You can’t meet a football pitch

A client was telling me about an indoor football place near his house. He said, “You can meet the pitch for an hour.“

He meant hire. Mieten was sitting there in his head, close enough to meet that his mouth took it and carried on.

The part worth noticing is that there was no pause. No small check before the word came out. The words that catch you arrive with no warning, because they sound like something you already know.

Nobody stops a meeting over this. He was understood, the conversation carried on, and the only person who noticed was the one being paid to.

(I love making up words in German. Sometimes on purpose.)

Quick win: You hire or rent a pitch, a car, a room. You only meet people.