15+ Stories About Mothers That Have a Great Sense of Humor

My mom was notorious for being bad with languages. She routinely mixed languages for no reason, but she always tried to use a few words, often with insane results. The best example was when she visited me in Dakar, Senegal. I had learned some Wolof (the local language) and could speak French very well, but despite my mom asking me to teach her some phrases, she kept getting things mixed up. I told her that I would translate for her, and at the markets, everyone spoke English. I wandered off, but suddenly heard my mom yelling, “NO, NO, NO.” I ran over and saw her waving her arms, saying, “NO, NO, NO,” in the face of a trader, who was shoving 3 bracelets into her face. The trader turns to me and says in French, “What does your mother want? She keeps saying NO, 3, no, 3!” My mom then starts repeating, “No, NYET, NO, NYET.” I suddenly realized the problem — “nyet” in Russian means “no,” but “nyet” in Wolof means “3.” Why on Earth she thought she could use Russian in Senegal is beyond me. © Siobhan Green / Quora

ncG1vNJzZmiaop60qcDSopueZp2afKK%2B06KapZ2jZH52edKtpquhlah6oq7OrqtmpZ%2Bptaa%2B0maroZmkYrWiwsRmmGafopqutXnSnqWsnV2ks2601Kamq2VoZX1xfI9o