Afrikaans

I got off to a bad start with afrikaans, when Carin told us about an english friend visiting a restaurant in Cape Town, who had wanted to compliment the waitress on the cuisine. Mischeviously they told him that 'jy het oulike boudjies' (prounounced something like 'yite oleker bokis') means 'the meal is delicious'. What it actually means is, 'You have a nice bum'.

Unfortunately this useful phrase has stuck in a way that all those years of Latin and Greek have not. Even more unfortunately, by my third pint I generally become convinced that it would be a witty and amusing thing to say to the inevitable SA girl behind the bar. Which generally it isn't.