An Aussie family is visiting our church for a few months so the dad can do an internship here (Orange County, CA), and I had the pleasure of informing the daughter what we call those bags you clip around your waist (bum bags).
“Are you ready? Really ready? Ok, we call them ‘fanny packs.’”
She turned bright red.
For any 'mericans that don’t know, “fanny” is apparently pretty dead on to “cunt” in every other native English speaking country. And combined with “pack,” it makes for a heck of a whollop of a phrase.
But, then, I’ve never had anyone come up to me and ask me for a fag.
So, the point is, does anyone know of any other “misunderstanding” words among us English speakers, or even interesting examples in other languages?