A tourist sparked a bomb alert at a Lisbon restaurant when he confused the Portuguese words for “pomegranate” and “grenade” while attempting to order a drink.
The 36-year-old man, a Russian speaker from Azerbaijan, found himself handcuffed and surrounded by armed police after a language app gave him the wrong translation for the fruit juice he was trying to buy.
According to the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã, the tourist used his phone to translate the Russian word for pomegranate and then wrote a sentence in Portuguese so staff at the restaurant in the Cais do Sodré district could understand his drinks order.
But the waiter read the inaccurate note as a threat and, fearing the customer was saying he had a grenade, called the police.
As an American who came of age after 9/11, we really don’t need a drink called an Irish car bomb. Also that’s pretty offensive.
How…impatient. Fear mongering has lead to this.
In recent years a type of dessert became popular in Izmir called Bomba Tatlısı (“Bomb Dessert”). Whenever I carry some and go through security in the airport, I remind myself not to use the actual name if they ask what’s inside my bag.
Crippling fear + xenophobia + hallucinating nationalists claims coupled with 0 common sense. Yup checks out, it’s Portugal. Next time, chose a better country to order a cocktail.
Quite logical mistage, the word for “grenade” most likely comes from the french word “grenade” which means “pomegranate”, because first grenades looked like pomegranates.
It’s hilarious and very sad at the same time, poor poor man. Thank god the police weren’t trigger happy!
And this remember me the joke about the Moldavian which put an entire airport terminal flat to the floor when he shouted loudly to his wife/ gf of Russian origin “Alla , hai la bar!”
English: Can I have a pomegranate?English: Can I have a grenade?
Spanish: ¿Puedo tener una granada?
They both translate the same. Waiter has simply been a jerk.
**update**. it was in Portugal, I thought it was in Spain for some reason. In Portuguese they are different words. Waiter still seems like a jerk, no way they don’t know these words are the same in Spanish and French.
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***The Telegraph’s James Badcock reports:***
A tourist sparked a bomb alert at a Lisbon restaurant when he confused the Portuguese words for “pomegranate” and “grenade” while attempting to order a drink.
The 36-year-old man, a Russian speaker from Azerbaijan, found himself handcuffed and surrounded by armed police after a language app gave him the wrong translation for the fruit juice he was trying to buy.
According to the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã, the tourist used his phone to translate the Russian word for pomegranate and then wrote a sentence in Portuguese so staff at the restaurant in the Cais do Sodré district could understand his drinks order.
But the waiter read the inaccurate note as a threat and, fearing the customer was saying he had a grenade, called the police.
**Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/30/portugal-tourist-arrest-confuse-pomegranate-grenade-words/**
A Cocktail please, how you say… Molatov?
As an American who came of age after 9/11, we really don’t need a drink called an Irish car bomb. Also that’s pretty offensive.
How…impatient. Fear mongering has lead to this.
In recent years a type of dessert became popular in Izmir called Bomba Tatlısı (“Bomb Dessert”). Whenever I carry some and go through security in the airport, I remind myself not to use the actual name if they ask what’s inside my bag.
Crippling fear + xenophobia + hallucinating nationalists claims coupled with 0 common sense. Yup checks out, it’s Portugal. Next time, chose a better country to order a cocktail.
Quite logical mistage, the word for “grenade” most likely comes from the french word “grenade” which means “pomegranate”, because first grenades looked like pomegranates.
It’s hilarious and very sad at the same time, poor poor man. Thank god the police weren’t trigger happy!
And this remember me the joke about the Moldavian which put an entire airport terminal flat to the floor when he shouted loudly to his wife/ gf of Russian origin “Alla , hai la bar!”
English: Can I have a pomegranate?English: Can I have a grenade?
Spanish: ¿Puedo tener una granada?
They both translate the same. Waiter has simply been a jerk.
**update**. it was in Portugal, I thought it was in Spain for some reason. In Portuguese they are different words. Waiter still seems like a jerk, no way they don’t know these words are the same in Spanish and French.
I will order a “bombe glacée” then.