English Pronunciation Gone Wrong: At the Airport

We have all done that familiar lean-in as we strain to better hear and understand when conversing with somebody who has a slight accent in English pronunciation.

Humorous (and sometimes problematic) incidents can occur while our foreign friends attempt to convey a message about any given subject matter.  What often ensues is a comedy of errors that nobody expected.  Eventually, the entire conversation, based on a huge misunderstanding, turns into laughter.  Such incidents often give rise to fond and funny memories.

SEE ALSO: English Pronunciation Gone Wrong at the Restaurant

This brings to mind the story of the middle-aged couple who was traveling from their country to visit America.  While in line at airport security, the husband asked his wife for the lip balm in her purse.  The security agents overheard the man’s request, and before the elderly couple could blink, there were security agents all around them.  They were promptly escorted to an interrogation office, and all flights were canceled for the next couple of hours.  While in the Security office, the husband was able to get a word in and asked why the authorities had not allowed him to take a simple stick of lip “balm” from his wife.  The embarrassed security supervisor became angry with his staff at the thought that all airline activity had been halted due to a simple request for a tube of Chap Stick.  The supervisor explained that his staff thought they overheard the man asking his wife for “the bomb.”

English Pronunciation Or French Sign Of Affection?

Another comical story occurred when a young newlywed couple was en route to their much-anticipated honeymoon in Paris, France.  They had scrimped and saved their money for a couple of years in order to have the perfect wedding and a lavish honeymoon.  They even took a short course in conversational French.  In between their public displays of affection, they would utter short little phrases of love, in French in an effort to practice for their trip.  At one point, the wife stood up needing to visit the lavatory.  As she walked to the back of the airplane she turned to her new husband and said, “Je t’adore,” to which her husband replied, “What?” By the look on his face, she could tell he could not hear her so she shouted, “Je t’adore!” At that moment, many of the passengers on board either hit the floor or scrambled to check the emergency exits to make sure they were closed.  They had no idea that “Je t’adore” means “I love you” in French.  Many passengers went into panic mode, thinking they heard her scream out, “Shut the door!”

Mispronounce “Insurance” and you get an injection

While at an American airport, a young executive from overseas stopped at the rental car counter to pick up his vehicle.  Seemingly rushed and stressed, he told the counter-person he also wanted to purchase “insulin” right away as he was on a tight schedule.  Within minutes, there were paramedics around him with a gurney in tow.  The representative had panicked and called 911 because she thought he was having a diabetic attack.  He was actually asking to buy insurance!

A man traveling from Spain inquired about what time his plane would land.  He was telling the flight attendant he needed to arrive at the “chicken counter” in order to be on time for his next flight.  The flight attendant asked him if he needed to buy poultry, but the man waved his ticket at her in frustration.  She said, “Oh, you mean the check-in counter!” They both laughed.

A little boy was traveling with his parents on a family vacation from Europe to Florida.  During the middle of the flight, he discovered his first loose tooth.  After noticing his parents had fallen asleep, he flagged down the flight attendant yelling out his problem of having a “loose tooth.” The frantic flight attendant misunderstood his pronunciation because he had a heavy accent.  She proceeded to run around looking for a plastic bag or receptacle of some sort thinking he had said he had “loose stools.”