# What are stories of incidents where someone got the wrong end of the stick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 12, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310 "2020-03-12T02:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310/21 "2020-03-19T20:39:31Z")
A while back I was employed by an international bank. After a re-organization, my new boss was a Chinese guy named Room Chen. He mostly worked from an office in China, but he came to visit our area once. His (Chinese) employees stopped trying to get ahold of him after hours after several of them called and asked for Room Chen but kept getting connected to the wrong people. The hotel kept connecting them to Room 10. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310/22 "2020-03-19T21:13:26Z")
I once read a newspaper feature about TV journalist Linda Ellerbee which quoted an anecdote she recounted. She had asked someone at a show-biz party what he had been doing, and was surprised to hear his reply as “cutting hair”. Eventually, she realized he was a film editor, and had been cutting a movie version of the musical Hair. I also recall hearing that Oprah Winfrey had expressed shock that some hunters put clothes on the game birds they had just killed. Turns out that “dressing wild turkeys in the field” meant something different than she had thought… ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310/23 "2020-03-20T01:13:28Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > American author has something similar happen to her when she thought the British legal expression “death recorded” which she thought to mean “execution” when in fact it meant the exact opposite thing — that the prisoner had been pardoned. She wrote a whole book based on the notion the British had executed men for homosexuality when in factor they had been pardoned. She found out she was wrong during a live BBC interview. More here: > > [https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/naomi-wolfs-new-book-canceled-after-major-errors-discovered.html](https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/naomi-wolfs-new-book-canceled-after-major-errors-discovered.html) :smack: With that phrasing, it’s an understandable mistake to make when reading the reports, but she really should have done more than just read the reports and not actually talk to anyone involved, who would have corrected her. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310/24 "2020-03-20T03:47:56Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > My uncle used to love having his wife tell people about the new wooden deck they were building. She’s from New Zealand, so to American ears her short "e"s sound a bit like short "i"s. You will be wanting to watch this then…[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbazGVrbN-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbazGVrbN-g) Poking some fun at our lovely accent ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310/25 "2020-03-20T05:37:59Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > You will be wanting to watch this then…[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbazGVrbN-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbazGVrbN-g) > Poking some fun at our lovely accent I lost it when he pulled out his caulk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310.md?page=1)