Interlingual Humor Points

Mark Liberman just posted about interlingual taboos. The basic idea is that a speaker of one language will avoid using a word because they know it sounds like an inappropriate word in another language. Growing up speaking Ukrainian and English, we had a few of these types of things, but they weren't so much taboos; moreso, they were a point of humor, but then again, I also spent most of my time with males between, say, 16 and 25, so that's not impossible as a contributing factor. And speaking of contributions, here's mine for a short list of words¹ that a funny for people who know both languages.

бубен - drum - compare: boob, or booby
['bubɛn]/[bub] or ['bubi]
(possibly from Polish bęben, maybe?)

підносити - pick up - compare: penis
['piʔnosɪtɪ]/['pʰinɪs]
(from під "under" + носити "carry/bear")

просто тут - straight here - compare: prostitute
['prosto.tut]/['pɹastətʰut]
(as in "Я хочу лінія просто тут" "I want a straight line here")

and of course, the best of the best, and also the most ironic:

важай на мова - watch your language - compare: vagina
[ʋa'ʒaʲ.na.'moʋa]/[və'ʤaʲnə]
(according to my only handy resource, вáжати is "to weigh," no listing of важáти "to watch out (for)." In terms of watching out, though, it can be applied to anything, and is still humorous, just best with мова)

(Note¹: For anyone who can't tell from the examples, this is quite non-standard Ukrainian)

In terms of specific contexts, I had a buddy who when asked his hobbies, stated that he likes to play the drums, and used the aformentioned term, with some stress. I don't know if he normally said this and just added emphasis, or if he actually selected against using the standard term (барабан). Either way, it was meant to elicit a chuckle. Also, a lifeguard at a pool who had a bit of a funny side to her once asked everyone who was taking a lesson to form a straight line in front of her, and it was clear she used this form specifically for it's sound. I'm sure there are others that are escaping me, but that should probably be good for now.