I was standing under the Central Pich Tree today, language exchanging with an ever growing book of mostly teenage boys. I would teach them something in English, and they would teach me something in Mayan.They asked me how to say Ko'ox Jana' in English, and when I told them it roughly translates to "Let's go eat," they all burst inexplicably into cantankerous laughter. After about a minute of this, I was able to calm one of them down enough that he could explain to me what had gone wrong.
Turns out, the word "lets" is used in Mayan for "lick" and our word "eat" sounds suspiciously like the Mayan word for "Ass." Not exactly something you want to say to a bunch of teenagers!
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