Words in other languages that sound and/or look funny or obscene in English (or vice versa)

Fahrt is German for ride (noun).

Focal- Irish means “word”.,pronounced fuck-al.

That pic is hilarious, OP!

Is this what Datalounge has descended to?

"How" in Romanian is "cum".

For Arabic speakers the names Nick (= neek = fuck) and Paul (= bol = piss) tend to raise a smile. Tease’ in English sounds pretty much the same as the Arabic for ‘arse’, and ‘I was’/‘you were’ sounds similar to ‘cunt’, though it’s more like ‘coont’.

I remember the first time I heard a Dutch person say "kijk" (= look) I thought they were saying the derogatory word for Jews.

In Brussels - as elsewhere in Belgium, where shops are only allowed to hold sales twice a year - many shops use English signage instead of going through the hassle of posting signs in two languages. So twice a year there are huge signs in all shop windows saying "SALE." Which means "dirty" in French.

I was at a corner bodega in Buenos Aires and stumbled across a box of tampons called Lips. It tickled me so. I brought a bakers dozen home as gag gifts.

Fuk is the same in any language

"Fokken" (the conjugated forms of which are "fok", "fokken", "fokt") means "to breed [animals]" in Dutch.

The Dutch word for "horses" is "paarden," which sounds just like "pardon" in English.

According to legend, President Kennedy was once at a gathering with some Dutch people, and he got to talking with one of them about his hobbies.

"I fok horses," said the Dutch man.

"Pardon?!" said JFK.

"Ja, paarden!" exclaimed the Dutchie.

There a high-end store in Uruguay called "Tits". I assume that it means something else in Spanish.

A popular milk based beverage in Japan sounds like cow piss. Original spelling as Calpis, but changed recently for English speaking markets to Calpico.

R12 Tits! When am I gonna grow tits?

'Pet' in French means 'fart'; 'peter' means 'to fart.'

On the other hand, 'fart' in Swedish means 'speed.' You often see this on roadway signs (e.g., 'fartkontrol' which means 'speed check'). However, 'infart' means 'entrance.'

Lastly, Fucking is a village in Austria (see link).

Thailand is full of dirty sounding places - Bangcock, Phuket

The Dutch word 'troep' (pronounced 'troop') means 'mess', 'junk'. Which sounds just like the Russian word for 'cadaver'. So if you made a mess in your bathtub, be careful how you phrase it.

Also, the German word 'Herr' means 'dick' in Russian.

Phoque is French for a seal--the animal.

The Welsh for "five" is "pump. However, the first letter mutates to a 'b' (because reasons) in some situations, and the final 'p' is usually omitted if there is another word. So "five to five" is "bum i bump".

The word for squash (the game) is "sboncen", with a hard 'c'.

Oh, and how could I forget the word for "valley": cwm (w is pronounced as a short 'u')

Pedo in Spanish = FART

The Zürich airport is actually in the town of Kloten, so the airport is often referred to as simply “Kloten” airport.

“Kloten” is Dutch slang for “testicles.”

There’s a town in Germany called Titz, and one in Belgium called Asse. Titz and Asse are about 200 km apart.

'Cucina' sounds like young pussy.

Swedish word for "the end". Here's the title card you can often see at the end of Swedish movies:

the airport in Calcutta used to be called Dum Dum

Brazilian are amused by Payday candy bars, as "peidei" translates as "I farted".

And they refused to buy Ford Pintos in the 1970's since pinto means "little dick".

The Maori Wh is pronounced F, as is the Dutch V.

Whakatani sounds like Fuck a Tani

And Vondelpark is Fondlepark (yes it is!)

Car (spelt kar) means penis in Albanian.

"Jussipussi" translates as "Smollethole" in Swedish.

During the Gorbachev years, a hula troupe went on a goodwill tour to Russia. During one of their numbers, they yelled “HUI!” (which means, approximately, “social group” or “club” in Hawaiian) and encouraged the audience to do the same.

They couldn’t figure out why the audiences always giggled at that, until someone explained that “hui” is Russian slang for “dick.”

R27 same with the Chevy Nova which means "No Go"

I worked at a restaurant where we served penne alla vodka. One of the girls I worked with pronounced it "pene alla vodka". I tried correcting her and she said she pronounced it correctly. I finally told her "penne" is the pasta, "pene" is Italian for penis.

my favorite so far is Swedish "Fahrtkontrol" signs along the highway

Hey Siri

R35 it's actually 'fartkontrol.'

R14, that sign has been stolen ca 15 times by infantile British/American tourists who just can't resist. There is also a Movie "Bad Fucking", which in German means "Fucking Springs".

In Spanish, a tilde is the only difference between “año” (year) and “ano” (anus). If you write “yo tengo 25 anos,” you are actually saying that you have 25 anuses.

For this reason, the state of California is very careful to include the tilde on signs for Año Nuevo State Park.

The Dutch have some hilarious names like Joke, Job (pronounced like the British slang term 'yob') and Ferry.

Job (pronounced as 'yob') means 'fuck' in Russian.

[quote]Oh, and how could I forget the word for "valley": cwm (w is pronounced as a short 'u')

So that old Roddy McDowall movie would be "How Green Was My CUM?"

"Volvo" sounds like "vulva":

"Volvo was named after the Latin word, “volvere,” meaning “to roll.” “Volvere” is the infinitive form of the verb – conjugated into the 1st person, it is “volvo,” ("I roll")."

"Barf" means "snow" in Farsi.

Not a different language, but fanny in the U.S. means butt and in the UK it's slang for pussy.

The Rolls Royce Silver Mist had trouble attracting a luxury clientele in Germany, where the word "mist" is a term translating to "shit".

