I ran into quite a few language problems while vacationing with my family last summer. The most embarrassing was when my Mom apologized to the people we were staying with because her "pants were dirty". They looked at her in amazement, not knowing how to react. You see, Mom had fallen over and gotten mud on her jeans. But in Britain, "pants" means underpants or knickers, not trousers as it does back home.                                                                                                              Katie -- From America I went to stay with a friend on the west coast last summer. Her flat was on the first floor of a high-rise building so I got the lift up. Then I wandered round for ages looking for her flat but couldn't find it. Fed up and tired, I finally had to go out to find a phone box. She explained that her flat was on the first floor, which for me meant the ground floor.                                                          David -- From Britain When I asked for the "restroom" in a big department store, people kept directing me to a room with seats where I could sit and "rest". It took me years to get through to someone that I only wanted the toilet!                                                         Tom -- From America Last summer we went on a two-week family touring holiday, so Dad hired a car over the Internet. This was an old vehicle and there turned out to be lots of things wrong with it. When he phoned the hire company and tried to explain that the lock on the boot was broken, they thought he was talking about footwear! He had no idea their word for "boot" was "trunk". In the end we went to a  _ and just solved the problem.                                                            Mary -- From Britain David went out to find a phone box to   _  .
phone the police for help phone his friend for help tell his friends he couldn't go to visit her apologize for his being late