A pound of donkey
Thinking that most Spanish words are very similar to the corresponding Italian word, I once asked for 250g of burro in a Spanish grocer's shop. As I know now, burro in Spanish is a donkey and the proper term for butter is mantequilla.
Sent by: Michael
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My son (10) proudly ordered coke sin gas rather than coke sin hielo much to the amusement of our waiter.
That's funny!! I was trying to make a lame stab at being romantic once when I said to my Spanish girlfriend, cara mia, thinking it meant in Spanish what it means in Italian, which is 'my dear'. It actually means 'my face' in Spanish. It seems that when the Roman tongue made its way from Rome to the Iberian peninsula, it changed colors a bit. lol
I teach Spanish and students like to guess words, and so take a stab and order gato when they want cake (sounds like the French gateaux), and of course I correct them quickly as they would be ordering "cat"
Whilst in my Spanish class one of my friends was trying to tell us a story in Spanish. She was trying to say a tub/box of butter but she used the Spanish phrase una caja de burro which literally means a box of donkey. She got a very strange look from my Spanish teacher and we've never let her live it down! But she'll never make the same mistake again.
I also couldn't remember the word for butter whilst in Mexico and asked for burro on my pan. My hosts just thought it was a bizzare English custom, a bit like Marmite! Still, at least I've never forgotten the word for butter again!
I once heard a British interpreter talking about abejas Marinas, marine bees, but when I looked at the animals she was pointing at, I realised she meant ovejas merinas, merino sheep.
Ed's note: Merino sheep are world-renowned for their wool and originally came from Spain.
Bread and DONKEY? Joanne, I just can't think of a cuter or more charming blunder... Lovely you... (I thought only us Spaniards made those literally-straight translations).
I heard a story similar to this. A man once asked for a 'donkey' sandwich ...
An Austrian friend of mine was learning Spanish after learning some Italian. Whenever stuck for a word in Spanish, she'd have a go using the Italian word. Most of the time, this works very well. However, in a Spanish supermarket, she asked someone ¿Dónde está el burro? Il burro in Italian is butter. In Spanish, it is donkey!
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