A Great Saying Mis-Said

I consider myself a pretty good English speaker, as my dad is a bona-fide gringo (although he considers himself 100% Puerto Rican) and for some reason I enjoyed US TV a lot more than Puerto Rican TV when growing up so I really started picking up the language quite early. I also have spent about 6 years living in the US, but I often get popular American English sayings mixed up. Whenever this happens, my friends and co-workers will quizzically look at me, think for a second on whether I'll be offended or not if they say something (I'm not) and then try unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh, at which point I usually say "That didn't come out right did it?" and have a good laugh. Here are some of the highlights throughout the years (some of them I shameless stole from my good friend Valeria).

• "Get off your sandbox" instead of "Get off your soapbox"
• "There are bones in my bag" instead of "There are skeletons in my closet"
• "Whatever tickles your fanny" instead of "Whatever tickles your fancy" (this is my all-time favorite)
• "We'll play it by year" instead of "We'll play it by ear" (Jamie's addition)
• This one isn't really a saying but it's hilarious nonetheless. The other day I was talking to some co-workers and I said "I have a bosom in my yard" instead of "I have a posum in my yard". I still crack up thinking about their faces (they were two males).
• "We got a wiener" instead of "We got a winner"
  

I know my old co-workers from Puerto Rico have TONS more of these so I'll be collecting them over time. Some of these include:

• "Water over the bridge" instead of "Water under the bridge"
• "Double edge soar" instead of "Double edge sword"
• "People is..." instead of "People are..."
  

I also have recently learned (by taking one of those personality tests) that I love to use metaphors to get a point across or teach a lesson, which in hindsight is totally true. In trying to communicate these metaphors (which are always a great addition to any conversation or at least I'd like to think so) I will often attempt to directly translate a Spanish/Puerto Rican saying into English, inevitably resulting in barbarities like these:

• "So much swimming to die in the shore" ("Tanto nadar pa'morir en la orilla")
• "Drowning in a glass of water" ("Ahogarse en un vaso de agua")
  

Then again, I'd like to see any English speaking person try Spanish for a day and see what happens. :)