Thursday, June 19, 2008

Get It Right!

Just a little Spanish lesson today:

cachorro para cemento = puppies for the cement

cuchara para cemento = trowel for the cement

Knowing the difference may save you some embarrassment at the hardware store.

I'm just saying.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahaha! I once called spoons "cebollas." Oops.

Babs said...

Remember my "limpio mi manzanas" story? Here's another - When I first moved here I had mice - I went to the hardware store and attempted to tell them I needed mouse traps. I couldn't - so I took my elbow,set it on the counter and brought my arm down hard on the counter with a bang - they got it! I got rid of the mice!

Islagringo said...

Ladies: I bet we could tell language goof up stories til the cows come home! Each one funnier than the next! And it's not limited to Spanish. While living in Germany, I was talking about how to make french fries. I wanted to say I cook them in Biskin, a popular oil like Crisco. Instead I said I cook them in Benzin..gas for your car!

Steve Cotton said...

Wayne -- I suspect you will now be known as the Gringo who makes cement boots for puppies -- the man feared by the other family Dons.

CancunCanuck said...

Heehee! Oh man, I have too many to share, but one of my favourites happened early in my time here. We were grocery shopping and needed toilet paper. Hubby asked me which one I wanted and I said "Con mantequilla" (with butter). Ahem. I meant "Manzanilla", (chamomile). Yes, that famous butter toilet paper that eveyrone was raving about. ;-)

I like cachorros para cemento, LOL!

Islagringo said...

steve: where do you come up with this stuff! Hilarious!

cc: what with all the chilis eaten down here, I'm surprised they don't make some with mantequilla! Oh, can you imagine made with menthol!

Mimi said...

LOL Wayne, You got me! Coffee through the nose moment! Thanks soo much :)

Jonna said...

hombres catastros = men who come over and plot out the dimensions of your lot.

hombres castratos = high pitched singers missing a couple of parts.

Guess which ones I thought were coming by my house?

Islagringo said...

People! Some of these are just hilarious! I love Jonna's mistake, Freudian or not!

Anonymous said...

I have a friend here who went to Walmart asking for "pasta de penne".
The employee went to get another employee so she could repeat her
request. Pretty soon a group of male employees surrounded her as she
repeated her request over and over...poor thing.

Islagringo said...

rivergirl: shall we tell the NOB folks what she was really asking for? Yes? Ok. She thought she was asking for penne pasta. In truth, she was asking them if they had pasta of the penis! I wonder if they ever told her?

Jonna said...

More like 'penis paste' - I wonder if that's another way to say smegma or whatever they call that gunk in english.

It's the funniest one yet though.