language

I used to believe…

When I was just starting school we had that ryhme "one, two, skip a few, 99, 100". I thought that was actually how you counted to 100 and that "skippafyu" was just another number that just didn't have a written version yet. I spent a lot of time trying to invent the written form of the number "skippafyu".

I used to believe…

When I first started school I remember our *very* scary teacher took out a tin of black soap and said that if anyone ever said any bad words she would wash their mouth out with it and it would stain their mouth for weeks so that everyone would know! Of course there's always some (not me!) who have to push it, and one time we honestly thought she was going to but the bell rang.....

I used to believe…

When I was a child, my parents, who could not speek English very well, had a friend named "Anjelita" and being being in school only speaking Enlish, I thought that this friend of the family was actually my "Aunt Helita", Later in life I asked my mom " Have you heard from my Aunt Helita?" and I got a look from her that in my mind said "What the Hell are you taliking about?" then I told her and she set me straight, heheheh

I used to believe…

When I was in 1st grade my cousin convinced me that China was a dirty word. So whenever someone would say something about it I would be thinking, "Ewwww, China..." and giggle about it and no one understood why.

I used to believe…

Once in 2nd grade i was asking my friend Yvonne if I could have some gum, I said"Please!! i swear if u give me some i will pay u back" and in our classrooms there was a poster that had the rules and it said "No Swearing" and she told on me and said i was swearing

I used to believe…

When I first encountered "lb.", I had no concept of abbreviations and would read it aloud, "lib". So Dick and Jane would go to the store to get two libs of butter...

I remember when we had German at school, a boy in my class thought 'Notizen' (notes) was pronounced 'no-tits-then'!!! Hours of laughs when he read it out one day.....!

i thought foreign laguages where alien talk.

I used to believe…

When I was about 7, I thought that there was a swear word for every letter of the alphabet. I knew the A,B,F and S words but I desperatly wanted to know the other 22, so I'd go around saying random jibberish hoping that I'd get yelled at for saying the Z word or V word. I was a strange child...

I used to believe that numbers had personalities.
1- msart guy who was married to 2
2- nice woman married to 1 who was secreytly in love with8, who was a bad number
3-retarded boy
4-nerdy guy
5-evil but stupid and in love with number six
6- sorta evil but very beautiful
7- evil, in love with six, was very handsome and thats why six liked him
8- clumsy but evil and in love with 2
9- servant of the wise and good 10, but secretly plotting to overthrow him.
10-nice and wise, the best of them all and the most powerful

I used to believe…

My niece believed that if you touched a cactus plant, you would get �porked� and proceeded to tell me so loudly on a city bus. It was very difficult to explain to her that the correct word was �pricked� while everyone on the bus was howling with laughter.

I thought "spam" and "sperm" were the same thing. What confused me most was that it was sold in tins at the grocery store and that you could recieve it over the internet.

I used to believe…

When I was younger, I learnt 'big' words like "beurocrat" & "homicide". I wasn't exactly sure what these words meant, but I felt smart saying them and PRETENDING to know.

One day, I told someone that "democracy" and "suicide" meant the same thing.

Sounds pretty accurate to me...

I used to believe…

When I was little and I heard that someone was "on the wagon," that they were actually sitting on a wagon somewhere. The reason people would "fall off the wagon" is because it either got too crowded, or they got into a fist fight and were pushed. It made a lot more sense when I learned it was a euphamism for quitting drinking.

I used to believe…

For years, whenever I read about the Greeks forming the original alphabet in my grammar/English books, an odd scene popped up in my mind.

It involved 50-odd people in togas standing in a huge building. They'd divide into groups of two or three and go into seperate rooms. From there, they'd start sketching letters from the modern-day alphabet on pieces of paper, altering and changing them until they were satisfied (I always imagined that the people who came up with L were really lazy). I still think about this scene to this day.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid, my Dad used to say "this room looks like a bombsitit" when our bedroom was untidy. I never knew what a bombsitit was & if Dad was angry - it wasn't a good time to ask! It wasn't until I was about twelve, that I realised he was saying "this room looks like a bomb has hit it"! (We live in South London, England - which explains Dad's accent)