Quotes / My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels

"Oxens are in my bed. Many, many oxen."

— Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory^note He was probably trying to say "Friends are in my car. Many, many friends."

Rimmer: Holly, as the Esperantinos would say, "Bonvolu alsendi la pordiston? Lausajne estas rano en mia bideo!" And I think we all know what that means.
Holly: Yeah, it means, "Could you send for the hall porter? There appears to be a frog in my bidet."

—Red Dwarf, "Kryten"

Lee: Those girls drove away because of you!
Carter: Man, all I did was invite them for a drink.
Lee: You invited them "to get naked and sacrifice a small goat".
(Beat)
Carter: Which word was "goat"?

—Rush Hour 2

Ganner Rhysode (in Yuuzhan Vong disguise) Pol dwag, kane a bar. [(phrase unknown), dung of a rotting meat maggot]
Yuuzhan Vong: Kanabar? [Low-caste person]
Ganner: Dwi, kane a bar! [Yes, dung of a rotting meat maggot]
Yuuzhan Vong: Yadag dakl, ignot! [(Meaning unknown, but certainly an angry response)]

— Star by Star

Douglas: Can you speak Italian, Jen?
Jen: A tutti piace l'odore dei gatti.^note Everyone likes cat smell.
Douglas: Very impressive!
Jen: I ragni.^note Spiders.

—The IT Crowd

Dominic: Rusty? Okay, say "Hi, my name is Donovan Deegan" in Orcish
Donovan: Fruit. My name is little pink man who wears pink. ^note That actually is his Orcish name, though he used to think it meant "Bringer of peace and joy".

—Dominic Deegan, and one of his father's better attempts at speaking the Orcish language.

Waseem: (reading the message) I will be wearing a white shirt and— See this word here? It's a kind of spicy goat cheese.
Michael: My Urdu's a little rusty. I was trying to say "black pants".
Waseem: Well, at least you got the name of the restaurant right.

— "Trust Me", Burn Notice

"Hey, sparkling teeth, I totally love three of your claws but not the others, and I wish your nose was a herring so I can eat it, and also your wings sound like sharks snoring."

—Tsunami communicating underwater, Wings of Fire

"This is Dave. He's trying to learn a language the traditional way. But they only teach him boring grammar and phrases he would never use. It's not going well.
This is Cindy. She's learning a language with FluentU. It teaches her through real-world content like music videos, movie trailers, and the latest news, so she learns how the language is actually spoken. Every word and phrase is defined in context, so she can pick up on the little nuances that other methods miss. Meanwhile, Dave misses all the nuance, which is why he just said something wildly inappropriate."

— This FluentU ad

After the paunch comes the dance.
Of the hand to mouth, one lose often the soup.
To look for a needle in a hay bundle.
To craunch the marmoset.
To buy cat in pocket.

— From "Idiotisms and Proverbs", in English as She Is Spoke

"Jessie, nobody in Paris says 'the chickens are shining their shoes'."

—Ravi, Jessie

"Hasta la vista! Feliz navidad! Hasta gazpacho!" ^note Goodbye! Merry Christmas! Until vegetable soup!

— The Soldier, Team Fortress 2

Lori Mackney: "Well, Jean Thomas, with a soft 'J', if you are from Montreal, how do you say, 'If you practice hard, you may one day win the Stanley Cup' in French?"

Andy Larkin: (disguised as Jean Thomas Larkin) "Er, tes orielles sont se grandes, que tu ressembles a la Coupe Stanley."^note Your ears are so big, that you look like the Stanley Cup.

— What's with Andy?, "What's with Jean Thomas?"

''Parlez vous, c'est la vie, allez-vous? No, a mon dieu, fromage? I don't know any..."^note Do you speak, it's life, go you? No, a oh my god, cheese?

— "Fluttershy", Vannamelon, "Fluttershy Plays There Is No Game"

Emily: [writes in French to Camille] I'm very sorry you hurt. You welcome me to Paris, I'm happy for your friend. Do you believe I miss me? I like you most, daughter. I am sad that I am naughty. I forgive your lost heart. I very need you to talk and hear, please. Love forever, Emily.
Camille: [responding to Emily's letter in French with another one] I don't understand why you did what you did, just like I don't understand a fucking word in your letter. Leave me alone, you illiterate sociopath.

— Emily in Paris

Duncan: Et voilà! [sees the Avions gasp]
Stratos: What do you think you're saying when you say that?
Duncan: Uh, "there it is"?
Stratos: [Whispers the meaning to him]
Duncan: Gasp! I am so sorry!

— He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021)

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