ‘paper’) in Japanese means “letter” (as in written correspondence) but in Chinese 手紙 means “toilet paper”. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/53 "2013-03-18T02:39:34Z")
I’m not sure if this is just a Yorkshire thing but a friend of mine who lives here now had a lot of confusion at her workplace over stopping and staying. Although “to stop” carries the primary meaning of cease it can also mean “to remain”. You will hear “I stopped at the pub for a quick one.” or “I’m stopping at auntie’s while the heating is being fixed.” So, at my friend’s workplace, they were discussing who was leaving at the regular time and who was working late. “Are you stopping?” my friend was asked “No.” she replied, meaning she was staying (on) and was then rather surprised to be offered a lift by someone who _was_ going early. A nice example of Scottish/English misunderstanding is the Scottish word for boy – “loon”. An English woman who moved to Scotland with her family, including a son, was very offended when her new neighbour said, indicating the boy, “There’s a very good school for _loonies_ up the road.” Just as a nitpick we do understand and use the alternative meaning of “bottle it” over here – as in it’s so good they could bottle it – we distinguish by context of course ---
**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 18, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/54 "2013-03-18T02:59:52Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > In American English, the verb “root” usually means to cheer, or to dig. In Australia it’s slang for “fuck”. Never knew that. Of course, most evrything Aussie is new to me. New Zealand friends? And I’m waiting for South Africa and Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) to turn up. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/55 "2013-03-18T03:22:30Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > I think ‘cracker’ is a rude word in the US. The TV show Cracker was renamed for the US audience. “Cracker” is generally inoffensive in the US, but when used in reference to a person it’s an insulting term for white people. Here’s [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28pejorative%29) on “cracker” as a pejorative. However, when you hear the word “cracker” in the US it’s most commonly in reference to the [food](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28food%29). There’s also a famous brand of candy-coated popcorn called Cracker Jacks and a restaurant chain called Cracker Barrel. There was even a moderately popular rock band back in the '90s called Cracker, so I’m kind of surprised the name was considered inappropriate for a TV show. Actually, looking at Wikipedia just now it seems that the UK show _Cracker_ _wasn’t_ renamed for the US. The shortlived [US version of _Cracker_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28US_TV_series%29) was apparently called \*Cracker \*here but retitled _Fitz_ for broadcast in other countries. I assume that was to avoid confusion with the original UK _Cracker_. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/56 "2013-03-18T03:53:33Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > I’m not sure if this is just a Yorkshire thing but a friend of mine who lives here now had a lot of confusion at her workplace over stopping and staying. Although “to stop” carries the primary meaning of cease it can also mean “to remain”. You will hear “I stopped at the pub for a quick one.” or “I’m stopping at auntie’s while the heating is being fixed.” > > So, at my friend’s workplace, they were discussing who was leaving at the regular time and who was working late. “Are you stopping?” my friend was asked “No.” she replied, meaning she was staying (on) and was then rather surprised to be offered a lift by someone who _was_ going early. ``` There's something similar in NY- but the "stop" doesn't quite mean "remain". If I say " I stopped at the bar for a drink" , it means that I interrupted my travel ( say from work to home) spent a short time at the bar and then continued my travel. I wouldn't stop by my aunt's while the heat is being fixed, but I would stop by my aunt's to see if she needed anything while on my way to the store. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/57 "2013-03-18T04:29:11Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > There’s something similar in NY- but the “stop” doesn’t quite mean “remain”. If I say " I stopped at the bar for a drink" , it means that I interrupted my travel ( say from work to home) spent a short time at the bar and then continued my travel. I wouldn’t stop by my aunt’s while the heat is being fixed, but I would stop by my aunt’s to see if she needed anything while on my way to the store. Note that we stop _at_ Aunties, the pub, work when we’ll be there for any amount of time. We do say stopping _by_ to indicate a shorter stay 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/58 "2013-03-18T04:48:05Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Note that we stop _at_ Aunties, the pub, work when we’ll be there for any amount of time. We do say stopping _by_ to indicate a shorter stay 🙂 Yep, and I stopped _at_ the bar for a drink on my way home. I could stop \*at \*my aunt’s house on my way to the store , but it just doesn’t sound right without the “house” at the end. It would be very confusing if I were in your neck of the woods:) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/59 "2013-03-18T06:56:54Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > 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”. In Spain a taco is also a chunk, so you can turn your taco into tacos. And Tako is a metal group, but somehow I doubt they knew about the Japanese word. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162/60 "2013-03-18T07:01:33Z")
> [@grama](#): > > At least here in Chile, _jalar_ means \* to snort\*, usually cocaine. Thanks Og, while there was a Chilean location, it was not a factory so us in Ops didn’t have direct contact with them. We were running out of dictionary already! We _knew_ it had to have a double meaning someplace. Sometimes I think articles may be the only words which don’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-false-friends-in-different-languages-including-brit-us-english/653162.md?page=4)