# Foreign Words That Look Like English, But Don’t Mean The Same **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902 "2010-05-27T02:04:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/61 "2010-05-28T04:43:14Z")
> [@NBYodo](#): > > (Speise)karte = menu (some of my german/english confused friends ask for the “card” in english-speaking countries) > konsequent = consistent > eventuell = possible > isolieren = to insulate > massiv = solid (as in made from solid wood) > sympathisch = likable These are all words borrowed from French, where the meaning is the same in German and French and different from English. The French words are _carte, conséquent, éventuel, isoler, massif,_ and _sympathique_. Here are some more: _adéquat_ = correct, appropriate _délai_ = time period, time frame _complicité_ = closeness, fellow-feeling, trust, close relationship _pétulant_ = impetuous _tuile_ = roof tile (properly, other kinds of tiles are _carreaux_) _attendre_ = to wait _assister_ = to attend _supporter_ = frequently used as an anglicism to mean “to support” but more properly means “to put up with, endure” (support is _appuyer_) _militant_ = activist of any kind, by no means necessarily an extremist (so you can speak of _des militants pacifistes_) _culte_ = worship (as in “lieu de culte,” place of worship); a cult is a _secte_ _manifestation_ = demonstration, protest rally _baccalauréat_ = in France this is an exam at the end of high school, although in Canada it means a bachelor’s degree _animateur_ = moderator, discussion leader ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/62 "2010-05-28T04:51:54Z")
In Bulgarian, “magazine” means “market”, but I think that’s stolen from some other language. Maybe French? It certainly doesn’t sound Slavic, anyway. “Peach” is slang for “dude” or “man” or something like that. Like, if you’re saying “hey man, what’s up?” My students thought this was hilarious when we learned the English words for fruits. The word for “how” in Bulgarian is “kak”. It’s pronounced pretty much identically to the English word “cock”. God, I’m glad I was teaching English to Bulgarian children and not vice versa (like anyone would want to learn Bulgarian), cause that would have been a show-stopper on the first day. (“How are you?” is “kak si?”) ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/63 "2010-05-28T05:22:40Z")
Let me see if I can come up with a few Japanese ones. Somebody already mentioned the ubiquitous ‘hi/hai’ thing. I could cheat and use Roman characters as if they were pronounced like English, but I want to stick to the authentic Japanese pronunciations. I’ll write in Roman characters of course though. Go - It doesn’t mean move, it’s the letter five. Shi - Not her, but the letter four, (or death :O) Ni - Not a knee, but the letter two I just realized this is also a fun way to teach the basic phonology of Japanese, haha. Kyuu - Not a wait in line, but 9 Juu - Not an ethnicity infamous for big noses, Kidding! Not Jews, but the number ten. That’s all I can think of for now. Sorry it’s only boring numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/64 "2010-05-28T05:36:05Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > In Bulgarian, “magazine” means “market”, but I think that’s stolen from some other language. Maybe French? It certainly doesn’t sound Slavic, anyway. “Magasin” means “store” in French, so maybe that’s the origin. Although “magasin” itself ultimately comes from Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/65 "2010-05-28T05:52:57Z")
I approached the ticket sales window in the Stockholm railroad station, where a very pretty young lady waas doing some counting of money. At the last second I noticed a sign on the window that said “SLUT”. I pointed to the sign and was about to make some smartass remark when she said, rather patiently, “I know what it means in English. In Swedish it means “Closed”. We are not selling tickets at this time.” And she gave me a sweet smile, like she had run into this situation once or twice before. Kind of like a Hawaiian having to tell a mainlander “Yes, sir, I am aware that “lei” has another meaning. And that’s the 3,845th time I have heard that joke, sir.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/66 "2010-05-28T09:16:10Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > I pointed to the sign and was about to make some smartass remark when she said, rather patiently, “I know what it means in English. In Swedish it means “Closed”. We are not selling tickets at this time.” And she gave me a sweet smile, like she had run into this situation once or twice before. That’s her story, and you fell for it. You missed your chance 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Negative\_Lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Negative\_Lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Negative_Lite)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/67 "2010-05-28T09:29:47Z")
Magazine means storehouse or shop in all (?) languages except English. In English its meaning evolved: military stockhouse \> ammunition inventory \> information repository \> periodical (from the title Gentleman’s Magazine and other imitators) [Cite](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=magazine) ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/68 "2010-05-28T09:55:51Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > A little off topic, but my ex-wife, who was fluent in nine or ten languages, managed to come up with a rare French-to-Modern Icelandic false friend. She excitedly told her friend from France about the beautiful “foss” she saw in Iceland. While “foss” is Icelandic for “waterfall”, her friend thought she had said “fossé”, which in French is the rather less elegant “ditch”. We still use fosse in some parts of the UK - e.g. the [Fosse Way](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosse_Way), which is an old Roman road named for a ditch. In Austria they will ask you if you want “schlag” with your coffee 🙂 And if you are in Estonia the [Kiek in de Kok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiek_in_de_Kok) museum isn’t as painful as it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Neverending\_Elbow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e274bd/32.png) [@Neverending\_Elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverending_Elbow)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/69 "2010-05-28T10:09:21Z")
One from Poland. Here a fart is a good thing to experience. 🙂 ‘Fart’ means a stroke of good luck. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/70 "2010-05-28T10:20:40Z")
