language

I had a little number puzzle where you fit the numbers 1-12 into notches. When I finished, I was so proud, because I could count all the numbers on the puzzle, and I was convinced that since 12 was such a huge number to a small child, there were no numbers higher, so I'd triumphantly shout, "Look! I can count to the end of the numbers," at random intervals.

I once tried to convince people I could speak Chinese by talking random giberish and telling them it was Chinese

I used to believe…

My maternal grandparents are Russian immigrants, but we all live in an English-speaking country. They would babysit me when I was little, and they would speak Russian to me all the time. As a result, I understood both English and Russian, as does my mother. But for the first few years of my life, I didn't understand that they are different languages, and sometimes I'd talk to my father in Russian and think he was stupid for not understanding

I used to believe…

When I was little, I didn't really understand echoes. My back yard faced a mountain, so I could shout and a second or two later, I would hear the echo. I used to believe that there was another little boy out there shouting back at me. I would get mad because I used to think he was repeating everything I said just to get on my nerves. I would spend several minutes marching back and forth across my back yard arguing with myself...

I used to believe…

After being told by my parents or relatives to "behave," I would usually reply: "I am being have."

I used to believe…

My mother, who dropped out of school at 16 and who isn't terribly bright was helping me memorize my 'vowels' when I as a kid. She told me there was a rhyme to help me. I just needed to remember that the vowels were "A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y and W." I learned them that way, then repeated that in class one day and got laughed at by everyone.

"I rode a whore through the countryside" EXCUSE ME???
Not a native english speaker, my boyfriend thought that the word "horse" was plural for "hor".

I used to believe…

When I was little mt older sister kept talking about joining the Leif Garrett fan club, and I thought she said "van club", so I assumed that a star's "van club" was that star (Leif Garrett, Farrah Fawcett, etc.) driving around in a van to visit people that liked them.

I used to believe…

When I was six years old, a relative from Czechoslovakia visited Florida, and was staying at my grandmother's house. When I met him, I was playing with my Super Speak & Math, and pushed in 4, the answer to my problem. Jokingly, he said "Oops! You pressed 2!" and I felt sorry for him. He seemed to speak English well, but he didn't yet know the American number system.

I used to not be able to pronouce the "-rette" in ciggerette so I said ciggasette, to to this day I can't spell ciggarette

I used to believe that when people used the phrase "making ends meet" they were actually saying "making ends meat."

I thought that it meant that people were just making enough money to buy little scraps of meat or "ends meat."

i used to think that the word 'clothes' was the plural for 'clo.' so i'd call a sock or a shirt a clo.

I thought 'sex' was a swearword.

I used to think that 'approximately' meant exactly, so, for example, I would describe something as 'approximately 3.2cm' with a clear emphasis on the first syllable to enhance the exactness. This went on into my early twenties I think...

I used to believe…

When I was littel I thought the alphabet went A...B...C...D...E...F...G...H...I...J...K-mart!

I used to believe…

When I was starting school, one of my first 'tough' spelling words was 'selfish'. As I was studying in the living room, I looked up at my Dad and asked him what kind of fish a 'selfish' was...