Returning from a 10-day hiatus from blogging, I have to share this awkward exchange at a Parisian restaurant, speaking with a lovely couple from Mexico:

Woman: “So where are you staying in Paris?”

Me: “Right around the corner at the Hotel Cambronne.”

<<surprised look on her face>>

Me: “Why? Is that a bad thing?”

Woman: “No, it’s just that…well, that name has a different meaning in Spanish…It means a**hole.”

<<hysterical laughter by both of us>>

Me (internally): “But of course I’d be staying at the hotel of a**holes. That’s the way I roll.”

A quick Google search back at my room uncovered that she was thinking of “cabrόn” not “cambronne.” (Undoubtedly, my pronunciation was off.)

If my brief research is correct, “cabrόn” means “male goat,” but according to Urban Dictionary, it’s also slang for “a**hole” and other interesting words (read if you dare).

(This Awkward Aside is brought to you via my trip to Paris and the resulting timezone, travel hangover. Enjoy!)