They eat cats in Italy!!!

I chuckled to myself today as I remembered a classic faux pas by my grandad. Now the thing you should know is that my grandad was a gentleman and very well travelled and was an avid listner of the "Voice of America". He also talked about his exploits in the second world war. In fact he talked about it so much that the family told him he could only mention it five times a day. We used to remind him that he had x number of times left.

Anyways, I digress. My grandad was at my aunts in Italy. It was one if his first visits there. He went out for a walk and discovered a local butcher. He looked around the shop and tried to use sign language to get some minced pork. International sign language being quite new to my grandad, it took a few attempts. He was just about to pay for it when he noticed the skinned cat carsasses hanging up on hooks. Out he stumbles of the butcher thinking its a good thing he noticed the poor skinned cats, before he purchased the meat from the dodgy butcher. He reports his disgust that the butcher is selling cat meat to my aunt.

Now, my aunt inhabits a world where everything is fast paced. She thought he was muttering about the war and paid no attention.

Grandad goes back home and tells his friends that the Italians eat cats. Next time my aunt visits she remarks on how healthy the neighbours cat is looking. The owner promptly shouts that her cat is not for eating and its a beloved pet, one of the family in fact! Cue confusion on my aunts part. Its not till many months later that she unravels the truth. My grandad had seen skinned rabbits, who, admittedly did look like a cat!

This one always makes me smile whenever I observe a misunderstanding.