An example of what I mean:
I, in China, told an English speaking Chinese friend I needed to stop off in the bathroom to “take a shit.”
He looked appalled and after I asked why he had that look, he asked what I was going to do with someone’s shit.
I had not laughed so hard in a while, and it totally makes sense.
I explained it was an expression for pooping, and he comes back with, “wouldn’t that be giving a shit?”
I then got to explain that to give a shit means you care and I realized how fucked some of our expressions are.
What misunderstandings made you laugh?
My work once sent me to Madrid. I only have some high school Spanish.
I had a cold at the time and soon ran out of cough drops. My coworker told me where I could buy some more, and what to ask for.
When I got to the store, apparently I misremembered what he told me to say. I said to the woman, “quiero caramelos de mentales.”
She looked at me confused. I tried again, slower: “caramellos…de…mentales?”
She seemed a bit alarmed. She said something in Spanish. I said “lo siento, no comprendo.”
She called over her coworker, who asked me “what are you looking for?”
I said, “cough drops.” She looked confused. “Cough…drops? What is it?” I tried “caramelos de mentales” again, no success, just confusion.
Then I remembered I had some wrappers in my pocket so I pulled one out and showed her. Suddenly they both beamed with understanding. “Ohhh! Caramelos mentolados! You were asking for ‘brain candies.’ She thought you wanted something illegal.”