embarazado

A person who is embarazado is an English speaker who has embarrassed himself or herself by failing to correctly use a foreign language. The term comes from a notorious false cognate for English-speaking students of Spanish: trying to say "I'm embarrassed" with "Estoy embarazado", which actually means "I am pregnant" — especially embarrassing when said by a man. (It is also possible to make another error and say instead "Soy embarazado", literally meaning something more like "I am the embodiment of pregnancy".) While the word embarazo means both "pregnancy" and "embarrassment" in Spanish, the latter is largely a literary use, and the usual term for "embarrassed" is avergonzado. Embarrassment can also be expressed with the phrase "tengo vergenza", which literally means "I have shame" but idiomatically means "I am embarrassed", "I am ashamed", or "I am bashful".

Embarazado

See also