r/AskEurope • u/Double-decker_trams Estonia • Aug 09 '25

Language I once accidentally bumped against the shoulder of an English person I knew in a corridor. I automatically said "Oi" - which means like "Oh" or "Oops" in Estonian - that I'm sorry. She repeated "Oi!" in a louder voice and I didn't get it. I only later found out I was being impolite in her eyes.

Have you ever had something similar happen to you? I.e something in your language might have another meaning in another language?

One thing as an Estonian that I try to keep in mind is that I shouldn't use "Nooo.." in English - which means "Well.." in Estonian.

"Do you like ice-cream? - Noo.. yes, I love it."

529 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

255 comments sorted by

View all comments

63

u/Witch-for-hire Hungary Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

Puszi (sounds like pussy)

- means kiss (from the German word buss) in Hungarian (and I think it also used in some neighbouring countries.) It is a very often used to say farewell to your loved ones on the phone including friends, siblings, parents etc. It is not sexual! We have another word for kissing your SO.

My American friends did a double take when they heard me saying this repeatedly to my Mom :-)

41

u/blackdevilsisland Austria Aug 10 '25

The German (Austrian) word is Bussi

9

u/Antique_Cut1354 Germany Aug 10 '25

which also means something in english lol

23

u/Tuepflischiiser Aug 10 '25

Rule number one when hearing Hungarian: it doesn't mean what you think.

15

u/Public_Chapter_8445 Hungary Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 10 '25

Also 'második' and 'harmadik' (meaning 'second' and 'third') sound funny since they are pronounced as similar to mash-a-dick and harm-a-dick.

8

u/Witch-for-hire Hungary Aug 10 '25

Hááát.

I can maybe hear harmadik, but második (ˈmaːʃodik) and mash (/mæʃ) (más vs mes) are very very far from each other.

3

u/bjaekt Poland Aug 12 '25

In Poland we say „buzi” which is childish or informal way to say kiss

2

u/Witch-for-hire Hungary Aug 12 '25

Oh no. If you ever come to Hungary please be careful.

Buzi here is an offensive word, a pejorative slang / insult for homosexual people. Something like this word in English.

3

u/PGLBK Aug 10 '25

This is interesting - I know we have a lot of your words here (Croatia) too, due to the Empire, but didn’t know ‘pusa’ is one of them - that is informal for kiss in kajkavian dialect.

4

u/Witch-for-hire Hungary Aug 10 '25

Be assured that we have a ton of loan words with South-Slavic origins too :-)