Puerto Rico has some interesting ones. In Spain, *bicho* means bug/insect, but in PR it's slang for penis. Similarly, toto in PR is slang for vagina.

Elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, paloma means dove, but in Guatemala it's slang for penis.

The old Al Jolson film "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum!" (score by Rodgers & Hart) had to be retitled "Hallelujah, I'm a Tramp!" for release in Great Britain and part of the title song reshot with a changed lyric.

If you’ve got Alexa, ask what ‘Donald Trump Carrots 100’ is in Welsh.

If you’ve got Alexa, ask what ‘Donald Trump Carrots 100’ is in Welsh.

The Chinese word for "that" or simply "umm" sounds like the N word in English. It almost got Yao Ming into trouble in the locker room.

Putin is a source of endless mirth in Bulgaria because his name means "Cuntin" (or "Cuntson" in English) in the language.

R48 - oh yes, I forgot about moron! Growing up in Cardiff, it was a common school-yard insult to call someone "an absolute carrot".

R26 Ha I remember that Swedish word! It was on Ellen.

Also in Bulgarian, "kur" means "cock". In Russian, kur means "chickens" (plural). So it's always awkward to listen to Russians order in a restaurant.

"Yes, we'll have the cock, please."

R54 'chickens' in Russian is 'tsyplyata'. Chicken as a dish is 'kuritsa'. 'Kur' doesn't mean anything.

R55, really? Then what does "Ну ладно, дайте кур" mean? Цыплята is baby chicks.

[quote]Oh, and how could I forget the word for "valley": cwm (w is pronounced as a short 'u')

Cwm of the Dolls starring sex kitten Helen Lawson.

R56 in your sentence 'kur' is the genitive case, plural form of 'kura'. The word 'kur' on its own does not exist and doesn't mean anything without a context.

While we are on the subject of Russian and cum, the Spanish word 'concha' (shell) is a slang word for 'cum' in Russian.

“Like, hi, I’m, like, a Cwm girl!”

The Afrikaans word for side (as in, "The box has 4 sides"), is kant, pronounced as you'd probably imagine. The word for box "doos" is a common insult meaning cunt or pussy. Hence "the box has 4 sides" becomes "die doos het vier kante" or "the cunt has 4 cunts".

I don't know whether this is true but I've read it a few times over the years.

Mara Maru is a noirish early '50s action adventure film starring Errol Flynn. He plays a salvage diver after WWII in Manila and gets involved with sunken treasure, murder and what not. The Mara Maru of the title is his boat, which is featured prominently in the action.

At any rate, Warner Bros, was horrified to find out after its release that in some Asian languages Mara Maru translates as Shit Boat. But being to cheap to recall the film from the affected regions and fix it right, Warners instead just issued new posters with a new title and then paid people to unspool the prints and manually scratch out the boat's name wherever it appeared.

Faggots are meatballs in the U.K.

^ Speaking of British English, "fag" means cigarette, "rubber" means eraser, and "trump" means fart.

R64 and 'pants' refer to underpants.

Coca Cola was originally translated as kedou kenla into Chinese, literally "tadpole chews wax."

The English word cut is pronounced the same as the Dutch kut (cunt). English foot is close to the French foutre (fuck).

To go with R63

Alas... there will be no more Fucking in Austria.

Many years ago, I went to a TITS bar in Belgium.

The Engrish website never disappoints.

This is the kind of thread I like - anything to do with languages and puns and stuff like that. And R11, that joke is right up my alley!

This picture always makes me smile. And reminds me of when I was in Berlin, and all my photos had that Die Welt balloon in them, but always turned in such a way that it just read: "Die".

And R26, your post reminded me of this.

At this station [italic]everyone[/italic] gets off!

German has a verb, “wanken”, which does not mean what you think it does.

The infamous Egg Slut.

Get your JIZZ on!

Just for awhile?

R65 - yes, while living in London, I announced to my office mates that I had "specially bought these pants to wear to work today", to their great amusement.

Here's one between two languages that aren't English.

In Romanian, one way to say "kid" as in a child is to say "puşti". In Greek, a "pousti" is a poofter.

Mmmm, I know what I'm having for Christmas dinner, Fried Spit!

There was a highly-placed Dutch politician named Ruud Lubbers, whose name always sounded to me like another term for dirty songs.

Italian 'basta' means "enough."

And Latin 'anus' is "an old woman."

Since town names are allowed. There's a town in France called Condom.

The Danish word for a small seaside cliff is "clit"--it's a common place name. And so you also hear surnames like "Klitgaard" (a field adjacent to the small seaside cliff).

"Slut" means end/finished. "Fart" means speed. A slang term for penis is "pik," which just looks funny to me--if you want to call someone a cocksucker, you call them "pikslikker."

One of the first women I encountered in Denmark had the surname "Bitsch."

The pause that refreshes!

Lesbians take notice.

Any takers?

In India, English spelling can often be pretty fluid.

R69 You'd think they would welcome the tourism.

Fucking's new name Fugging sounds like a euphemism for fucking, anyway.

♪ An' we're gonna beat every last fuggin' gang on the whole fuggin' street!

On the whole fuggin' ever lovin' street! ♫

I have a feeling this guy doesn't know what his shirt says.

r1: I was amused to find that the German version of The Big Trail (Raoul Walsh) is entitled "Die Grosse Fahrt" I'm easily amused I guess.

What exactly is German Burger King trying to say here?

At one time my office recruited a bunch of secretaries from Ireland. They always talked about having so much crack at this or that party. We finally learned that in Ireland "crack" means "fun".