Hellobee Boards Topic: If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?

Hellobee Boards Topic: If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:32:36 +0000 SugarplumsMom on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-286386 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:55:36 +0000 SugarplumsMom 286386@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I wish I overheard stuff! A lot of the Asians that live here speak Swedish and not English so people actually expect for me to understand. So what is that, the opposite of ease-dropping? Sob. edelweiss on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-286368 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:47:28 +0000 edelweiss 286368@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @spaniellove: glad your stepmom said something! i heard a group of young women debating in korean whether our pug was ugly or cute. i turned around and told them in (muddled) korean that of course she was cute. luckily it was all lighthearted and no offense taken. meredithNYC on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-286345 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:37:37 +0000 meredithNYC 286345@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @spaniellove: Wow! What kind of grown woman snarks on a teenager's body? What an unbelievable a-hole. birdofafeather on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-286301 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:21:28 +0000 birdofafeather 286301@https://boards.hellobee.com/ i have a poor understanding of italian, but while abroad in prague, we stayed at an italian hotel (random, i know) and i heard one employee cuss out another. :) Alivoo01 on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285975 Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:00:44 +0000 Alivoo01 285975@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I overhear conversations at Chinese markets and restaurants from older people and always giggle because the profanity they use is just absurd sometimes. The way you curse someone in Chinese is way beyond anything you can say in English. It's hard to translate to the hubby when he inquires. Mrs. Jacks on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285282 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:20:08 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 285282@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @travelingbrit: Calling someone fat is more of a term of endearment in Latin cultures :) tequiero21 on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285274 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:12:27 +0000 tequiero21 285274@https://boards.hellobee.com/ not really. but the real question is, what did the agent say??? wheres_c on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285249 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:03:01 +0000 wheres_c 285249@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My SO's grandma called me fat in Spanish. Ugh Mrs. Pen on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285227 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:56:37 +0000 Mrs. Pen 285227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @spaniellove: oh no!! that's so sad! @nodakiddo: bahaha so funny. I love it. I don't speak another language :( but my sister does and nobody expects her to be fluent in Spanish (she is SO fluent that people ask her where she's from!) and she overhears all sorts of things. prettylizy on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285216 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:53:08 +0000 prettylizy 285216@https://boards.hellobee.com/ French is too common around here so I haven't heard anything I wasn't supposed to, but I do overhear things. BSB on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285209 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:50:29 +0000 BSB 285209@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I hear stuff sometimes when I'm out and about. I can't speak it very well so I usually ignore it. My DH knows Spanish so he hears some funny stuff. Arden on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285195 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:46:48 +0000 Arden 285195@https://boards.hellobee.com/ ALL the time, when I'm in Albania. Plus flight attendants and airport staff in Germany and Austria. SAHM0811 on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285146 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:30:55 +0000 SAHM0811 285146@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Yeah, in NYC especially, Filipino nannies in the parks and playrooms never thought I could understand what they were saying. ha! Rubies on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285099 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:12:54 +0000 Rubies 285099@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @mrbee: Oh noooo. It was bad stuff. True, but bad. :( mrbee on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285095 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:12:08 +0000 mrbee 285095@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Rubies: ha did you tell your friend?? Rubies on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-285084 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:08:47 +0000 Rubies 285084@https://boards.hellobee.com/ The Korean community in Toronto is insane in that there's like 2 degrees of separation. One day I was on public transit and I heard two Korean ladies gossiping about the daughter of someone they knew, who happened to be a friend of mine! I was shocked! LazyLightning on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-284995 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:50:40 +0000 LazyLightning 284995@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My friend speaks spanish and we entered a coffee shop once, where while waiting for our drinks, the spanish-speaking baristas were making some lewd comments about certain parts of our bodies to eachother. When she went up to get her drink, she thanked them for their comments (in spanish)--they seemed pretty embarrassed. spaniellove on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-284983 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:47:39 +0000 spaniellove 284983@https://boards.hellobee.com/ When I was in high school, I overheard a lady from my church telling my stepmom's friend she thought I had fat legs. I told my stepmom, who confronted her, and she said she was sure I misunderstood because how could a kid understand Korean that well. My stepmom told her I understood Korean perfectly and maybe she should worry about her own legs :) Mrs. Jacks on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-284959 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:41:51 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 284959@https://boards.hellobee.com/ An exes mom always used to speak about me in Cantonese having no idea that I'd picked up a fair amount in the high school I went to where 30% of the students were from Hong Kong. I didn't like some of the things she said about me, but it was nice to know where I really stood and that her attitude towards me changed over time :) mrbee on "If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-speak-a-foreign-language-do-you-ever-overhear-stuff-youre-not-supposed-to#post-284952 Thu, 06 Sep 2012 19:39:28 +0000 mrbee 284952@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My Japanese isn't great but it's good enough that I can follow a lot of conversations I'm not supposed to overhear. When we were checking into Japan Air Lines, our gate agent called another gate agent about whether or not we could have the bulkhead seats and from what he was saying, he clearly never conceived that I could understand Japanese. That sort of stuff amuses me. If you speak a foreign language, do you ever overhear stuff you're not supposed to? What's the most random thing you've ever overhead?