language

I used to believe…

After being corrected for saying "doin'" instead of "doing", my friend's daughter decided it was bad grammar to pronounce ANY word with an "-n" sound at the end. For years she added a g to the ends of words- "button"became "butting", "kitten" was "kitting". She even called a classmate "Kristing".

I used to think that if someone was "behind the times", that meant that they were dead. Ironically, I first heard the expression used in a song from a kid's show, and I became upset wondering why they would mention such a terrible thing in a song for little ones.

I used to think that the words "supposed to" were "post to" and said it that way till I learned to spell it in 4th grade!

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to believe that Baskin Robbins was called Batman and Robin's. For the longest time I never knew why everyone would laugh at me when I said, "Hey mom, can we go to Batman and Robin's?"

I thought a defibrillator was just a lie detector. That explains why they have so many in airports, they can just de-fib anyone they suspect of terrorism. I thought this until I was 13

I used to believe…

When I was little my mother called being naked 'nakey-no-nos' as in, "bath time, get in your nakey-no-nos". I believed this was a common term everyone used until I was about 17.

I used to believe…

My sister had her own language as a toddler. Once she told my dad and me she needed a "bone for her didden". We had no idea what she was talking about and had to call my mom to interpret.

She wanted a comb for her hair.

I used to believe…

Until I was probably thirteen, when my mom referred to the list she would give my dad to do on weekends as "A Honey-Do List", I always wondered what on earth honeydew melons had to do with it!

I used to believe…

When I was little, I got the words "cannibal" and "barbarian" confused. My mom joked that my uncle "ate like a barbarian" once and for almost a year I was terrified of him because i thought he ate people.

I used to believe that everyone spoke English and that they just used translator devices in their ears.

I used to believe…

When I was little I used to think foreign languages don't exist and that people just pretend. That they, in fact, translate each word from my language into another in their head and then speak out. That the world essentially only has one language. Mine, of course. I'm a linguist now :-)

I was just reading some beliefs and I was getting a little curious about this "Anon" that kept posting (and I wasn't sure if that person was man or woman)..so I clicked on the name and it said "I'm sorry this is an ANONymous post"!!! (english is not my native language!). LOL!!!

I used to believe…

Both my parents were born and raised in Cuba, so as a little girl in the U.S. my first language was Spanish and I learned English while learning to read and write (required for my preschool) and at first I only wrote LIKE THIS IN ALL CAPS. I thought THIS was "Spanish letters" and this was "English letters" Later, I thought the same about cursive and print. Print was "Spanish" and cursive "English" In my defense, my parents did not try to set me straight which led to embarassing moments.

I used to believe…

when i was younger i thought everyone who spoke a language other than english, actually heard english when they spoke that language. just the rest of us could not understand it

I used to think the alphabet went, "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, Watermelon, P etc." I always got bored in the middle of the song but I knew it had four syllables so naturally watermelon was the only thing that made sense!

I used to think when I was about 3 or 4 that whenever someone said a swear word, God would zap that person with a lightning bolt that came out of his finger. The more often a person swore, the greater the voltage of the lightning bolt.