I’m in the final stages of The Flu From Hell: The Return when my body is trying to cough up my lungs.  It is unpleasant not just for me, but for everyone around me who has to listen to it.  This evening I decided to give in and buy some Hustensaft, which is the German word for cough medicine, although it literally translates to cough juice.  Best word ever, right?

So I got my German all ready to face the pharmacist and ask for a cough medicine for a wet cough.  Unfortunately for me, the word for wet (nass) is very similar to the word for nose (Nase), especially when German adjectives demand an ending to match their case.  What I wanted to say was ‘Ich hätte gern bitte einen Hustensaft für einen nassen Husten’  (I would like a cough medicine for a wet cough please).  What I ended up saying was, ‘Ich hätte gern bitte einen Hustensaft für einen Nase Husten’ (I would like a cough medicine for a nose cough please).  The pharmacist gave me a very strange look, thought for a second and then said ‘Oh!’ and went and got me some cough medicine and explained the dosage to me (all in German which I understood, yay!).  It wasn’t until I left the Apotheke and was walking down the street replaying the conversation in my mind (please tell me I’m not the only one that does this), that I realised what I said and bursted into laughter. Only I would ask for cough medicine for a nose cough.  There’s never a dull moment when I unleash my German on some poor unsuspecting local.