History Main / MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels

* In ''Film/Deadpool2'', Deadpool claims to be unable to speak Cantonese, but says something from eighth-grade Spanish; "Donde esta la biblioteca?" which the subtitles translate to "Where is the library?" However, Deadpool claims it's actually "I don't bargain, pumpkin-fucker."

* PlayedForDrama in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLTN-MAGFp8 this]] PublicServiceAnnouncement from the UK. A young woman from Eastern Europe is trying to buy groceries and go about other tasks of daily life but instead makes lewd prepositions and offers of sex due to her poor command of English. This costs her a job interview. The WhamShot shows that was a former SexSlave and the only English words she knew were related to [[TheOldestProfession prostitution]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'': In the episode "Mousetrap" during the celebration party, Matrix accidentally pulls out his gun out of reflex and almost shoots Ray, so two of the Web Riders (whose language consists of high-pitched beeps) try to come at him. Ray tries to talk in their language, but the subtitles reveal he says "Handbag, teakeetle, barbeque". One of the Riders is naturally confused, but the other seems to catch the gist that he was trying to say they should calm down.

* The ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' is the TropeNamer: the confusing and increasingly offensive sentences come from a maliciously written English phrasebook for Hungarians. Examples include "I will not buy this record, it is scratched" written instead of "I'd like to buy a pack of cigarettes, please" and "My hovercraft is full of eels" for "I'd also like a box of matches" -- what a scheme! Moreover, the correct phrases are evidently matched up with very offensive meanings in Hungarian, given the reaction. The writer is later seen being prosecuted for this in another later sketch, after causing misfortune to scores of hapless Hungarians while visiting the UK.

* ''Website/TheOnion'': "Area Man unsure if Southerner is looking for 'Pawn Shop' or 'Porn Shop.'" On Creator/{{Fox News|Channel}}, Niel Cavuto made that mistake completely seriously.

Whether or not this is TruthInTelevision depends on the language. Examples include tonal languages such as [[UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage Mandarin Chinese]], specific [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend "false friends"]] such as the Spanish word [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike "embarazada" meaning "pregnant" and not "embarrassed" like an English speaker might assume]], and words whose meaning change based on context, like the German word for cold being "kalt," but saying "Ich bin kalt" doesn't mean "I am cold," but "I have a cold personality." But even then, mistakes are usually easy to sort out. If someone said "I like to eat pincakes" in English, you wouldn't assume that they are thinking of some sort of cake made from pins.

This is only rarely TruthInTelevision, mostly in relation to tonal languages such as [[UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage Mandarin Chinese]] and specific [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend "false friends"]], such as the Spanish word [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike "embarazada," meaning "pregnant" and not "embarrassed" like an English speaker might assume]]. Most of the time, someone who speaks a language poorly just [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue speaks it slowly, with a poor accent, and stumbling over vocabulary and grammar.]] Even if this does occur, the listener can usually tell what mistake the speaker made; if someone said "I like to eat pincakes," in English, you wouldn't assume that they are thinking of some sort of cake made from pins. There are also languages where a word's meaning can change based on context. For instance, the German word for cold is "kalt." A beginning German speaker might think "Ich bin kalt" would mean "I am cold," but instead it means "I have a cold personality," which won't win you many friends if you're new to the country.

This is only rarely TruthInTelevision, mostly in relation to tonal languages such as [[UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage Mandarin Chinese]] and specific [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend "false friends"]] (such as the Spanish word [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike "embarazada," meaning "pregnant"]]). Most of the time, someone who speaks a language poorly just [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue speaks it slowly, with a poor accent, and stumbling over vocabulary and grammar.]] Even if this does occur, the listener can usually tell what mistake the speaker made; if someone said "I like to eat pincakes," in English, you wouldn't assume that they are thinking of some sort of cake made from pins. ''In English'', "My hovercraft is full of eels" sounds nothing like what the speaker intended to say, but the mistake was made because it ''does'' sound at least somewhat similar in the language in question.

