Feel free!
On holiday in Bavaria we took a day trip to Salzburg. I decided to buy a pair of sandals. They fitted fine with my socks on, but I wasn't sure how they'd be with bare feet. I also wasn't sure if it was acceptable to try them on without socks, so I thought I'd try and ask in German: Darf ich die Sandalen ohne Hose anprobieren? The girl laughed and nodded her head. I bought them and we left. Only when I left did I realise why she had laughed ... I had asked if I could try the sandals on without my trousers!
Editor's note: Richard got his words mixed up. Die Hose means trousers; die Socken means socks - it couldn't have been easier!
Sent by: Richard
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I have done the same thing. I am married to a Scotsman and in Scotland "socks" are known as "hose". I often say trousers when I mean socks. :)
When conversing with a German friend I tried to explain that my father spent a lot of his time in the "green house". Not expecting this to translate very well, I sort among my small vocabulary words for an alternative and knowing that children are erzogen, I used the relevant noun and called it a Zuchthaus! This is of course a word for prison. Where my father does not actually spend much time at all.
At Tom:
You were looking for Gewächshaus.
Wachsen means "to grow", erziehen means "to bring up" and should not be confused with züchtigen (what was probably done in the Zuchthaus when it was still called that way), which means "to diszipline" (just in case you ever need to talk about what you do with your children.
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