I remember sitting in a restaurant once with a group of friends. We’d been placed under a speaker that was blaring music, making it quite difficult to have any sort of conversation. When the waiter arrived, I ordered my meal and a Coca-Cola. “And could you turn that softer, please?” I asked, as I pointed to the speaker above my head. I noted his slight look of confusion as he wrote down the order, turned and walked towards the kitchen. Moments later, he was back. “Excuse me, Ma’am,” he said. “I’m just not sure I understand how we turn the coke softer.” Needless to say, everyone at the table burst out laughing as I clarified it was the music that needed to be turned softer, the Coke was fine as is.

With more than 8 billion people in the world, and thousands of different languages and accents, there are bound to be more than a few misunderstandings between us. Some miscommunications can have dire consequences and lead to mass chaos. Others are just plain hilarious. People have been sharing the funniest times someone totally misunderstood the words, picture or assignment.

Bored Panda has picked our favorites and compiled a list for your viewing pleasure. From a purse being mistaken for a dog, to some more than mildly embarrassing words being engraved on a metal plate, there’s enough here to have you rolling on the floor with laughter.

#1 In Fairness, That’s A Pretty Adorable Sleeping Purse

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#2 I Think There Was A Bit Of A Misunderstanding Here

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#3 Someone Misunderstood The Sign At Starbucks Today

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NPR tells the 1912 story of a Mrs. Joseph C. Yeager who flew into panic after receiving a wire from her husband. Mr. Yeager had been described as a “horseman, gambler and all-around plunger”. So it’s no surprise that when his wife “hastily scanned” a telegram from him while he was at the racecourse, she went into a spin.

“Broke. Even lost on Dollie,” she read, and immediately started doing damage control, unable to imagine a life without money.

#4 He Said He Wanted It Blank So Let’s Write Down What He Told Us!

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#5 I Got A Coconut Shake From A Local Burger Joint And Thought It Tasted Weird. I Looked At The Label Before I Threw It Away And Learned That There Was A Big Miscommunication In The Drive-Thru

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#6 I Believe That’s Meant To Be The Date

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NPR reports that Mrs. Yeager went out and pawned $35,000 worth of jewels. She only received $6,000 for them, but accepted out of desperation. Imagine her surprise when her husband rocked up at home with money in his pocket… “but not enough to get his wife’s jewels out of hock.”

As it turns out, the telegram had actually said “Broke even. Lost on Dollie.” According to media reports, the couple eventually divorced.

#7 Dad Made The Classic Mistake Of Buying Something On Amazon Without Checking It’s Size. We Now Have Two 10 Foot Lamps

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#8 I Just Found Out This Isn’t Me… My Parents Never Took Out The Stock Photo And It’s Been There For Like Ten Years

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#9 Supposed To Say “Our Little Jedi”

So had a cake made and she asked what I wanted put on it & I said “Happy Birthday to my little JEDI” (Star Wars reference). She clearly misunderstood me. I thought it was so funny I kept it like it was instead of having her fix it. My friend whose birthday it was (he is 45 years old) thought it was hilarious.

Image credits: whofarted24

Even big brands aren’t immune to missing the point. When Parker Pen released a ballpoint pen that promised not to leak, it was a hit. In America, at least. Their English ad slogan went along the lines of, “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” But when the pen was released in Mexico, someone either stuffed up big-time, or intentionally set out to take the p*ss.

It’s reported that Parker Pen “mistakenly” thought that the Spanish word for ’embarrass’ was embarazar. That word actually means “to be pregnant.” The result? An expensive campaign rollout with an advert that translated into “It won’t leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.” Oops!

#10 You Had One Job

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#11 Guess Who Thought The Soy Sauce Was Syrup This Morning :/

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#12 We’ve Been Trying To Teach Him To Drop Toys In The Bucket Before He Goes Outside. He Clearly Misunderstood

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Vehicles aren’t cheap to make, export or sell. So when automobile companies embark on a mission to sell their goods in another country, one would like to think that they’ve done all the research needed. It turns out that’s not always the case—and some big motor manufacturing brands have learned the hard way.

