Let’s ask @Calypso to split this then! 
2 Likes
Getting back on the language/toilet topic…
We (in Belgium) also have another expression: “mijn patatten afgieten” which translates to “pouring/draining the water from my (cooked) potatoes”
3 Likes
Ouch!
1 Like
(Unless there’s three or more…)
If it burns when you pee, see a doctor. 
2 Likes
Never mind 
2 Likes
Bericht uit/Botschaf aus Darmstadt. 
Edit: that’s something my German grandma used to say.
2 Likes
Wow. i spotted a false friend.
Cravatta, in italian, means “tie”. If you want to indicate a cravat, in italian you should say “plastron”.
1 Like
That’s interesting 
I guess that happens a lot, where we take a ‘fancy-sounding’ common foreign word and use it to mean a special version of something 
like ‘genre’ and ‘café’.
In looking for examples I’ve just discovered that ‘gift’ means ‘poison’ in German, and ‘Sean Bean’ means ‘old lady’ in Irish.
4 Likes
That’s right. 
Another common German false friend is “Chef”. In German a “Chef” is the boss of a company.
1 Like
Well, both “chef” and “boss” mean “chief”.
In italian the chef is the chief of the cooks, while the boss is the chief of the mafia…
2 Likes
And similarly ‘chief’ in French just us who use it wrong!
In English “chef” is a cook - or am I wrong? (“Chef” is in books the classic example of a false friend…)
1 Like
There was a Get Smart Episode that involves native americans and obviously lots of indian chiefs. They did a longer pun routine involving Control´s Chief (who is the “Chef” in german while indian chiefs are “Häuptlinge” [lit trans. headlings]). I can´t remember how they translated that bit but I remember it was very awkward.
A chef is the boss of the kitchen.
An internship in a kitchen is called a stage (pronounced as in French).
In French these words just mean boss and internship. In English they’re cooking-specific, but they effectively still mean the same thing.
Another one who doesn’t like Interview with the vampire?
(Sure, sure, the book was better…)
3 Likes