Waiting on the Snake

In German, the word "Schlange" (snake) is also the word used for "line" in the sense of "waiting on line."

I hadn't even thought about this potential linguistic pitfall until I was recently, well, waiting on line for the bathroom at a concert and the German woman ahead of me started cautiously explaining how she'd been in an English-speaking country and made the mistake of asking someone if they were on the "snake." She seemed rather scarred by the experience, but at least she knew she'd never make the same mistake again!

(I tried suggesting that at least it made a funny story to tell, but she was having none of it.)