Thursday, January 1, 2009

Bringing the kids around

Very funny faux pas today:

I called the neighbors regarding an upcoming event with the kids (more on it later), in which I will be accompanying the kids around the neighborhood. So I called the neighbor and wanted to say 'We'll talk later about when I will bring the kids around the neighborhood'.

Bring: bringen
around: um

Stefan knows where this is going.

So, the phrase 'Bring the children around the neighborhood' was translated by me as 'Die kinder um den Nachbarschaft umbringen'.

The only problem? 'umbringen' means 'to kill (a person)'. So I inadvertantly threatened the lives of the neighbors kids on their answering machine (i.e. to kill the kids in the vicinity of the neighborhood).

Luckily Guido, their dad, knows his sons and the exasperating effect they can have on adults well, and thought the whole thing was pretty funny.

*sigh*