* The [[TheBible Biblical]] Book of Judges recounts the Gileadites ferreting out spies during a war with the Ephramites by asking them to pronounce the word "shibboleth", meaning the head of a stalk of wheat or rye, but also (appropriately in this case) conveying the sense of "flood" or "torrent" (12:5–6 in the KingJamesBible). In the Ephramite dialect of ancient Hebrew, the word sounded more like "sibbolet", thus giving us a useful word meaning, per TheOtherWiki, "a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another", and effectively making this trope at least OlderThanFeudalism.

* Similar to the Dutch example above concerning the pronunciation of the beach resort Scheveningen, here's a case within the English language that [[OrSoIHeard supposedly]] has been used in a war/spying situation (though Creator/BillBryson disputes this in his ''The Mother Tongue''). In UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland people in the North Down or east Belfast areas tend to pronounce "hand" as "hahn" and the letter H as "aitch" and also tend to be Protestant, whereas people in the South Armagh or west Belfast areas tend to pronounce "that" as "thet" and the letter H as "haitch", and tend to be Catholic. According to ''The Story of English'' by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil, members of the IRA and UDL ferreted out spies in the interrogation room by asking them to pronounce the 8th letter of the alphabet on at least a few occasions throughout UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.

* Similar to the Dutch example above concerning the pronunciation of the beach resort Scheveningen, here's a case within the English language that [[OrSoIHeard supposedly]] has been used in a war/spying situation (though Creator/BillBryson disputes this in his ''The Mother Tongue''). In UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland people in the North Down or east Belfast areas tend to pronounce "hand" as "hahn" and the letter H as "aitch" and also tend to be Protestnt, whereas people in the South Armagh or west Belfast areas tend to pronounce "that" as "thet" and the letter H as "haitch", and tend to be Catholic. According to ''The Story of English'' by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil, members of the IRA and UDL ferreted out spies in the interrogation room by asking them to pronounce the 8th letter of the alphabet on at least a few occasions throughout UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.

*** 痴漢 is a Japanese phrase for a molester, and is romanized as "chikan". "Fried Chicken" is a loanword in Japanese and doesn't have an actual word for it, but the pronunciation in Japanese of "フライドチキン" is similar to 痴漢 (cheek-een vs cheek-ahn)so it's highly likely that Akamatsu was making a pun using the two.

Also, according to GoogleTranslate, the actual Hungarian for "Can I please buy some matches?" is "Kérhetek pár gyufát?", which when reversed, comes out in English as, much more sensibly, "Can I have some matches, please?"

** This all [[TruthInTelevision actually happened]] up till the punchline. In reality, it was innocuous, but they chose not to sing it because Ethiopians don't speak Swahili.

* Similar to the Dutch example above concerning the pronunciation of the beach resort Scheveningen, here's a case within the English language that [[OrSoIHeard supposedly]] has been used in a war/spying situation (though Creator/BillBryson disputes this in his ''The Mother Tongue''). In UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland people in the North Down or east Belfast areas tend to pronounce "hand" as "hahn" and the letter H as "aitch", whereas people in the South Armagh or west Belfast areas tend to pronounce "that" as "thet" and the letter H as "haitch". According to ''The Story of Englis'' by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil, members of the IRA and UDL ferreted out spies in the interrogation room by asking them to pronounce the 8th letter of the alphabet on at least a few occasions throughout UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.

* Similar to the Dutch example above concerning the pronunciation of the beach resort Scheveningen, here's a case within the English language that [[OrSoIHeard supposedly]] has been used in a war/spying situation (though Creator/BillBryson disputes this in his ''The Mother Tongue''). In NorthernIreland people in the North Down or east Belfast areas tend to pronounce "hand" as "hahn" and the letter H as "aitch", whereas people in the South Armagh or west Belfast areas tend to pronounce "that" as "thet" and the letter H as "haitch". According to "The Story of English" by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil, members of the IRA and UDL ferreted out spies in the interrogation room by asking them to pronounce the 8th letter of the alphabet on at least a few occasions throughout TheTroubles.

--> '''Crabtree''': [[CatchPhrase Good Moaning!]]

'''Jack''': You're looking at him, Del.\\