I'm honestly having a little trouble thinking of words or phrases that make me laugh. There are plenty of words and phrases that intrigue me, that anger me, that sadden me. But that make me laugh? I am almost at a loss.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I've decided that English is boring and that there is no such word or phrase in the language that really makes me laugh. So, instead I thought about words and phrases I know in French, and now I have a few more colorful ideas.
"C'est quoi ce bordel?" This one is bad, and it is not a phrase which is meant to be used in a polite setting, certainly. It is a curse word, and if you are exclaiming it at someone, don't expect them to respond happily. I've heard many a French person demand an answer to this question before, and each time it is hilarious to me. Essentially, it's the equivalent of asking someone "what the f***?" in English. Though to translate it literally, it means "what is this mess?" This phrase makes me laugh for a few reasons. First of all, I learned the phrase in a bar in France one night when my fellow drunk American friends and I asked the bartender to teach us bad words. I still have the Post-It note on which he scribbled it. I've never picked up rough slang in a more straightforward manner. Secondly, this phrase makes me laugh because it is something which an unknowing student could read and translate quite literally, without realizing the cultural connotation it holds. You'd think you are simply asking, "what is this mess?" and you'd have no idea what you had actually just done. And while that seems unlikely, it is actually pretty common to commit such a faux pas, and you never really learn how to gracefully bounce back from a situation like that.
"Coup de foudre" The translation and figurative meaning of this phrase is innocent enough, but that's not what makes me laugh about it. It literally translates to "a strike of lightning" and figuratively, it means "love at first sight". As in, when you meet someone and you are so taken by them that it hits you like a strike of lightning. I learned this phrase in a formal setting some years ago during one of my very first college French courses. However, it was not until a few years later that I would learn a phrase so similar in sound yet different in meaning, that a slight slip of the untrained American tongue would mean a lot of laughter and embarrassment for any person so careless. The reason this particular phrase makes me laugh is because "coup de foudre" is 100 percent pure and innocent. However, a lazy non-native French speaker accidentally adding extra emphasis to the last syllable could easily result in other people understanding "coup de foutre" and that one tiny letter change makes a world of difference. This phrase is totally sexual and should not be used in any social circle more formal than with your drinking buddies. I will let you Google the phrase for yourself and discover what it means. Let's just say, mastering the slight difference between the "-dre" and "-tre" sounds en français is extremely important in this instance, lest you give someone the wrong idea about how exactly you fell in love at first sight.
There are many other much more profound words and phrases in English, French, and many other languages as well that intrigue and captivate me with their etymology. But these two phrases in particular? Well, just thinking about their situational uses makes me giggle.
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