Cactus writing competition October 2012: winning entry
Tuesday, 8th November 2011
Congratulations to Bridget Price, based in Mexico, for sending in her winning entry for our competition themed 'language blunders & cultural faux pas' - one which had us laughing out loud in the office! Thank you Bridget, and we hope you enjoy your prize money of a £50 lastminute.com voucher!
Oaxaca, Mexico
“How do you say congratulations?” I whispered to Bruno between a tightlipped smile.
“Felicidades,” he said in an undertone.
If I didn’t stand out enough as the only güera (Mexican slang for fair-skinned girl) at the wedding, with my Cambodian back tattoo and dragon etched into my shoulder, I would now: “Felicidades Cuche Buche!!!”
I smiled at the bridal table, hoping that no one would say anything in Spanish, as all I knew was how to nod and say, “yes” or “it’s ok”, my staple response for everything. They seemed startled, but I just kept repeating, “Felicidades Cuche Buche Boy!!!”
A year later, sitting in a local dimly lit bar, a friend handed me his cell phone. I bellowed into the receiver, “Cuche Buche, what’s up?”. The table sang with laughter. I felt the sharp sting of paranoia. Is my Spanish that bad? My friend asked me if I knew the significance of “cuche” to which I replied, “Of course, it’s his name … I called him that at his wedding.”
He smiled, “Cuche means pig. And Buche means mouth.” Pig Mouth. I had been calling him Pig Mouth for a year now. I called him Pig Mouth Boy in front of his wife and children. I called him Pig Mouth Boy in front of his conservative and well-mannered mother. His coined nickname among friends, which I thought had a strange ring to it, was very different to his actual birth name Fernando.
This would be up there with New Year’s Eve on the Oaxaca coastline. I recall skipping from face to face, raising a shot glass of mezcal and hollering, “¡Feliz ano!” In Spanish there are two n’s, there is the n that I used, and then there is the ñ with the eyebrow. If you omit that eyebrow sound on the ñ, then Happy New Year becomes Happy Anus. I had wished half the beach with their Bob Marley spliffs and laid back smiles a … Happy Anus!
To see the runners-up entries, simply visit: http://www.cactuslanguagetraining.com/en/english/view/cactus-writing-competition-october-2012-runner-up-alex-wolfson and http://www.cactuslanguagetraining.com/en/english/view/cactus-writing-competition-october-2011-runner-up-tobias-hoerl/
Tags: language blunders, writing competition, faux pas
Posted by Sarah Watkins 2011-11 under Anecdotes,
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