On 6 June, 15:25, Bill Hayles wrote:
On Fri, 5 Jun 2009 11:57:22 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Jack Taylor
writes
Someone on (the much missed) Radio 4 programme "Home Truths" told a
story of seeing a house in the North of Scotland whose name was the
Spanish for "To Let". * They conjectured that the owners had seen such a
sign on a house while on holiday in Spain and thought it was a "nice
name", not appreciating its meaning.

I could go on for hours (and off topic) about the gaffes British expats
make when (mis)interpreting Spanish but one of the best is the chap who
put his name in bold letters at the entrance to his house.
To all the world, he proclaimed C O Jones.

And because I can't resist it (and it's true) there's the story of some
redoubtable pensioners who sold their home jam at a local market. *One
week a Spanish lady brought a jar back because it was mouldy. *One of
the ladies replied:

"Lo siento, estoy muy embarazada". Es que falló el preservativo."

(To save you all rushing for Google Translate)
"I'm sorry, I am very pregnant. *The condom burst."

A similiar problem when turning down food in France with "Je suis
pleine".