I used to believe I had re-invented mathematics. I didn't like to learn the table of multiplication so I looked for an easy way out. I decided that if I didn't know what e.g "9 x 6" was I would deduct one from the first number and add one to the next number ( or the other way around)till it was a multiplication I actually knew. e.g "9 x 6" is "10 x 5" so I knew the answer to that one "50"! The teacher didn't quite understand how I came up with those numbers....
language
3,499 beliefs in this area
I recall as a child hearing grown-ups speak of someone who was going to get a pinchin'. They seemed pleased about this. I silently wondered how anyone could be happy about receiving anything as painful as a 'pinchin'! Only later did I learn they spoke of a pension!
I used to believe that "dang" was a really bad word and "damn" was the clean word to use. This got me in a lot of trouble with teachers and friends I tattled on for saying "dang".
I used to believe that when my Mum said "Heaven Only Knows", that she was actually on about some guy called "Hevveroni". I always wanted to meet him....
I used to believe…
My parents, whenever on a family holiday would say "oh! what a picturesque lookout" (however would pronounce the word 'picture-skew' the way it looks like it should be said). It wasn't until I was 18 when I said picture-skew that my boyfriend at the time pointed out that I had been made a fool of!Darn Parents
I used to believe that you can only speak one language and didn't allow to speak another one.My language is Turkish and i worried i wouldn't have a chance to speak a foreign language.
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I used to believe…
My brother thought that if men were perverts, women must be pervettes. My sister and I were accused of this often.
I used to believe…
When I was in primary school, I always wondered why we had to give the teacher a "round of the floors" after assembly. I mean, why on earth would a teacher want a circle of linolum?
It wasn't until many years later I dicovered the word "applause"....
I used to believe…
When I was seven we were in class and were asked to do a book review. I went up to the teacher - a nun - and asked her how to spell "so shitty". She asked me to repeat what I wanted which I duly did to her horror and she told me to sit down. I then went back to her and told her the rest of the title of the book which was Secret Seven. The word was society - as in Secret Seven Society by Enid Blyton - but I had never heard the word society pronounced, I had only read it!
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I used to believe…
When singing the Alphabet song, I thought that L M N O was all one word, pronounced "elimeno". I wondered what letter that was!
I used to believe…
When I was four, my daddy took me on the streetcar for the first time. I was pretty impressed, and felt I had to impress my dad as to my coming of age by proving I could read, and understand words.I read the sign over the driver's head to my dad, and told him, "I know what that means." He said, "What does it mean?" The sign read "No spitting on this car." I told him that it meant that people could not use nasty wordsge on the streetcar........i.e. "No spiting"...
I used to believe…
My Dad would always say 'well cut my sock'if I or any other family members told him anything interesting or remarkable. I was 25 when I realised his favourite expression was actually a spoonerism for 'suck my cock'. Oh the long lost innocence of youth.
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I used to believe…
When I was about 5 I heard my mom say B.S. I asked what it meant and she told me brown sugar. I believed this until I was about 12
I was told, at the age of 5, that "No Vacancy" at a hotel meant that no animals were allowed. (we were on vacation, I was talkative, parents were saying anything to answer my questions so I would shut up) Well, I grew up, but I never put two and to together, just would see a hotel/motel and believe that no vacancy meant they didnt allow dogs/cats. At the age of 11 (yes, 11!!) I was walking with some of my parents friends in Orlando, FL, and I mentioned "Wow, alot of places around here dont allow animals!!" Well... with alot of laughs,I finally understood. :-)
I used to believe…
when I was younger, I knew the word "khaki" in the spoken language, but I always thought it was spelled "cacky." I knew the word "khaki" from reading, but I always thought it was pronounced "ka-hee-kee" and that it meant "hawaiian print."
It wasn't until my late teens that I made the connection between the two. Luckily, I figured it out before anyone else did.
I used to believe…
Until the age of 7, I was convinced that everyone, despite speaking different languages, actually thought and wrote in English. When I saw a Latin inscription on one of the old Roman movies I was horrified to see that people wrote in other tongues as well. Nevermind, that must be because that was in the old days. I thus got a shock when I started French class...
I used to believe…
One of my former close friends had a young sister, I believe she was 3 or 4, whom, at the sight of any sort of vehicle not deemed a "car," would excitedly scream, "Fuck! FUCK!!" until it had left her sight..
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I used to believe…
At the age of four I believed I was soooo smart. I spoke TWO languages...English AND American!
I once counted to ninety-ten. I think it was a moment of absentmindedness, which are cmmon with me, but you can never be sure...
I used to believe…
When I was a child there was a campaign called "keep Britain Tidy" . I was firmly convinced for many years that what I had heard was keep brit and tidy - like spick and span . At about age 11 it finally dawned that there was no such word as brit!