I once couldn’t recall the English word for the German word “Cabrio” – which is, of course, convertible.

All I wanted to say was that I love driving around in a convertible in nice weather.

What I actually said, was:

I just love to go topless !!

Made perfect sense to me. The reaction of my, mind you AMERICAN!!!, friends was somewhat irritated ))

I had a friend who thought we were making fun of her German, only to realize afterwards that she had asked the author if he was planning to get undressed (sich ausziehen), rather than planning to move (umziehen).

My grandmother got disconnected on the phone once, and tried to tell the operator. Who told my grandmother if she had just been castrated, she had better call the hospital.

Funny in retrospect, always humiliating at the time…