World-famous German choreographer Pina Bausch brought her dance company to Budapest about 20 years ago. I felt bad for the promoters, because “pina” in Hungarian is a vulgar term for the female genitalia.
How did they handle this delicate situation? Well, on the posters advertising the performance, the top half of each letter of “PINA” was airbrushed out.
The name Jim. Pronounced with a certain tone in Thai, it’s vulgar slang for a vagina. I have a good friend named Jim who has lived in Thailand for 33 years. He’s very careful how he pronounces his name.
“Door” can mean “dick.” Thais can’t pronounced R at the end of a syllable, so it comes out daw, which in a certain tone means “dick.” I knew a female Peace Corps Volunteer who had the “daw” syllable as part of her last name, and she encountered a bit of mirth as a result. And it’s not uncommon for some Thais to point to a door and ask an unsuspecting English-speaking foreigner if that’s a “daw.” Then the foreigner is left wondering why the Thai has convulsed into laughter.
Means the same here, but it’s not often used.
Is your relative’s surname Oldgoat by any chance?
I worked with an older guy from Texas whose first language was Spanish. My workmates and I would frequently go out to lunch together, and he would laugh whenever he saw penne pasta because it sounds like pene.
The word “pants” seems to consistently elicit sophomoric giggles from Brits.
Has it always meant the same thing here, or has the British meaning become more commonly known since, say, the Austin Powers movies came out?
I ask because I read something somewhere once about how more Britisisms are entering American English due to the rise in popularity of British books/films/television here, like Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, etc.
Maybe it’s become more popular since Austin Powers, but I knew it in SoCal in the '70s.
Well historically the UK had ‘knockers-up’, whose job was to wake people.
However nowadays we’ve adopted the US term to make pregnant (and just for interest ‘knockers’’ here means breasts.)
Which reminds me… Yonkers, NY and yonkers, UK are two different things.
Which is understandable, since:
US ‘pants’ = UK ‘trousers’
US ‘underwear’’ = UK ‘pants’
US “underpants” = UK “pants”
Pants can also used as an adjective meaning rubbish or useless. As in “this message board is pants”.
When I was a kid, ‘pantsed’ meant you pulled someone’s trousers down.
When Pippa Middleton (sister of the Duchess of Cambridge) was in the news a lot, after the Will & Kate wedding, apparently her name caused amusement in Sweden because it’s one of the most common names for penis.
Ghee is a clarified butter used in Indian cooking. It’s fairly well-known among other foodies in the UK (and presumably the US?) to. In Irish it means ladyparts; it’s an Irish (as in gaelic) word but gets used by people who only speak English too.
The name “Janine” sounds a lot like the word for “foetus” in Arabic.
Oh yes it does. 
Even in American English usage, “Fanny” is not a name I would wish on anyone.
I guess we shouldn’t even get started on the two different kinds of ‘knickers’?
You mean kn*ckers?
If you ever wondered why Pratchett’s Nac Mac Feegle say “Bigjobs!” a lot … that’s why.
Over here the Daily Telegraph collected into a book lots of their readers’ photos of signs that, erm, could be misinterpreted, including such gems in other languages as:
Place names such as Pukeberg, Poo, Arses
Foodstuffs such as Kraps(crackers), Knackers (some sort of snack), Bung hole spread (with the peachy aroma!), Arse (wine),
Kafe Fart
Kuqrat Café
Dung restaurant
Ass Hair Salon
Miss Puke masseuse
Now Chew - your dentist
And I have myself seen Coiffure de Pong (Singapore), Restaurant Wanka and Café de Pits (both in Amsterdam).