European Visiting US Thinks He Ordered Pizza—Unprepared for What Arrives

Newsweek

a day ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
An Irish man visiting the United States learned the hard way that some things can easily get lost in translation.
Engineer Graham Gibney, 25, lives in Dublin, Ireland, and recently had to visit his workplace's Florida office to help out with a business proposal.
While visiting, he and his sales colleague, Hannah Kathleen, 26, took a day off from work so she could show him the sights—in particular, Disney World Orlando, where Gibney had never been.
After a day of enjoying the spectacles Disney has to offer, the pair decided to go for a bite to eat. And while Gibney thought he had ordered a cheese pizza, he got a cocktail instead.
"I ordered my food first and I cash out, and then he orders his food and he gets ID'd," Kathleen recalled to Newsweek.
Gibney told the server he had "never been ID'd for a pizza before," and as Kathleen put it: "I guess the Disney lady just nodded her head and agreed, she was probably very confused."
What Gibney had ordered from the menu was a margarita, a tequila-based cocktail—but he thought he had ordered a Margherita, the name throughout Ireland and parts of Europe for a cheese pizza.
Graham Gibney and Hannah Kathleen at the moment they realized his order was lost in translation.
Graham Gibney and Hannah Kathleen at the moment they realized his order was lost in translation.
TikTok @hn_kthln
The co-workers, too, weren't understanding each other, as when Gibney told her incredulously that he had been asked for ID for a Margherita, Kathleen says she "didn't say anything, because it wasn't out of the norm to be ID'd for an alcoholic beverage!"
"Then we wait for our food, and out comes a margarita drink, and Graham just stares. And he's like, 'I ordered a pizza,'" she said.
The moment of realization was caught on camera and shared to Kathleen's TikTok account, @hn_kthln, on June 27, where it has racked up close to 6 million views.
It shows a sheepish-looking Gibney standing at the counter with the cocktail in a plastic cup, as Kathleen explains: "This man from Ireland thought he ordered a Margherita pizza."
She then asks how he confused margarita with Margherita, asking "Do they not spell Margherita with a 'h' in Ireland?"—to which he responds: "I'm dyslexic," and the pair collapse into fits of giggles.
Kathleen explained to Newsweek that there were plenty of signs they both missed, as when Gibney told her he was going to order a Margherita, she told him: "That's fine, go ahead because I'm driving home."
Kathleen talking to Gibney, and right, the Margarita drink he was served.
Kathleen talking to Gibney, and right, the Margarita drink he was served.
TikTok @hn_kthln
TikTok users were in stitches, one writing: "The scream I scrumpt when he said 'I'm dyslexic!' I couldn't even be mad at him poor guy got an overpriced drink and no pizza."
"And he was too polite to ask you what pizza and driving home had to do with each other at the time," another laughed.
One shared their own story: "Dude this happened to me when I was 15 visiting the U.S. I ordered a margarita and the woman asked me for ID and I asked why I needed an ID to order a pizza?"
"I'm today years old when I learn the drink and the pizza are spelled differently but also I'm dyslexic too so that makes sense," another said, as one lamented: "Imagine being starving, craving some pizza, and then you end up with a drink that you gotta drink cos you paid for it."
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