Visit Exit
My French friend travelled to Portugal by train. As she wanted to see the "real" countryside of Portugal, she decided to make a stop and get off at what seemed to be a pleasant little village. The sign at the station read ³§²¹Ä‚»岹. After visiting the village she continued her trip to Lisbon on the next train. She then tried to explain to her friends in Lisbon where she had been, which she repeatedly stated was a village called ³§²¹Ä‚»岹. At first nobody understood, but then they realized what she meant. ³§²¹Ä‚»岹 simply means "exit" in Portuguese. The sign she had seen merely indicated the way out of the station of a village whose name they will never know!
Sent by: Mada
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I asked my American friend Paul as soon as arrived in Brazil in which hotel he was living. He answered: I am living in the Proibido Fumar Hotel. "Proibido Fumar" means "Smoking forbidden" in Portuguese.
When you first read the word Ausfahrt ... it sounds like something else lol ...
On one visit to Brazil, my friend who had no knowledge of the language asked the host: 'Are there really that many places called ³§²¹Ã»å²¹?' ...
I am reminded of a story my grandfather told me: during the First World War in France, the troops were being sent to the Western front in rail trucks. The officer in charge ordered one of his men to look out & find out where they were as they were passing through a station. "We're in Hommes". At the next station, the officer gave out the same order: "still in Hommes" he was informed. "Big place, this Hommes" (he was in fact reading out the sign which meant Men('s toilet)!
My sister made a similar mistake on a family trip to Austria. She was asleep for most of the journey through Germany but must occasionally have woken up and seen the motorway signs pointing to the exits as she said at one point "There are a lot of places called Ausfahrt!"
Another amusing "gaffe" from Portuguese to English is "sobremesa". When I was teaching English in Brazil some years ago, we got to a unit on food, most specifically dessert, which in Brazil is sobremesa. One of my students, stumped for the correct word in English, blurted out "overtable". It took me a few seconds to get it, but of course his gaffe was greeting by uproarious laughter from the class, much to his chagrin!
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