Charlie Finnigan had been in London a few weeks, over from San Francisco for the summer, when she spotted a stranger across the street and walked over to compliment them. “I told them I liked their khaki pants,” she said. Her partner pulled her aside afterward. In England, “pants” mean underwear, and “khaki” sounds close enough to “cacky,” British slang for feces. With one compliment, she had made two mistakes. Lesson learned.
