#1 2012-02-01 19:28:26
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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- From: Cairo
- Registered: 2011-11-18
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funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
I know we've all seen them everywhere in Egypt. Newspapers, advertisements, stores, libraries, Government buildings, schools etc.... The funniest one I've seen; from al-Waseet, "looking for a good looking 'physio the rapist'!!!!
Anyone seen anything else?
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#3 2012-02-03 00:00:29
- Reiziger
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
I had seen on a menu: fried viagra... I litaraly had to LOL..
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#4 2012-02-04 10:02:29
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
yeah I've seen that on lots of menu in Egypt, the Viagra sandwich. I think it's a sandwich with shrimp or something, it's at Cookdoor. And if I remember correctly right next to it is the bikini sandwich. Not really an 'English mistake' that I intended but definitely FUNNY
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#5 2012-02-04 22:41:56
- Amr Mekawy
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
I seen a sign more than once actually with "....for Mens" on it
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#7 2012-02-08 23:26:07
- FaReSALandlos
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
mobile shop, with the a big sign MB4 and MB3 for sell but this is not very funny i will try to remember funny things, maybe listening to me saying i sbeak london very best will be funny 
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#8 2012-02-09 15:26:12
- Abdulaziz H.Ghazouly
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- From: Gizah
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
The funniest Egyptian mistake is pronouncing the word "people" as "be-bull" 



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#9 2012-02-11 04:39:45
- missa.mohie
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
funny!
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#10 2012-02-11 10:34:26
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
just drove by a pick up truck that had written on it... JUMPO
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#11 2012-02-14 19:57:35
- me.expat
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
yes egyptias do not diffrentient beten letter B and P. So they are always BARKING thei cars :-)
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#12 2012-03-06 22:17:57
- unpretentious
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
In "Bob" sushi restaurant you're gonna find in a menu "volcano crap roll". I was laughing my head off!
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#13 2012-03-07 15:19:52
- Reiziger
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
unpretentious wrote:
In "Bob" sushi restaurant you're gonna find in a menu "volcano crap roll". I was laughing my head off!
Hahaha nice one!
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#14 2012-03-09 17:22:47
- chocolata
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- From: Rehab city
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
takeaway that has chicken carry, and also chucky the toy shop that would scare any kid away lol.
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#15 2012-03-11 11:00:26
- Zary
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- From: Cairo
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
I like this topic! I went to a clinic in Obour and the sign read: Reciption instead of Reception LOL! I couldn't contain myself it was just too funny!
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#16 2012-03-15 01:45:11
- missa.mohie
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
unpretentious wrote:
In "Bob" sushi restaurant you're gonna find in a menu "volcano crap roll". I was laughing my head off!
FUNNY!!!!
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#17 2012-03-16 21:46:45
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
at a certain "American International" school the sign to the principal's office was spelled principle..... not so hilarious except for the fact this was supposed to be a place of education and they couldn't even spell the word correctly!
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#18 2012-03-17 02:52:13
- zegazoly
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
ExpatEnglishTeacher wrote:
at a certain "American International" school the sign to the principal's office was spelled principle..... not so hilarious except for the fact this was supposed to be a place of education and they couldn't even spell the word correctly!
It is a disaster actually 
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#19 2012-03-18 23:15:34
- alimirza
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- Registered: 2010-04-09
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
Another common mistake in pronunciation
The = Za
That = Zat
B = P
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#20 2012-03-18 23:48:28
- Geely
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
EgyptiOn instead of EgyptiAn
Last edited by Geely (2012-03-18 23:49:54)
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#21 2012-03-19 13:57:22
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
alimirza wrote:
Another common mistake in pronunciation
The = Za
That = Zat
B = P
Yeah but that's not because of problems with English that's because of you're Egyptian colloquial Arabic. For some reason or another (maybe you guys are afraid of sticking your tongues out) you don't pronounce ث (tha) instead you say a sound more closer to س (sa). So for the average Egyptian he's not used to sticking his tongue out, which is required to pronounce the 'th' sound properly.
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#22 2012-03-19 15:19:11
- Abdulaziz H.Ghazouly
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- From: Gizah
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
Perfect analysis Expatenglish teacher 
ExpatEnglishTeacher wrote:
alimirza wrote:
Another common mistake in pronunciation
The = Za
That = Zat
B = PYeah but that's not because of problems with English that's because of you're Egyptian colloquial Arabic. For some reason or another (maybe you guys are afraid of sticking your tongues out) you don't pronounce ث (tha) instead you say a sound more closer to س (sa). So for the average Egyptian he's not used to sticking his tongue out, which is required to pronounce the 'th' sound properly.
