As I have mentioned before, I grew up in a French environment and didn't learn much English until I was 17. I took a 6-week crash ESL summer program at York University in North York, ON before enrolling in an English CEGEP (Quebec's pre-university college). I then did 6 years of studies in English (2 years CEGEP + 4 years of University). English became my preferred language for technical speech, but I did not learn much English outside of school environment.
In 2001, I moved Ottawa for my first job after graduation. Ottawa is a beautiful small city, only 190 km away from Montreal. Being the capital of Canada, it was bilingual though it was located in an English dominant province.
One day, my colleagues and I went out to lunch. They chose a restaurant called "Cock'n Bull Pub & Eatery" not too far from work, on Richmond Road. From the outside, the sign shows a rooster on top of a cow. "Oh, that's right", I thought, "coq is a rooster in French, cock must be the English equivalent." We saw down and looked at the menu. I chose the burger called, "Pig and Bull Burger" - hamburger plus bacon. The waitress came and took our orders. My colleague Darrell ordered the "Cock'n Bull Burger". I opened the menu curious to know what it is... Is it chicken burger plus some beef? I read the description quickly scanning for some chicken, I didn't see... so I asked the waitress out loud, "Where's the cock?" Darrell covered his eyes and my other colleague Cindy kicked me. The waitress laughs and says "Don't worry, I've been asked that question many times."
Yes... I didn't know what cock was in English slang... and how was I supposed to know? They don't teach that in school ;)
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