My last name is Adams, so when I first heard my parents use the expression "Up and at 'em," I thought they were saying "Up and Adams," which was a special expression just for our family. According to my logic, people who weren't named Adams couldn't use that expression, and therefore would just have to say "Get up," or whatever, because they weren't as cool as us. ;) My parents thought that was so funny, they actually started saying "Up and Adams" instead of the real expression, lol.
A childhood belief about speaking
others believed things like this
- I thought the expression "so funny I forgot to laugh" was literal instead of sarcastic— Not so funny after all
- When I was little my uncle had a huge adams apple. He told me he'd swallowed a marble.— Stacey
- I used to believe that an Adams apple was a piece of apple that was stuck in someone's throat.— Ron Aaron
- I used to think that the expression "The former or the latter?" was actually "The farmer or the ladder?" — Fitzwilliam
- I forgot the expression "not cricket", so I said, "not tennis" instead.Anon
- My friend told me she had invented the expression 'Gordon Bennett' and I believed her!— SueE