User:Kappa/List of words and phrases alleged to be derived from misunderstandings

This is a list of words and phrases that are alleged (in some cases, erroneously) to have been derived from misunderstandings:


 * Kangaroo (erroneously believed to be derived from an Australian aboriginal phrase meaning "I don't understand" or "I don't know"
 * Nome, Alaska (It is often suggested that the original cartographer of this region left a note on his chart at this unnamed spot saying "Name?")
 * Yucatán (An apochryphal etymology alleges that when Spaniards arrived and asked the natives the name of the place, natives answered with their phrase for "I don't understand your talk", which phrase was rendered by the Spanish hearers as "Yucatan".
 * The Russian word for a railway station is pronounced 'Voksal'. It was coined when Russian visitors arrived at Vauxhall station in London and asked where they were.