I saw the potato

[Saint James]

I'm not sure where I originally heard this, but I can find plenty of evidence for it (as a legend anyway) around.

Supposedly, on the occasion of a visit of Pope John Paul II to Miami, a T-shirt manufacturer made shirts which were supposed to read 'I saw the pope' in Spanish. Unfortunately, they did not understand the gender pronouns and instead printed 'I saw the potato' ('vi la papa') rather than 'I saw the pope' ('vi el papa')

Is there any basis for this rumor in fact, or is this another Chevy Nova story?

[diddy]

My Spanish teacher repeated the myth but said it was targeted toward American tourists in Spain. I note that the Spanish quoted in the OP looks wrong - my teacher quoted something else entirely.

I don’t recall if she commented about it further.

[Tantei Kid]

My grandpa, fluent in Spanish, told me about a Spanish language newspaper switching the el and la for one of JPII's visits to Latin America. Maybe the 1993 one? Can't say if he saw it personally or just heard it as an alternate of this rumor, though.