a funny moment

[R-learning]

Recently I found myself in a very embarrassing situation. I invited few friends for Friday night dinner. one of my friend (who is very jolly and humorous person) was talking to my husband in the backyard. I didn't hear their conversation, after few minutes she came inside and asked me "so, was your husband a player when he was young".

Honestly, I never heard this before. I thought she meant something about sports, so I replied, "oh yeh, he was a great player" and I explained how my husband was a boxing champion and so on...

My friend started laughing hysterically, I said "WHAT?" I couldn't understand what was the laughing matter? Then she explained me the meaning of someone being a player: "he dated lots of women"

The next thing came out of mouth was "English sucks"

I am still laughing while writing this. Happy to learn a new thing.

[luke]

Ha ha, it reminds me of an old Faulty Towers episode (did you ever watch that). Lots of misunderstandings and double-entendres.

A bit of a player is the same idea as playing the field (which can mean single and looking).

[janestory]

It's really funny. Language is a lifetime study. If you don't live in an English speaking country, something you will never know.

Jane

[Cayte]

That is absolutely true.

I remember giving my husband a compliment after his hard-labour in my garden. I said, "Wow! You can still kick a bucket" meaning strong and healthy in Thai. In English, it means, "to die or stop working".

[luke]

That's interesting about the Thai phrase, I've never heard that. Have you got any other examples of different meanings in different languages?