According to this hilarious but insightful e-consultancy blog post, “Mitsubishi launched ‘the masturbator’ in Spain, Toyota offered Puerto Ricans the chance to drive an ‘ugly old woman’, while nobody at General Motors managed to clock that ‘Nova’ (or No Va) translated to ‘It doesn’t go’.”

#13 Uh, It Was Supposed To Say “Happy Bastille Day”

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#14 Imagine Being In Line At Starbucks Glancing Up To Misunderstand What Was Taking Place. 🤦🏽‍♂️ My First Initial Thought On God Was… “Put It In Reverse Terry. Put It In Reverse.” 😂

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#15 I Made A Mistake And Bought The Wrong Gas Lift For My Chair

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The consultancy continues its post calling Kia out for its unfortunate oopsie in Brazil. “Although a popular model in other countries, the Besta van performed poorly in Brazil,” reads the site. “While ‘besta’ can mean ‘beast’, it also doubles as a rather derogatory term for an idiot.”

But it must be Ford that took the cake in the early 1970s. “The Ford Pinto is a relatively unremarkable name for a car at face value, and sold well in Europe,” explained the marketing and e-commerce platform. “But, in launching the imported model into Brazil, that they discovered ‘Pinto’ is Brazilian Portuguese slang for small male genitalia.”

After losing money, and face, Ford changed the car model’s name to Corcel, which apparently means horse or steed.

#16 My Friend’s GF’s Dad Sent Them An Xxxxl Cutting Board For Their Housewarming By Mistake

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#17 My Wife’s Thirtieth Birthday Cake Confusion

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#18 Best Wishes Suzanne. And Underneath That, We Will Miss You

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Keynote speaker and best-selling author Tony J. Hughes has a LinkedIn post about companies getting lost in translation. He lists a number of funny fails including this classic:

“Australian brewer Castlemaine launched its XXXX (‘four-ex’) beer in the USA using their trademarked jingle ‘I can feel a four-ex coming on’ which had proved so successful in the Australian market. Unfortunately the company was unaware that XXXX was the brand name of a successful American condom manufacturer!”

#19 My Sister Asked For A Nintendo Switch For Xmas… Her Boyfriend Must Have Misunderstood

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#20 I Once Saw Someone Order An Omelette With Muenster And They Got Scrambled Eggs Mixed With Mustard

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#21 Think They May Have Misunderstood The Point Of This Space

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Miscommunication, mistranslation, and mishaps are inevitable, even between those who speak the same language. “People bring their wants, experiences, likes, and dislikes to any communication interaction they engage in,” says interpersonal communication lecturer Anita Vangelisti, from the University of Texas at Austin. “The things they bring to any interaction affect how they interpret others’ communication and how they respond.”

#22 Should I Tell My Mom She’s Supposed To Take The iPad Out Of The Box?

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#23 Every Holiday I Get A Card From My Boyfriend’s Nan. It’s Supposed To Say ‘ To Jaz ‘… But I Feel Insulted

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#24 Really Thinking Outside Of The Box

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But the expert wants you to know that “miscommunication isn’t always a bad thing.” According to her, in some cases, miscommunication can actually be beneficial to your relationships.

“Romantic partners who are satisfied with their relationships engage in a form of miscommunication,” explained Vangelisti. “They often interpret each other‘s communication more positively than it was intended. In this way, miscommunication can help us keep our relationships happy.”

#25 My Mom And Dad Stayed In A Hotel Last Night. My Mom Didn’t Understand How The Microwave Was Supposed To Work

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#26 This Cake Deserves Two Nobel Prizes In Different Fields

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#27 So I Came Out The House At 5 This Morning And I Saw This Bloke Leaning On A Wall With A Walking Stick I Thought He Must Be Out Of Breath. Just Went Back Out And He’s Still There I Shouted Mate You Alright? No Reply, So I Walked Over To Check On Him And Its A Trampoline Net Hanging Over The Wall

Image credits: No-Glove1428

#28 These Are Supposed To Be Pillsbury Croissants But I Didn’t Know That I Had To Physically Shape Them Croissants Before Putting Them In The Oven

I thought they’d magically be croissants when I took them out. So now I have bread shaped like right triangles.

