Being both a language learner and teacher, I am accustomed to mispronunciations and interesting uses of common words. I have committed quite a few of these linguistic mishaps myself, but this one takes the cake.
On Tuesday, I was talking to one of my students before class about Hurricane Sandy. Because the class had yet to start, we were talking in Spanish because it was more comfortable for her. Earlier that morning, I had read an article about a heavy snowfall in West Virgina and thought it would be interesting to tell her about that. Unfortunately for me, what came out of my mouth had nothing to do with a snowfall, resulting in an incredibly interesting mental picture for the both of us. The conversation went a little like this:
Me: "Y también han caído unas neveras tremendas."
Student: "Nevadas."
Me: "Sí, eso es lo que quería decir."
Student: "¿Sabes qué son neveras, verdad?"
Me: "Sí, pero como son palabras tan paracidas, me he confundido."
(Translation)
Me: "And some tremendous refrigerators have fallen."
Student: "Snowfalls."
Me: "That is what I wanted to say."
Student: "You know what refrigerators are, right?"
Me: "I do, but because the words are so similar that I got them confused."
The two of us had a really good laugh at my expense. It shows that everyone is susceptible to linguistic mishaps and that it's okay to make mistakes.
Word of the Day
English: refridgerator / Spanish: nevera
English: snowfall / Spanish: nevada
