Friday, September 01, 2006

German mishap

Something quite funny happened to me yesterday that I will share. I am putting it on allredloop because it is mostly just for the family, and I don't want to mess up my Italy sequence.


OK, you know how many missionaries that learn a foreign language have a story of using the wrong word, to make what they are saying have a totally different meaning. I was talking to my new neighbor last night who speaks pretty good english. Enough anyway that we can have a conversation, but I have to repeat things sometimes and talk a little slower.
Well, our kids are going to school together, and we were talking about school. I was saying that the school that Steven and Nathan are in is called Preschool in the states.
Then I wanted to give an example of what "pre" was and I happened to know the German word for it. So I said,"like vor in vorspeilen." She just shook her head, and we moved on. It wasn't until I was going to bed last night that I thought about it, and what I meant to say was vorspulen which means prewash. What I said was "vorspeilen" which means FOREPLAY! Not the best example when describing preschool. :) hahaha

1 comment:

Alicia said...

Whoa! Are you kidding? That is one of the best I've heard. Even better than when my companion said she grabbed a hot a$$ instead of a hot dish. Funny that the neighbor didn't respond that much. I wonder what she thought. Very funny story!