> [@Negative\_Lite](#): > > Magazine means storehouse or shop in all (?) languages except English. In German, the meaning of _Magazin_ is either storehouse or periodical, but never shop. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/71 "2010-05-28T10:50:05Z")
Going along with **Nava** ’s _Quince_ above, _once_ means not “a single time” but “eleven.” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/72 "2010-05-28T11:26:57Z")
> [@Negative\_Lite](#): > > It’s spelled that way in the dictionary. Not just in my Collins but in the [Diccionario de la lengua española](http://www.wordreference.com/definicion/store). Anyway, in the spirit of the thread I was trying to come up with words that scan orthographically as English. That’s why I chose the less common alternate spelling _store_ rather than _estor_, which couldn’t pass as English. Eh… nope, sorry… [The official online dictionary put out by the RAE](http://www.rae.es/rae.html) does not include store. It _does_ include “estor”, which apparently is some type of curtain or blind (I did not know this). As to horribly bad spellings in public places, there is little the RAE can, will, or is interested in doing. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/73 "2010-05-28T12:48:00Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Spanish for “to bother” is “molestar.” Which sounds a lot more than a bother, if you ask me. Along similar lines, the French for “disturb” is “dérange” (You see signs hanging on hotel doorknobs: “Ne dérangez pas.”) I remember in several early Hercule Poirot mysteries, Poirot would say that he hoped he hadn’t deranged someone, until it was explained to him (by I believe the doctor in “The Muder of Roger Ackroyd”) that ‘derange’ means to drive someone crazy in English.) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/74 "2010-05-28T12:52:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Hungarian: > > Legjobb - Not kinky, but still most excellent > > “The best” I’m in Budapest at the moment and just saw this in a supermarket and burst out laughing. My Hungarian friend was not so amused. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/75 "2010-05-28T13:02:38Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I love this one! Perhaps I’ll open a German-themed gift shop just for the giggle. Yeah, you could open a Gifthaus, like they have all over eastern Pennsylvania. Since Gift is a word in German and English, but Haus is only a German word, the only possible meaning of that is Poison House. RS ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/76 "2010-05-28T13:16:02Z")
In English pants doesn’t mean pants, it means… pants. And biscuit doesn’t mean biscuit either, rather it means biscu… oh you know what? Forget it. > [@Autolycus](#): > > Let me see if I can come up with a few Japanese ones. Somebody already mentioned the ubiquitous ‘hi/hai’ thing. I could cheat and use Roman characters as if they were pronounced like English, but I want to stick to the authentic Japanese pronunciations. I’ll write in Roman characters of course though. > > Go - It doesn’t mean move, it’s the letter five. > Shi - Not her, but the letter four, (or death :O) > Ni - Not a knee, but the letter two > > I just realized this is also a fun way to teach the basic phonology of Japanese, haha. > > Kyuu - Not a wait in line, but 9 > Juu - Not an ethnicity infamous for big noses, Kidding! Not Jews, but the number ten. > > That’s all I can think of for now. Sorry it’s only boring numbers. You can make a passable case for “iie” (no) sounding an awful lot like “yeah,” it’s not the best example, but close enough that it’s thrown me off when listening to music before. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/77 "2010-05-28T13:58:58Z")
Oh, I forgot one. My name is apparently a derogatory word for “Jew” in Amharic. Every time I met an Ethiopian in Israel, they would do a horrified double-take. The word “shiten” means…something innocuous in Albanian. I don’t know what, but I saw it on homemade signs everywhere. Maybe “for sale” or something like that. It made me snicker every time, because I am apparently a 13-year-old boy at heart. ---
**Author:** ![edinbourgeoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@edinbourgeoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edinbourgeoise)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/78 "2010-05-28T14:12:26Z")
The Hungarian for ‘cheese’ is _sajt_, pronounced ‘shite’. They don’t make great cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/79 "2010-05-28T14:15:37Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > As to horribly bad spellings in public places, there is little the RAE can, will, or is interested in doing. Yeah, but they also aren’t keen on collecting slang usages or documenting change - like a lot of other language academies (the French Academy probably being the worst offender) they tend to be very reluctant to ‘allow’ new words into the Spanish language. It’s also the _Spanish_ academy - that is, it’s located in Spain - so if some of the words in this thread are Argentinian they probably won’t be in there. I was looking up some translations for words in _El Gaucho Martín Fierro_ which is by no means new or slang-y, it’s just Argentinian Spanish which to me (educated on Mexican and Spanish Spanish) is almost an entirely different language. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902/80 "2010-05-28T14:31:21Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > Yeah, but they also aren’t keen on collecting slang usages or documenting change - like a lot of other language academies (the French Academy probably being the worst offender) they tend to be very reluctant to ‘allow’ new words into the Spanish language. > > It’s also the _Spanish_ academy - that is, it’s located in Spain - so if some of the words in this thread are Argentinian they probably won’t be in there. I was looking up some translations for words in _El Gaucho Martín Fierro_ which is by no means new or slang-y, it’s just Argentinian Spanish which to me (educated on Mexican and Spanish Spanish) is almost an entirely different language. Well, Spain’s spanish and the Riverplatense dialect we speak in Argentina and Uruguay are mutually intelligible, barely. 🙂 For example: Spanish: Coger = To take something (“Coge una manzana” = “take an apple” Riverplatense Spanish: Coger = to fuck (“Querés coger” = “Wanna fuck?”) Hilarity (And penis!) usually ensue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-words-that-look-like-english-but-don-t-mean-the-same/540902.md?page=5)