A Cuban resident in the United States inadvertently became the star of one of the funniest videos of the week after failing to recognize the word "hello" in English during a phone call, mistaking it for a person's name. The clip, posted on Thursday on TikTok by content creator Maye Fundora under the account @mayefundora, has already garnered over 185,800 views and nearly 4,000 shares.
The man identified in the audio as Juan Uquiza receives a call in which the caller greets him in English. Unable to recognize the greeting, Juan responds, confused: "Who is this? Now, who is Hello?", not realizing that "jelou" —the Cuban pronunciation of "hello"— is simply a greeting and not anyone's name.
The confusion escalates quickly. At one point in the clip, Juan even says, "They talk to me in English, which I don't understand anything in Spanish," mixing the languages in an unintentionally comedic way while insisting that they explain to him who is calling.
The outburst doesn't take long to arrive. With Cuban colloquial language in full force, the man unleashes a stream of heated expressions before hanging up, frustrated by his inability to understand what is happening.
But the moment when the video finished recording was led by the one filming the scene, presumably Maye Fundora herself: the laughter at the situation was so uncontrollable that her dentures nearly fell out.
At the end of the clip, someone can be heard clearly saying "The teeth" and "wash it, come on," referring to the dentition, which adds a second layer of humor to the already hilarious moment. The video's description on TikTok sums it up succinctly: "RAGE AT ITS MAXIMUM EXPRESSION. THE TEETH ALMOST FLY."
The clip aligns with a well-established trend of Cuban humor on social media, especially among the diaspora in the U.S. The language barrier of English, "cubañol," and the everyday situations of cultural adaptation are an inexhaustible source of content that the Cuban community abroad recognizes and celebrates for its authenticity.
A Cuban woman buying cigarettes without knowing English also went viral in January 2025 with a similar dynamic, and a newly arrived Cuban who confused words in English generated thousands of reactions in May 2024.
Maye Fundora is part of a network of Cuban creators on TikTok that includes figures like Juan Tin Ton and Ismaray, with whom she frequently shares tags and mentions in her posts.
This Monday, the video has also accumulated 7,852 "likes" and more than 1,100 comments, most of them from Cubans who fully identify with the scene.
Filed under: