A nice hot dog
During our first few days in Italy my husband couldn't understand why his explanation of his dietaryrequirements caused so much hilarity. Non mangio cane e pesce he wouldsay! Of course he meant Non mangio carne e pesce, I don't eat meat or fish! Still he was partly telling the truth - he doesn't eat carne, meat, and he surely doesn't eat cane, dogs!
Sent by: Deborah
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Many years ago in a cafe in Lido de Jesolo, in Italy, I asked for a piece of 'gateau' and got a strange look from the waitress. Later I discovered that gatto is, in fact, Italian for 'cat'.
I was staying with a family in Bologna. We were having dinner on the second or third night when they were asking me what a typical English meal was like. I wanted to say roast 'meat', which is carne. The pronunciation came out all wrong and I replaced carne with cane. There was silence for a moment and then a lot of laughter. I realised my mistake and then assured them I wouldn't eat their dog which was running around the table.
At the start of a period living in Italy, I remember sitting around a table eating a beautifully traditional Italian Sunday lunch with a family there. Following their interest in British custom we began to say that in England we occasionally eat meat with apple sauce (thinking of pork), although seemingly like so many others we mixed up the words carne - meat - and cane - dog - and ended up spreading the rumour that the English eat hot apple and dog at a typical Sunday lunch!
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