language

I used to believe…

In preschool and kindergarten, the class would sing the alphabet together every morning. We'd say x, y, AND, Z, but my little ears thought we were saying n. It wasn't until recently that I realized why I was so confused.

I used to believe…

when i was 6 i cut my finger at school, and i was sitting down looking at it saying "bloody, bloody, bloody...", coz that's what it was. my best friend wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the day because she thought i was swearing! oops

I used to believe…

When I was about three years old, my dad taught me how to count on my fingers in binary (up is 1, down is 0). For a long time I believed that if I tried hard enough I could figure out how to do it in base ten, or at least base three, but later I realized that it was impossible.

I used to believe…

When I was about five years old, there was a commercial for Spaghetti-Os that ended with the announcer saying "with and without meatballs". I thought he was saying "withend without meatballs". I surmised that "withend" was another word for pasta or noodles, and at least once, I used the new word, much to the confusion of anyone who heard me.

I used to believe…

when my brother and i were in a public place with our mother and actually getting along, to irritate her we would each say one syllable of a bad word and we thought we were so tough... for example:
ME: Sh
BRO: -it

and we would get faster and faster untill our mom told us she was getting a headache. she never really yelled at us for what we're doing. She yells at me now when i say 'damn' and i'm 22.

i dont remember what 1-19 were, but 20-29 were yellow, 30-39 were green, 40-49 were blue, 50-59 were red/pink, 60-69 were lighter green, 70-79 were orange, 80-89 were darker yellow, and 90-99 were dark red, or something like that

I used to believe…

When I was about five or six, I used to think that everybody saw and heard the world completely differently. For instance, one person might look at everybody else and see a bunch of green monsters, another person might listen to a conversation and hear it as a series of high-pitched squeals.

I was so disturbed by this theory, which seemed unassailable by any logical argument, that I would lay awake at night dreading that I might someday accidentally see things as someone else saw them, and abruptly find myself surrounded by awful noises and monsters.

Oddly enough, I was cured of my terrors when I finally grasped the concept of foreign languages. If it was possible to completely misunderstand what another person was talking about, then maybe perception didn't take place entirely in our brains after all. What a relief! :)

I used to believe…

When I was in 5th grade I was talking to my friend Nora. I was talking about animals and mentioned a "horny toad". I thought this was the kind of toad that has little spike-like things on it's face. Nora started laughing hysterically, and after she was done, she explained to me what the word horny ment, but I still didn't get it.

I used to believe…

When I was 8 or 9 I was walking through the ravine with my friend who was a year older than me. Some boys were giving us a hard time, so she yelled to them, "Stop it you sonofabitch!" and clapped her hand over her mouth. I asked her what that meant, and she said, "It means son of the devil...I think." So when I got home, my Dad was entertaining an old friend of his from the Navy and I walked in and said, "Dad, what's a sonofabitch?" and he nearly flew across the table to strangle me, but his friend pulled him back, laughing, and told him to relax. He didn't tell me, but I knew it had nothing to do with a devil!

I used to "invent" my own expressions and insults so I woudn't get in trouble for swearing. I once called a kid at school a 'Wild Shamrock' and I would say "What the peas?" to express confusion or "Oh, Tetris!" to express frustration or disgust.

I used to believe…

When my daughters were little, they would say "college cheese" for cottage cheese, and "rock 'n roll ice cream" for rocky road, and "fruit cottontail" for fruit cocktail and "cold slop" for cole slaw. They're 25 & 23 now, but we still use those terms in our house for fun!

I used to believe…

When I was a little kid, I thought that all words had their own limit. Which meant that when you said one word was at it maximum, you never could say it again. So I never said words like 'and', 'or' etc. because I was frightened that I never could say those words when I was older. -Actually I never knew what the limits per word were...

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to believe that people who spoke foreign languages would think in English. So before they said something they would translate it from English to whatever language they were speaking. Also, when someone was talking to them, they had to translate what they were saying from that language to English. I still find myself thinking that every once in a while but then I quickly correct myself. :-)

I used to believe that organism and orgasm were variations of the same word. Then while reading aloud one day in Grade 7 science class, I replaced the word organism with the word orgasm. Most of the class, including the teacher began laughing. I was dumbfounded until about 1 year later.

I used to believe that "G" was a vowel. As far as i was concerned, vowels were letters that could make two noises. At that time, i thought they were just called the two-soundy-letters. I first found this out at the age of 6 and believed it until first grade. I was sad when i found out it wasnt.

I used to believe…

when i was little i thought everyone spoke the same language so when i heard people speaking different lanuguages i thought they were speaking gibberish so i joined in with words like "uggabugga" and "soupada".

I used to think gay was a very bad curse word. Then one day I read a book that said it(meaning happy of course) and I told my sister and she played along with me and told me that was the most inappropriate picture book there ever was.
I still don't like to say gay, even though it isn't a curse word.

I used to believe…

Around 3 years old, I was playing with my siblings and something when wrong. My brother said to my sister "It's your fault," and she replied "No, it's Susan's fault" and I then replied "No it's your fork."

I used to believe…

When I was about 6 I was in the back garden and my Mum tripped over, I laughed and said 'Your such a twat', my mum belted
me for that and I didn't understand why at the time.

I thought Twit and Twat meant the same thing.