While studying rainforest plants in the Amazon one day, noted ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin visited a remote village where he was greeted by an elder rubbing his chest and exclaiming, "Basha, Basha!"

Plotkin assumed that he was being greeted with a hearty "Welcome, Welcome!"Only later did he learn that the correct translation was in fact "Spider Monkey, Spider Monkey!" -- a reference to Plotkin's hairy chest.