When I spent a year as a student at the University of Cambridge, I took an Algebraic Topology course from Frank Adams.
During one class, Adams asked if any of us had learned topology from an American. I was the only student to raise a hand.
Adams explained that the German word for "cover" is "deck", but some illiterate American topologists carried it over directly into English, talking about "deck transformations" instead of "covering transformations", without realizing their mistake.
As I wrote to a friend back in the days of blue aerogrammes, Adams emphasized "illiterate" and "American", repeating each several times and implying that they're synonymous. He warned us severely not to perpetuate such nonsense.
I thought it was funny, but as the only American in the room, I did slink down in my seat and tried to make myself invisible.