language

I ws born here in the United States but my parents are from Mexico so because of this I was taught both languages. When I was little I knew both languages fluently and being a small child, I didn't know that noth everybody spoke Spanish as well. I remember saying half
a sentence in spanish and finishing it off in english. My teachers would always get on to me because they couldn't fully understand me which was a mystery to me because I thought I was speaking only one language! I still occasionally go off in Spanish without knowing it because to me speaking English and Spanish at the same time is normal.

I used to believe…

For some reason I always associated numbers with different shades of light and dark. For example numbers 1-5 are kind of dark and 6,7,8,9,are light numbers. The further you go down the line they gradually get lighter and darker. I have no idea where I got this but till this day, I still see numbers that way.

I used to believe…

My mum told me that 'Grown up books' didn't go in chronological order after i asked if they did. She was being sarcastic but 3 year olds don't do sarcasm!!

I used to believe that several meant seven. This was because the first time I remember anyone saying it it was grandma, who told me that there were several planes in the sky - coincidentally there happened to be seven and I thought the words menat the same thing.

I used to believe…

One of my best friends up to this day, still can't say turqoise. She says tork-horse instead, but she's convinced it's the right way.

I used to believe…

My parents, in an attempt to stimulate my creative impulses, gave me a few boxes full of "stuff" to play with - dress-up clothes, fabric, ribbons, art supplies, interesting toys, beads, you name it. One fabric bit that I had was purple with silver metallic stripes on it. I had seen a TV show recently featuring circus acrobats and thought I'd make myself a skirt with that fabric so I could be an acrobat for Halloween. However, I did not yet know the word for "acrobat". I taught myself how to sew (BADLY) and made an truly awful tiny little miniskirt a week or so later. I ventured into the livingroom to show my parents and visiting grandmother and aunt. My mom, without thinking, said "You look like a prostitute!" She then realized that she probably should not talk about sex workers around her young daughter and would not tell me what it meant. I, therefore, rationalized that "prostitute" was the word for acrobat and went around school the next day telling people - *including my first-grade teacher* - that I wanted to be a prostitute for Halloween!

I used to believe…

Until about 2 days ago I thought the saying 'with every fiber of my BEING' was . With every fiber of my BEAN.' I never understood how beans could have fibers, even if they could why would it matter to someone if I used every one, plus I don't have a bean. Was the bean a metaphore? I was a very confused child

I was about 10 years old and I used to belive that 'rape' was simply ripping peoples clothes. Imagine the shock for my teacher when for an exercise in English I wrote the sentence "The dog raped the postman". I thought I was being extremely clever.

I used to believe…

For a brief period of about one month i believed the more u talked the shorter your life would be and that if you answered questions with as few words as possible you'd live longer!

I used to believe…

My father is Haitian and my mother is not. All the black people I knew when I was little were Haitian. So I used to think that all black people spoke French, and people would assume that I did because I was black.

I used to read 'Shopfitters' as 'Shoplifters'....wondered why they had a warehouse to advertise the fact thats what they did! Never dare ask my parents about it in case only I could see it!!

I had a German boyfriend whose sister used to pronounce "W" as "v" and "v" as "w". They lived in West Vancouver and she'd always say "Vest Wan". It surprised me that she didn't pronouce Volkswagen as "Wolksvagen".

I used to believe…

On 1st grade, I used to believe my classmates would think me too weird if they knew I could read fluently, so I sometimes faked it... especially when I came to a long word (just like they did). On 2nd grade, I didn't need to fake any more, because our teacher told us she'd learned to read at age 4 - same age as I.

I used to believe that people who were speaking foreighn languages were just speaking gibberish.

I used to believe…

When my brother was very young, he would pronounce "hamburger" as "hangerber". This became a standard alternate pronunciation in our family. At about 8 years old, while having dinner at a friend's house, I called them "hangerbers" and everyone laughed. I was surprised at their ignorance, and spent a good long time convincing them that "you can say it either way".

I used to believe…

one time (about 6ish) i called my brother a bastard. my father overheard, smacked me and said do you know what that word means? no. It's someone who doesn't have a proper daddy. So i thought that a bastard was half-human, half monster.