Today, I was in a market in France, and went to ask the seller for some potatoes. I speak fluent French, but I got flustered and instead of saying "pomme de terre", which is the French for potato, I said "pomme de merde". I literally asked for an "apple of shit". FML
Kaddiscott
Marco, Italy
Kaddiscott tells us more.
Kaddiscott 11
Hi guys, OP here. I speak fluent french, I just had a little blunder. This was actually like a few months ago when I was on France on holiday, and yeah the seller gave me a funny look and we had a giggle, but then I said, ooops and that I meant to say potato. It was soooo embarrassing, my parents never let me live it down FML hahahah
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Top comments
chutney_02 22
Hopefully he has a sense of humour
samuelbeathard 15
I'm currently learning another language and I know how a little slip up can make a big difference. A slight change in pronunciation can change "My house has 2 big rooms" to "My sister has 2 big testicles".
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Comments (137)
FML_Elle 17
Well I'm sure if you had a heavy foreign accent he or she knew you didn't really want an apple of shit.
Kyuzomi 12
Except it wasn't the accent that gave it away, it was the fact that OP clearly said the wrong word because he/she was flustered.
bellebe1998 16
My anus is bleeding...
summerguy97 16
Wait does that mean that potato in French translates into dirt apple or apple from dirt?
Mshrodes 13
#68, terre is French for ground, not dirt. It's literally "apple from ground"
TheTacoMan 24
Apple of ground not from #71
OptimusVader 23
I think this is one of the more educational FMLs. I just learned two new words in french. :)
eyepuppy 31
@71 Terre is French for earth. The literal translation is apple's of the earth. Not that it really matters, but ground is another word entirely.
Mshrodes 13
#77, I said "from" because in French what we mean is that it comes from the ground. But it's true that "of" is more appropriate if we want a literal translation :) #88, sorry but I insist, it is definitely not Earth, in French Earth is Terre with the T capitalized. And that's not how it's written in "pomme de terre". Also, I've looked it up the dictionary, and apparently dirt can actually apply, so my bad, I didn't think dirt could have that meaning. However, the word used in agriculture is soil apparently. So it would be "apple of soil" :)
Mimi12589_fml 10
Yeah well next time just say 'patates' and you'll be good !
Tsuky_fml 4
#88 "ground" has several translations in french : "le sol" or "la terre" as in "the ground under our feet". So the word "la terre" can be translated into "the Earth" when we talk about the planet (in this case, there is a capital T at the begining => "la Terre") or "ground" (under our feet) or "soil" (more agronomic vision. literally the thing we can pick with our own hand) In the word "pomme de terre", it's obviously not the planet sense. It's wether ground or soil. refering to the place it grows.
eyepuppy 31
90,99, earth does not have to mean a planet. the translation of earth in this phrase refers to land. you are right, though. if Terre was capitalized, it would refer to the planet.
C7_fml 17
yes....I can see that from your profile pic
chutney_02 22
Hopefully he has a sense of humour
JMichael 26
Or isn't that fluent in French.
AnOriginalName 19
Yes, #20, because a French seller at a French market in France isn't expected to be fluent in French.
killmenow03 21
Well duh, he obviously speaks Japanese.
JMichael 26
It's kind of like English being your first language and you still can't speak it. So in a relative theory it can happen. Although I do appreciate the sarcasm.
trickmick12 11
Hopefully the seller wasn't a jerk and asked for clarification.
Mackay92 14
If the seller did ask for clarification how is that being a jerk
mallu86 9
#19 you don't get it. You just took it the wrong way. Think positive and read it again and you'll get it.
Mackay92 14
My bad the way i read it was wrong
mxij 13
Maybe, but he's also French. They can be very condescending towards people with improper French.
miianah1 22
Your life isn't ******, OP. Worst that happened is he glared and asked for clarification. Btw, I noticed you live in Italy. Which probably means you speak Italian, as well as French and English. Impressive.
tourtinet_fml 14
#72 "hey can be very condescending towards people with improper Frenc" I'm French and I think that condescending peoples are cheeky ! our english level ( yes, my english level too) isn't not exactly great either.
Sir_ND_Pity 35
Hey, don't knock it until you try it!
Rozay333 36
Dont feel bad. Happens to the best of us.
TheTacoMan 24
"That's Life" is what she said if you are to lazy to translate it.
BoltTheSuperdog 22
And "say la vee" is how you pronounce it in case you were too lazy to look it up.
kc_bbg15 14
You aren't the only one
YellowKettleBell 31
Yum.
speakersboom 19
"omelette au fromage"
Vladash 14
Hey, gotta love French!
Trym 7
I guess there's a reason I failed french. That, and poor studying.
leary96 15
It doesn't matter how well you speak their language they respect you for the effort.
Zebediabolical 45
Unless they're in Quebec City. In that case they don't care about how hard you try. If there's any hint of lack of fluency or non-quebecois accent, they'll mess with you.
parism143 28
Not just Quebec City, trust me. This happens everywhere in Québec except for Montreal, because the city is half anglophone so the inhabitants don't really care all that much.
viau 13
yep ! tu as raison! (you are right) ps: in quebec city they can't speak english at all, well poorly. i know i lived there for 6 years and im french.
ProctorKProducti 5
Actually they'd rather you speak English than botch their native toung
Zebediabolical 45
In QC if you speak English you get treated worse than if you're an abo.
fleckney26 25
In French, potato directly translates to apple of ground or apple of the ground. And if shit means a similar thing as shit, it's easy to see how he could get confused