language

I thought that "caucus" was a bad word (not sure where I heard that word as a kid, but whatever) it took ages for me to get up the courage to ask my mom if it really was, as I was afraid I'd get in a lot of trouble if it turned out to be something really offensive

Darth Carrietta

I thought that awry was pronounced "aw-ree" (rhymes with sorry), instead of "uh-rye". The odd part is, I had heard people say the word aloud lots of times, but it took me ages to realize it was the same word.

Anon

I used to believe that rats and mice were the same species, rats being males and mice females, and that similar to the b-word meaning a female dog, the word "rat" was a swear word. Euphemistically, I referred to rats as big mice.

Such a rat

I thought "opera" was pronounced "oprah", as in Oprah Winfrey.

Molly

I Used To Believe Profanity Was A Language And The Words Were Okay To Say/Speak In That Way Until I Learned That Is Not True And I Could Get In Very Huge/Big Amounts Of Trouble For Swearing At The Wrong Person Or Calling Them Slurs!

KellGirl

I Used To Believe Gibberish Was A Real Language, And I Thought I Was Fluent At Gibberish And I Came From A Country That Spoke Gibberish

KellGirl

My dad often says, "Is it _____ or what?" When I was little I thought I had to say "what" if it wasn't the "blank". For example if he said "Is it funny or what?" I thought I had to say "what" if I didn't think it was funny. I took things very literally back then. I think I actually did have to answer with "what" once!

Molly

Until I was in my 20s, I thought the word "stuck" in the phrase "bleed like a stuck pig" meant stuck as in stuck inside something, and didn't get how it made any sense. Then one day I realized it meant stuck like stabbed or punctured, and I was like "oh, duh!"

Anon