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#24 2012-03-24 09:42:08
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
happyguy wrote:
hello everyone
ExpatEnglishTeacher! i want to tell u something
i have as american friend , he laughed so much when he saw my name
my name is ahmed ....... al-waseef
and now u say its so funny , i dont know that is name is funny like that![]()
![]()
I don't get it
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#25 2012-03-24 14:27:02
- Reiziger
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
He is probally just a very Happyguy....
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#26 2012-04-25 16:54:21
- Coodles
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- From: Cairo
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
Hi guys!
One of the funniest things I have also seen, was a road sign with missing letters.
It said: LOW PEE LANE
- It was supposed to be (Low Speed LANE).
It actually makes sense as I see a lot of people pee under road signs and all-over
.
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#28 2012-05-06 10:15:41
- fawny
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- From: hurghada
- Registered: 2011-08-02
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
local bar has a menu that serves most meals with ships (chips)
student just wrote 'i want to go to France to see the Evil tower'!!
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#29 2012-05-08 04:08:16
- Geely
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
loool!
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#30 2012-05-17 04:14:48
- sema.sh
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- From: Cairo
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
i do believe that my English is poor and i mean really poor .. but i sure know the difference between
THINK
&
Sink 
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#31 2012-05-17 05:05:06
- Cenlin
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- Registered: 2012-05-12
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen

lol, this topic is sooo funny actually. however bad my English is, I'm still laughing
that's a brilliant idea ExpatEnglishTeacher
But, C'mon man, at least we still able to be understood
that's even better than being totally unable to pronounce some letters as foreigners do with Arabic
if we made a competition about "how fluent you are", Egyptian with poor English would win
Last edited by cenlin (2012-05-17 05:14:13)
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#32 2012-05-17 13:54:58
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
I think yor right. Egyptians would win but some of us foreigners do know Arabic by the way:) however i think There is a difference. The english mistakes that are made are in writing by supposed professional companies not individuals making mistakes during conversation. This topic is just for fun. Actually someone started one for funny Arabic mistakes and I myself have had a lot of those
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#33 2012-05-17 15:12:53
- Cenlin
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
ExpatEnglishTeacher take it easy man, i was only kidding with you, i definitely know how hard is Arabic, and u know, the hidden part is that we're really proud of the one who can only say "Ahlan" u dunno how we love to hear an Arabic word from a foreigner 
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#34 2012-05-17 18:34:36
- JCairo
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
I agree with Cenlin foreigners tend to be quite arrogant here and make fun of the level of English of some Egyptians while after years they still cannot pronounce one word of Arabic..
But to participate to this topic, as a recruitment professional i receive many emails of persons who are looking for a "jop", or who want to be a "manger".
Concerning my Arabic mistakes, until not so long ago, i was always confusing mazbout and mabsout, asking for a shay mabsout 
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#35 2012-05-17 19:05:26
- Cenlin
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
JCairo"A happy tea" 
I don't think u faced a problem, i think that the guy could still able to guess what do you mean, u didn't go far away 
gonna tell you something, on Egypt, When we wanna order "Shay Mazbout" i even dunno how to order it on English
(tell me plz)
we say "Shay kham.Sina" which means proper tea with proper sugar.
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#36 2012-05-17 20:08:31
- ExpatEnglishTeacher
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- From: Cairo
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
Definitely agree with you guys about ignorant and arrogant foreigners making fun of the fluency of egyptians yet they are guests in Egypt. They should be the ones who try to speak the language of the country.
But again there is a slight difference here. Were not speaking about communication mistakes, im. Speaking about professional mistakes such as an american school writing principle, or an advertisement for physio the rapist. These are suppose to be professional organizations not everyday ordinary locals.
It's a two way road when it comes to Egyptians and foreigners, everyone has their own ridiculous problems. One thing i noticed about Egyptians is they like to do everything the hard way and one thing i noticed about westerners is they look down on others as if they're automatically better by birth rite.
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#37 2012-05-17 20:34:11
- Cenlin
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
yeah,ExpatEnglishTeacher Gotcha, we're just making some fun 
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#38 2012-05-20 11:20:56
- Mina Samy
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Re: funniest 'English' mistake I've seen
Nice topic 
i read once a ( koll me option) for home delivery
)
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