Misunderstandings, colloquialisms, wrong words and false friends: 16

 

FRED: Looking at the brochure, do you have any of those particular laptops in stock?

DAWID: One moment, I'll check the magazine.

FRED: Why? I've just shown you the details.

 

Another false friend coming into play here. What Dawid actually means is the warehouse. In Polish, this is a magazyn.

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Fred is showing Dawid a publication that looks like a magazine from the cover and back. But a regular magazine is a publication that contains articles, stories, photographs and advertisements. A brochure is a magazine or a thin book which includes pictures and information about a product or service, but doesn't usually include stories and advertisements.

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In addition, a magazine can also mean the part in an automatic gun that has all the bullets. But it can also be a building in which things such as guns, bullets, and explosives are kept.  This is also a magazyn in Polish, so clearly it is a word generally used to mean all kinds of buildings where things are stored. Warehouse in English is a little more specific: it is a building where raw materials or manufactured goods are stored before they are sent out to the shop. This warehouse is usually in a separate location, but it is not usually to find a warehouse at the same site as the shop.

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