And then there was this French (nee Senegalese, I suppose) girl. She was also Muslim, which we also had a good laugh of. The very first Russian word she'd learnt on her first day in Russia was "обезьяна" (monkey). When she told us about it, with look of indignant amazement, we (my Ghanian friend and me) almost laughed our abdomens off.
It's always good to know that some things are as reliable as ever.