The host of the party asked me why I looked the way I did (they all thought I was Swedish or Norweigan and couldn't believe I was American) I tried to tell them "It's because I have Swedish and Norwegian ancestors in my family" but I actually said "It's because I have Swedish and Norwegian incest in my family." Needless to say, people became very quiet and looked a bit horrified until my host sister explained to them what I meant and cleared up my faux pas.
The french word for ancestor is ancetre but I said anceStre which sounds like the French word for incest because of the S I put in the word.
Ah mon dieu…
]]>…and when I ask the Korean teachers about it, and repeat the word I used, eyes bug out and hands get clasped over mouths. My liaison, Charles, grins a mile wide and says, "That is the f-word you are saying."
Turns out the Korean word for the number 18 bears a distressingly close resemblance to the Korean f-bomb. It's just a matter of inflection and consonant stress. And I was, literally, effing it up. No wonder my students kept asking me to say it again and again and again and again…
Took me WEEKS to live that one down.
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