Feeling hot
In France, I popped into a restaurant to cool down as it was boiling hot and I had just been on a bike ride and was sweating like mad. When I tried to explain to the waitress that I was hot - Je suis chaud - she looked outraged and marched off, refusing to take my order. It was only later that I realised that I had said I was hot ... for her!
Editor's note: One to definitely look out for! To say you're feeling hot, in the context of temperature, you need to use avoir chaud, ie. j'ai chaud. Using être with chaud implies you're feeling 'horny'!
Sent by: Charlie
Comments
While living in France, I went to a French school, my worst public blunder was when one day, in lunch line I declared 'je suis chaud' (instead of saying 'J'ai chaud') meaning to say 'I'm hot' ... thanks to the large group of boys in front of me in line I realized that I had in fact said 'I'm horny' at the top of my voice!
I have a friend who made a similar mistake while trying to tell her (female) hairdresser that she liked the haircut: Je t'aime, I love you, rather than Je l'aime, I like [the haircut].
I did the same thing with a neighbour who grinned his head off. When I got home and realised my mistake I hid from him for a week!
I lived in Germany and was sick one day, so wasn't thinking properly. I said Ich bin heiß, ich muss ins Bett gehen, hoping to say 'I'm feverish, I need to go to bed' but instead saying 'I'm horny, I need to get to bed.'
You need to watch out with the hot vs. horny in Spanish as well; a friend of mine, sitting in the livingroom of her Spanish parents in law, declined an offer to have tea with No gracias, estoy caliente. What she should have said was Tengo calor.
Touring France and Spain on my motor bike, I stopped off for lunch. I fancied some pork but I couldn't remember the word, so I did an imitation of a pig much to the amusement of the staff and the other diners. I was given a good handshake by everyone when I left the restaurant.
I am really glad to have discovered this. I have told my French neighbour's wife many times that je suis chaud and worse still, I have said it to her husband and her son.
Similarly, if one is feeling cold, one mustn't say in German ich bin kalt, which means "I am frigid". The correct phrase is mir ist kalt.
Reading the errors made in French also reminded me of foreigners also making mistakes when speaking English - many years ago I introduced my Swedish girlfriend to my mother I'm pleaased to meet you she said, then added I'm on heat - she meant to inform my mother that it was a hot day! My mother afterwards said to me, you sure know how to pick 'em.
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