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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/Tough_Pizza5678 on 2026-07-20 05:28:20+00:00.
A coworker’s been teaching me little phrases in his first language because I thought it’d be a nice thing to greet his family with at the company barbecue. He taught me what he swore was “nice to meet you, I’ve heard great things.”
I practiced it for two days. Nailed the pronunciation. Felt confident.
At the barbecue I walked straight up to his mother, big warm smile, and said my phrase.
Her face did something complicated. His dad started laughing. My coworker went pale and then also started laughing.
Turns out my “nice to meet you” was actually closer to “sorry about your face.” He’d taught me a joke phrase he and his brothers say to each other and completely forgot I was going to deploy it on his actual mother.
She was gracious about it once he explained. She now greets me with the same phrase every time I see him. I’ve accepted it as my name.
TL;DR: trusted a coworker to teach me a polite greeting in his language, said something insulting to his mom at a company event, and it’s now our running bit.