An example of what I mean:
I, in China, told an English speaking Chinese friend I needed to stop off in the bathroom to “take a shit.”
He looked appalled and after I asked why he had that look, he asked what I was going to do with someone’s shit.
I had not laughed so hard in a while, and it totally makes sense.
I explained it was an expression for pooping, and he comes back with, “wouldn’t that be giving a shit?”
I then got to explain that to give a shit means you care and I realized how fucked some of our expressions are.
What misunderstandings made you laugh?
The asian term for it is ‘banana’. Yellow on the outside, white on the inside. (Before the pitchforks come out, I’m one myself).
As a black guy I’ve been called “Oreo” for the same reasoning.
It’s coconut for Indians and South Asians.