A Slip of the Tongue

Here’s another example of how easy it is to screw something up quite innocently because of a slight mispronunciation.  One of the first things you learn here is qǐng wèn, which means literally “may I ask” but is used how you would say “Excuse me” in English, like “Excuse me, do you have a menu?” Note the accent marks over the words, qǐng is a curved tone, wèn is a downward tone.

Then there’s another word, qīn wěn, which means “kiss,” but more specifically “french kiss.” Note the tones, qīn is a flat tone, and wěn is curved.  Now qǐng and qīn are different words, but to the western ear they sound very, very similar.

So, if you want to ask a waitress for a menu and want to say “Excuse me, waitress?” You can very easily say “Excuse me, french kiss!”

Now that’s embarrassing.