My Tamil Goof Ups Could Fill a Book

1. Setting- Skit with the theme of Yamlok. Chitragupta begins every sentence with "Arasu"
After trying hard to follow what is going on, yours truly asks her colleague, why is he using Rice before every sentence?
Arasu means king, Arasi means rice.

2. Setting- The fish seller comes to the door step and asks if we want Yera. MIL says no and she walks off. I get excited and call her back saying I want to eat Yera.
Me- Why is yera looking like prawn.
MIL- Because this is prawn.
Me- But I want that fish you made last week
MIL- That was Sura
Me- I wanted Sura not Yera
The scene ends with very dirty looks from the fish seller.

3. Setting- This was when I was in college and my Tamil vocablary was limited to a few words like po, ille, aiyo.
I was in my then-not-my-hubby's house and there was a small girl doing all sorts of naughtiness, not eating food etc. Every sentence people spoke to her was like- eat, else, Pune, come ...Pune. I constructed the whole conversation as she must eat this type of food because in Pune she will not get it, or before going to Pune she must visit again, etc.
Then just to do some small talk I asked- when are they going to Pune?
It took a while for then-not-my-hubby to explain that they were talking about the stray poone (cat) that had found it's way into the house.

4. Hubby asked his Mom- What is for dinner
MIL- Soar
Me- Wow, soar is there
Hubby- Why are you so excited?
Me- Mutton you meant right?
I don't know by what logic I had derived that soar means Mutton while it actually means Rice

5. This was in college. A group of boys were trying their hand at hindi "bad words" to try on 2 of us hindi-speaking girls. Then-not-my-hubby was among the lot who were using them.
To take revenge I asked one of the boys who was apparently supporting us to teach me some Tamil swear words.
He asked me to tell Na Orru Paithyam and explained to me it meant You are mad.
I repeated with a whole lot of forceful vengeance thrown in my expression.
The class burst into laughter and I realized that Na means I & Nee means You.

6. MIL- I don't have a sari here, need to get it from my apartment (in Tamil)
Me- Naa Vaangita Vera(my rendering in Tamil, which according to me means I will get it from your house)
MIL- No need to buy, I have at home.
I repeated what I had said earlier.
MIL- You mean Erthite va (you wll bring it)

Believe me, there are many more such goof ups in everyday conversations...