haha the german for enamel = "Email"!

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ok so what other words in one language mean something comically unrelated in another

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 20 November 2003 12:30 (twenty-two years ago)

email used to mean a varriation of enamel in english, ie to cover an object in mail (like chain mail)

― anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 20 November 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Helmut Kohl (former German Chancellor) = Helmet Cabbage
Enrico Chiesa (Italian footballer) = Henry Church
Fabrizio Ravanelli ("") = Fabrice Radishes
Kaka (Brazilian ") = poo in French
Rui Costa (Portuguese ") = Roy Coast, good cabaret singer name

There are many, many more good ones. I need a Panini album to jog my memory.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Pierluigi Collina = Peter Louis Hill

I like the ones that sound glam in Italian and very ordinary in English.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I realise these are not strictly what you're asking for.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a con != c'est un con

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Email also means enamel in French

Sean Connery always gets a giggle in France = c'est une connerie

― Jonathan Z., Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's a shame we tend toward Liguria rather than Leghorn these days.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I Am Kloot ---> Kloot: Dutch for Bollox!

― nathalie (nathalie), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a feminist writer whose surname is Mies, which is funny because "mies" = "man" in Finnish.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Funk and fa(h)rt to thread!

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Mies van der Rohe = Man of the raw?

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Jaap Stam- Jack Tree Trunk.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

(dutch) wang = (english) cheek

― nathalie (nathalie), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Not unrelated (in fact quite the opposite) nbut there's a palce on the wirral which I've always liked because it's called Torpenhow Hill (trans: Hillhillhill Hill)

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i dated an australian named e$tee
e$tee to a french canadian is a naughty word.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Leghorn = Livorno, no?

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 20 November 2003 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I think you might be right, there. Soz.

I hear a rumour that Brad Pett is Swedish for thick dick or somesuch. Hanna to thread?

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 20 November 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Peter of course is the regular er French verb To Fart.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 20 November 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Email is enamel in Dutch too.

The German for poison is Gift. My friend's Austrian mother was very shocked to hear someone say "I'm just off to the gift shop" when she first came to England.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 20 November 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

The German word for "shower" is "Dusch". The German-born aunt of a friend of mine once shocked some early-arriving party guests by informing them that, since she'd just come in from the shower, she was going to dash upstairs for a quick Dusch before dinner.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 20 November 2003 16:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 20 November 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Er, I meant "just come in from the garden".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 20 November 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

both interpretations could've been true

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 20 November 2003 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I think it's "douche" in French, though I could be misremembering the spelling.

― NA (Nick A.), Thursday, 20 November 2003 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/70/159984212_85f7e9867d.jpg

that explains this then

― roxymuzak, Sunday, 11 January 2009 06:48 (seventeen years ago)

in french it's email

and it has historically made me lol in many a hardware store

― s1ocki, Sunday, 11 January 2009 07:20 (seventeen years ago)

eight years pass...

I've just discovered that Parabens is Portuguese for Congratulations.

― Madchen, Friday, 24 November 2017 15:14 (eight years ago)

Is it reminding you of a word in German or English or some other language?

― Modern Zounds in Undiscovered Country (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 November 2017 15:19 (eight years ago)

Ah, this explains the name of the toothpaste my mum buys when she goes to France:

http://www.andrews-pharmacy.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/450x450/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/e/d/edrt50.jpg

'Diamond Enamel'. I always thought 'Email Diamant' was the name of the character on the packaging

― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Friday, 24 November 2017 15:24 (eight years ago)

Lol

― Modern Zounds in Undiscovered Country (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 November 2017 15:30 (eight years ago)

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the French word for condom being 'preservatifs' yet

― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Friday, 24 November 2017 15:34 (eight years ago)

meanwhile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condom,_Gers

― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Friday, 24 November 2017 15:35 (eight years ago)

Email is enamel in Dutch too.The German for poison is Gift. My friend's Austrian mother was very shocked to hear someone say "I'm just off to the gift shop" when she first came to England.

This is related to the English word “give.” There is a another related Germanic word “Mitgift,” meaning dowry.

― Modern Zounds in Undiscovered Country (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 November 2017 16:17 (eight years ago)

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