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#29 I Spelt Out My Name (Jeremy) 4 Times For The Girl At Carvel And She Still Managed To Spell It Wrong

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#30 When I Was A Freshman, During Homecoming, We Had A Black And Blue Day. I Misunderstood The Assignment. The Opposing Team Had Black And Blue Colors

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#31 More Alarming To Me Is The 127 Unread Texts

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#32 Yesterday, I Asked My Coworker To Send Me A Description Of The Investors I’ll Be Meeting Today. This Is What He Sent Me

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#33 Love My Mom To Death But

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#34 This Made Me Laugh

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#35 Does He Know How Expensive Avocados Are?! Why Would He Complain About Free Ones?

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#36 Same! I Have To Wear A Suit Because I Was Too Anxious For A First Timer. Meanwhile, My Seatmate Was Wearing Casual Pants And Shirt

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#37 Misunderstood My Last Amazon Purchase

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#38 Assuming This Is A Community College Course

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#39 Hahahahaha I Love This

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#40 The Time This Boyfriend Made It Apparent He Had One Thing On His Mind

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#41 I Loved This For Him, Not So Much For Myself

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#42 I Wish This Was Fake. Meet Jenn

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#43 My Favourite Store, Louie’s

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#44 Really Tickled Me How She’s Put It Uni Front Of Her Desk

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#45 Lots Of Luck In International Travel After That One

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#46 As A Fellow Speech Impediment For R’s As Well I Feel So Bad For This Kid. His Parents Gave Him The Worst Name Without Realizing It

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#47 Was At My Kid’s School For A Costume Parade. One Dad Misunderstood In The Best Way Possible

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#48 Potluck Misunderstandings

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#49 My Fiance Tried To Have Our Groceries Delivered Today. She Said She Wanted Five Bananas And Somehow The Woman Misunderstood And Bought Thirteen Pounds Of Bananas

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#50 I Think He May Have Misunderstood The Mask Requirements

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#51 That’s Some Strong Straw You Got There

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#52 Something I Would Do

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#53 Your Address, Mark

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#54 Best Thing I’ve Seen All Day

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#55 I Went To The Room Exactly Beneath The Correct One, Which Happens To Look Identical In Every Way

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#56 That Took A Minute But I Got It

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#57 Fully Accepted And Welcomed

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#58 Our Theme Was ‘Grease’…. I May Have Misunderstood

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#59 A Goose Family Calmly Hanging Out With The Scary Wolf Statue That’s Supposed To Deter Them From Doing Just That

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#60 I, Too, Misunderstood My Amazon Order

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#61 I Think They Misunderstood The Sign

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#62 Best Of Craigslist Gem: “Whether It Was A Misunderstanding Or What, The Stone Wall Was Not Included In The Free Items Offered Up On Craigslist. Please Bring Back The Stones And The Pillars, As These Belong To Our Landlord, And The Wall Was Of Sentimental Value.”

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#63 Super Defensive

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#64 My Mom Thought She’d Ordered A Carton Of Cigarettes Online

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#65 Mommy Misunderstood The Assignment

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#66 Oh What A Misunderstanding. English Is Her Second Language

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#67 Who Needs Doorknobs?

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#68 How Did Google Misunderstand This?

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#69 That’s One Way To Try To Find A Partner, Wonder How Many “Wrong Numbers” She’s Texted

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#70 Brown Eye Points

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#71 There Should Be Laws Against This

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#72 I Put My Merino Wool Sweater I Took Few Weeks To Make In The Washing Machine By A Mistake. Well, This Sucks

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#73 My Alexa Misunderstood Adding “Shrinky Dinks” To My Shopping List

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#74 My Dad (Trying His Best) Cooking Soup Made Me Laugh Quite A Bit. He Misunderstood My Mom’s Instructions Over The Phone While She’s Out Of Town

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#75 Peer Pressure

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