Two language stories

A's nieces and nephews range in age from 18 to 5, and most of them are learning English. Most are also really shy to speak English around us, because they're afraid to make mistakes. I always tell them this story to try and break the ice, hoping that they'll see mistakes happen and it's not that awful. I mean, can it get worse than this?

Story One: Poop.

First, some vocabulary:

Głowa (gwoh-va) - head
Gówno (goov-no) - shit

This was way back when I started learning Polish. I was visiting a friend for the weekend and had a headache. Instead of telling her that my head hurt, though, I informed her that my poop hurts. I don't remember the rest of the conversation, but I'm guessing it was interesting.

Story Two: Sputnik.

For the longest time, I also thought everyone here was weirdly obsessed with the Russian satellite. Everything was Sputnik this and Sputnik that, even though the rest of the conversion was not space-related. I finally asked about it one day.

There's a village next to our village called Płutniki (pwoot-nee-kee). Turns out, if you're from Płutniki, then you're "z Płutnik". If that's said quickly, then it sounds like Sputnik.

Well, that was kinda disappointing.

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