"I want to do something risky."

Gottingen, Germany (From tripadvisor.com)

"From these [Gottingen, Germany host families] the foreign students often learned German very quickly. They frequently even wrote articles in German for scientific periodicals during the period of their studies. In conversation, however, they made amusing mistakes. The young English astrophysicist Robertson wanted one day to check the exact weight of a letter he was going to send abroad. He burst into a shop and breathlessly asked the girl behind the counter: 'Haben Sie eine Wiege? Ich mochte etwas wagen.' ('Have you a cradle? I want to do something risky.') The girl blushed and stared at him and he hastily corrected himself. 'I beg your pardon, I meant to say haben Sie eine Waage? Ich mochte etwas wiegen.' ('Have you a pair of scales? I want to weigh something.')" (22) --Robert Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists