When “No” means “Yes”

For those of you with friends in Slovakia, you may be aware of a certain faux pas that can be made.

My friend applied for a job, and he speaks good English. His partner however understands better than she speaks. My friend was out, and the phone rang, and on answering it, she was asked was there someone there looking for a job. She said “No”.

The man on the phone rang up, she rang her partner, he rang me, and I hurried up to their house to sort it out.

I rang the guy back. He said the woman said no-one wanted a job.

Then the penny dropped. I explained the situation, all had a laugh, but the job was gone.

You see, in Slovak, no is short for ano which means “yes”. No means “yes”, quite literally, or to be more correct it would mean “yeah” or “yah”.

It must be hell getting a Slovak woman into bed!!! You dont know if she’s saying “yes” or “no”!!!