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English is particularly infamous for such situations. Most notably, 'butt dial' and 'booty call' being literal synonymous in terms of individual words.

My (German immigrant) mother wanted to redecorate her dining room and bought feminine napkins because those sounded really pretty and like exactly the sort of thing she would want on her dining table to pretty it up for when she had company.

Yeah, no. She had a rude awakening when she got it home and opened the package.

As a child, I remember asking my mother not to buy feminine napkins, because I didn't want to wipe my mouth with flowery ones anymore.

> In both German and French, douche means shower.

In German, I have seen the word "Dusche" used for shower. Rarely, have I seen "Douche" been used.

It is basically pronounced the same, or at least close enough for a German acquaintance to have the described misunderstanding with her doctor. I was trying to keep things succinct and not have to go on some long tangent about the different spellings in different languages.

But you are correct. It is actually spelled different in German than in French or English.

Very similar in spanish: ducha.

More problematic are several terms from legal language that mean a different thing for spanish speakers

The English and French version are pronounced like doosh. The German version is pronounced more like doosha. Final e in German is not silent. It is a schwa sound. It looks like Spanish would be closer to the German pronunciation.

>> (Je sui pleine) and all conversation at the table came to a dead halt as this is a very vulgar expression for pregnancy along the lines of "I'm knocked up." Then they realized it was a weird Americanism and moved on.

Wut ? In which century ?

> A tiny little French teacher of mine did a year of study in Paris.

France

In which century ?

Mid to late Twentieth Century. I was told it was the sort of thing you didn't even use for talking about human pregnancy. It was typically used to talk about animals, hence why it was so shocking.

Yeah its true indeed for cats. Weird cause i cause i could see a girl say that also to actually say shes full.

Nevermind fun anecdote anyway

I've said so in another thread a few weeks ago, but as a french, if I hear a woman say she's "pleine", I'd take it as her saying she's drunk.

This means "I'm full" in Quebec.