I took an introductory German class in ninth grade and really enjoyed it (the first blossoms of my grammar nerdity). One morning, Herr Mann was giving a lesson about the weather and going over all the relevant vocabulary. I asked for a pass to go to the bathroom, and when I returned, Herr Mann was reviewing a list of terms on the board. He asked me, “Sarah, imagine it’s a sunny day, and you feel sweaty. What would you say?”

I scanned the words on the board, and saw hot = heiss.

“Ich bin heiss,” I answered. Literal translation: “I am hot.”

The class erupted in laughter. Heat crept into my cheeks, and I wrinkled my brow in confusion.

“Ich bin heiss means ‘I am hot sexually,’” explained Herr Mann. “You should have said, ‘Mir ist heiss.’”

How the flip was I supposed to know that? I scowled at Herr Mann for preying on my ignorance and never asked him for the bathroom pass again.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 10:50 am and is filed under Friday Flashback. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can trackback from your own site.