Common mistakes in English by Finns

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:22 pm

If any of you know my girlfriend then you will of heard of this mistake before.

She was working in a university and sent out an invitation to all the new students for a welcome evening. Unfortunately she got one word wrong and was instantly a very popular girl (see e mail she sent below)

"Dear everyone, to welcome you to ******** university you are all invited to join us in the main restaurant from 6pm for wine and NIPPLES. Hope to see you all there later. "

The underlined word should have been NIBBLES.

I expect you can all guess the types of replies she recieved.

**Sponsor:**

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 3:24 pm

Jake wrote:If any of you know my girlfriend then you will of heard of this mistake before.

She was working in a university and sent out an invitation to all the new students for a welcome evening. Unfortunately she got one word wrong and was instantly a very popular girl (see e mail she sent below)

"Dear everyone, to welcome you to ******** university you are all invited to join us in the main restaurant from 6pm for wine and NIPPLES. Hope to see you all there later. "

The underlined word should have been NIBBLES.

I expect you can all guess the types of replies she recieved.

My wife lived in the UK for 4 years and I still have to say P or Double-P to distinguish P and B when spelling something out. She can't hear the difference.

strawberry · Post by **strawberry** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:20 pm

Jake wrote:"Dear everyone, to welcome you to ******** university you are all invited to join us in the main restaurant from 6pm for wine and NIPPLES. Hope to see you all there later. "

The underlined word should have been NIBBLES.

I expect you can all guess the types of replies she recieved.

Poor thing!!

Also, poor thing, as she'll NEVER hear the last of this one, eh?!

How about the "on/off" -> "open/closed" one?? I think that's pretty typical, too, and as many others, has to do with "direct translation". How many of you have heard a Finn say "Don't forget to close the telly/mobile" as opposed to turning it off? Or "open the telly" as opposed to turning it on?? In Finnish you can "avaa radio" but also you can "laittaa radio päälle" (päälle/pois = on/off)... Difficult to remember this one, for some.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 3:51 pm

Also, you "fire up" the light and "extinguish" the light or the oven in Finnish. I think that is due to historical reasons, but you won't fire up the radio or tv. But you also can put the lights or the oven on or off, but this is more referring to the position of switches - many people "turn" the lights on (if you see a 1930's light switch you know why), instead of flicking the switch. However I think the reason to "open" the tv or radio is because noise comes out of them so they are compared to "open the window" or "open the door".

Lau · Post by **Lau** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 10:52 am

FI: Ask from Anja
EN: Ask Anja

FI: Close/Open the TV
EN: Turn off/on the TV

FI: It depends from the country
EN: It depends on the country

PS: I might make mistakes myself, as my mother tongue is Italian...

feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

pierrot · Post by **pierrot** » Mon Oct 04, 2004 12:30 pm

Jake wrote:If any of you know my girlfriend then you will of heard of this mistake before.

She was working in a university and sent out an invitation to all the new students for a welcome evening. Unfortunately she got one word wrong and was instantly a very popular girl (see e mail she sent below)

"Dear everyone, to welcome you to ******** university you are all invited to join us in the main restaurant from 6pm for wine and NIPPLES. Hope to see you all there later. "

The underlined word should have been NIBBLES.

I expect you can all guess the types of replies she recieved.

Whats wrong with Wine and Nipples? Thats sounds great!

Frypan · Post by **Frypan** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:36 pm

Thanks for your comments. It's all going well, and we've been meeting every week.

Which reminds me, "week" is one problem word:
Week, sleep, meet, sweet <- the ee is a short sound. I've often heard "next weeeek...".

I just picked up a book called "Keywords: Englannin kielen ongelmasanoja" (by Mirja Attila, Andrew Chesterman, Liisa Oksanen WSOY 1979, 304 pages paperback) from the library used book sale. It has 350 problem words or word groups for Finns learning English. With lots of example sentences in Finnish and English. Looks handy for Finnish learners too.

I'll pluck out one example:

to gain

to gain experience = saada kokemusta
to gain strength = toipua
to gain an advantage = saavuttaa etu
to gain time = voittaa aikaa
to gain weight = lihoa

and then it goes on to explain the difference between "earn", "gain" and "deserve", with more examples of the others.

It has common mismatches: e.g.
tieto information/knowledge
open / turn on
tehokas efficient/effective

--Fry

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:02 pm

Thgose library booksales are sometimes treasure troves.

Len Matthews · Post by **Len Matthews** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 12:39 pm

Why English Is So Hard To Learn

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
I did not object to the object being moved.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
I shed a tear when I saw the tear in my clothes.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
The bandage was wound around the wound.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
The dump was so full it had to refuse refuse.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
They were too close to the door to close it.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

Lau · Post by **Lau** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 1:25 pm

Len Matthews wrote:Why English Is So Hard To Learn

Panda: eats, shots and leaves.

This at first glance may be tricky, so then where is the mistake?

From the book by Lynne Truss Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

dafd · Post by **dafd** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 1:53 pm

Lau wrote:
Len Matthews wrote:Why English Is So Hard To Learn
Panda: eats, shots and leaves.

This at first glance may be tricky, so then where is the mistake?

From the book by Lynne Truss Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.

Well clearly someone has mispelled shots. The o should be an i.

mookoo · Post by **mookoo** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:20 am

dafd wrote:
Lau wrote:
Len Matthews wrote:Why English Is So Hard To Learn
Panda: eats, shots and leaves.

This at first glance may be tricky, so then where is the mistake?

From the book by Lynne Truss Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.
Well clearly someone has mispelled shots. The o should be an i.

Frypan · Post by **Frypan** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:20 am

I came across this good page:

Common Mistakes in English

mookoo · Post by **mookoo** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 2:03 am

That sight has a bit of a condescending tone to it, just my opinion. But you can't take English too seriously. I know people in college here in the US who have "spoken" English their whole life and still don't know the difference between to, too, and two or there, their, and they're. Bascially, we know what you mean, so don't worry 'bout it to much

DAL · Post by **DAL** » Fri Dec 03, 2004 2:22 am

mookoo wrote:to, too, and two or there, their, and they're.

Their's a difference?

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