As language learners, I’m sure we all have our fair share of experiences where we misheard words or get them mixed up for something else.

Well, in this post, I would like to share two short stories of my experience with mixed up words when I was a student in Amman, Jordan a few years ago.

Luckily, my experiences weren’t that embarrassing but I still chuckle every time I think back on those moments.

Story #01:

So, one evening, I was in a friend’s car and we were heading somewhere when he suddenly slowed down. I looked ahead and saw that there were traffic policemen stopping vehicles and conducting checks.

When it got to our turn, my friend rolled down the window next to me and instinctively showed the policeman his I.D/driving license.

The policeman glanced at the card, said nothing and then looked at me. I simply looked blankly back at him, not quite sure what to expect in a situation like this.

A second later, he was still looking at me and I looked back at him. And then suddenly, it dawned upon me that perhaps he was waiting for me to show him my I.D.

So I was like “oh, okay”, bent forward and reached towards my bag that was placed near my feet. I fumbled my hand inside my bag, trying to locate my wallet and it was then when I heard the policeman speak.

“Enty maqloubeh?” [انتي مقلوبة؟]

(Okay, obviously he did not say this, but this was what I heard)

I sat back up and went “Eh?”.

The policeman glanced at my friend and by this time, my friend was already grinning from ear to ear.

To make the situation more confusing, the policeman then stood upright and waved us off, indicating that we were now allowed to leave.

My friend raised his hand towards the policeman as a gesture of thanks and then drove off.

Great. Like what in the world just happened?! I looked over at my friend. He was still grinning like a small boy.

And in my head, I was like “Did the policeman just said ‘maqloube’? Isn’t that a type of food?! Why would he say that?!”

So, in the end, after pestering my friend for an explanation, he finally gave in and revealed the actual word.

And it was ‘maTloube’. [مطلوبة]

So…the policeman was actually asking if I was wanted by the police.

#truestory

Okay, I know…super lame but it still cracks me up every time I think about it.

Nice move, Mr. Policeman 😏

By the way, ‘maqloube’ is a traditional Palestinian and Jordanian dish. The word itself literally means “upside-down”.

Source 

And true enough, the dish is served upside-down. Yummy!

 

Story #02:

At the time of this story, I was already living in Jordan for more than half a year. Students from my language center were typically on a three months intensive course and I’m the only crazy odd one out who was there for an entire year.

So basically, my point is that the teachers at the center were no longer teachers to me. They are my friends.

And there was this particular teacher named Hadeel, whom I like to joke around with and we would do silly things like playing tic-tac-toe. She liked to think she’s the winner but most often, the game ended in a draw.

So anyway, one day, I arrived a bit early and as I was waiting for my teacher to begin the lesson, Hadeel came in and challenged me to a game of tic-tac-toe. Random, I know.

But she won and then she said ‘ghalabtek’ [غلبتك] which means “I beat you” or “I defeated you”.

She won so it made sense for her to say that.

The thing is, at that point in time, I didn’t know what the word meant.

All I heard was a word with the غ – ل – ب roots and I don’t know why, but I thought she said غلّبتك (with the shadda).

I was familiar with the second word which is often said in the context of “sorry for the inconvenience/trouble”.

There are many polite responses to that phrase so I decided to practice one of the responses that I knew.

With much confidence, gusto and absolute no regard to the context of what was happening, I replied:

 

ghalabtek raaHa

غلبتك راحة

Yes, I actually said ‘غلبتك راحة’ which loosely translate to ‘the inconvenience/trouble goes away’ and thus carries the meaning of “not a problem/ it’s no trouble at all”.

I can still remember Hadeel’s face going ‘WTS, that was not what I meant’.  😂

~~~

Whee! That’s it, folks!

I hope you enjoyed the two tales of my mixed up words experiences.

If you have ever experienced a similar situation when you got words mixed up, leave a comment and share it with me! I would love to hear it 🙂

Till then, take care and I see you around in the hosh,

Lyn

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