Eso sí que es! That’s what it is!

Do you know what Eso si que es means? No, it is not a funny way to spell SOCKS. It actually means “That’s what it is!”. This kind of ‘eso si que es’ moments keep happening with us when we finally get to know the real meaning of a misheard or misread quote or saying. In a reddit post, a man recounts that when he was a child, he thought his father said, “Knowledge is power. France is bacon.” And after several years when he finally read it somewhere, he realized his father said ‘Francis Bacon’. So, France is not bacon.

Credit: RaphaelMoreno0601, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Someone was genuinely confused with the slogan, “Help brain injured children”, and they asked, “Why would you brain an injured child?” I would say, punctuation is very important! And there are times when context and cultural familiarity matters too. For example, ‘kinderkopjes’ is a Dutch word that means those little round stones or cobblestones. But if you really take the word apart it means children’s heads, and they named it such because those stones resemble children’s small heads. So, you definitely wouldn’t be able to walk over ‘kinderkopjes’ if you only used a literal translation!

Speaking of translation software, there can be so many misunderstandings because of them. When the Covid 19 pandemic was at its peak and vaccinations were being provided to counter it, the FAQs regarding the vaccination were translated from English to Spanish in Virginia probably using one of the free translation websites. As a result, “Vaccinations are not mandatory” got translated to mean “Vaccinations are not necessary” in Spanish. Dangerous error! A similar but not dangerous translation misunderstanding occurred with the Pepsi campaign in China, where “Come alive with Pepsi” got translated to mean “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead”! Moment of Ctrl-oops!

Sometimes, our brain botches things unintentionally, and we believe it until we find proof of our misinterpretation. Several people still make these mistakes: –

Blessing in the skies –> Blessing in disguise
Although a blessing from the skies is also welcome!
360-degree change –> 180-degree change
A 360-degree turn is back to the same position.
Nip in the butt –> Nip in the bud
We want to nip the bud of a problem, not nip its posterior!
Prostrate cancer –> Prostate cancer
It is easy to misspell it by adding that extra ‘r’. But adding that ‘r’ literally makes it cancer of lying face down!
Wet your appetite –> Whet your appetite
Whet your appetite means to stimulate your appetite. You do not want to “wet” it. That may have the opposite effect.
Peaked my interest –> Piqued my interest
If your interest is peaked, then it has reached its summit. So, there is nothing more of interest to you. Rather, you want something to “pique” interest or stimulate your interest.
Escape goat –> Scapegoat
No goats have escaped in misspelling this phrase!
On tender hooks –> On tenterhooks
This one surprised me as well. Although it does convey the meaning, it is hard to understand how a hook could be tender. Rather, it has stemmed from the word tenterhooks, which means hooks on which wool is stretched which leaves it tender.
Scott-free –> Scot-free
Unless you are describing a space with no guys named Scott, you should be using scot-free instead.
You can have your cake and eat it too –> You can’t have your cake and eat it too
This misinterpretation has completely flipped the original meaning of the phrase.

Sometimes, we misunderstand words during conversations which makes for some hilarious situations. Once an old guy said to a woman, “Gonna be 81 tomorrow”. She replied, “I hope so”. She thought he was talking about the weather; he wasn’t 🤣. I have read of people mishearing the Italian phrase “Buon Appetito” for “Do you want a potato”, and “Soup or salad” for “Super salad”. It took me years to realize that it is “By and large” and not “by enlarge”, and that media talked about “Guerrilla wars” and not “Gorilla wars”. This is similar to the scene when Joey from the sitcom Friends said, “moo 🐄 point” (moot point), or when Gloria from the sitcom Modern Family said, “Doggy Dog World” (Dog-eat-dog world).

Among all these, what takes away the cake for me are misspelled signboards that tell you: –

to “Satanize your hands” instead of “Sanitize your hands”
you can park “30 mints” instead of parking for “30 mins”
you should pay your parking fees before “existing” instead of “exiting”
to “slow drively” instead of “drive slowly”
that the swimming pool is closed due to the “David-19” situation!

I am not kidding with these. Check them out here! What are the “Eso sí que es!” moments you have faced? Comment and tell me!

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