language

I thought "undertow" was spelled "undertoe," because it's under your toes...
I learned the truth at a spelling bee. Good thing it was the guy next to me who got that word, and not me!

I had only heard the word "boobs" used to refer to boobs, never the anatomically correct term (breasts).
So one time at a swim lesson my teacher told me she wanted me to practice "big breaths." Well, I thought she said breasts! Not too familiar with that word, I thought it meant breaching--as in, a whale jumping out of the water!

I used to believe…

When my children were growing up we were very close with another family and often our visits would last past regular bedtime. On occasion the visit would turn into a sleep over. One night the other family was getting ready to leave but as usual the other mother and I lingered, still chatting at the door. My oldest daughter and her's repeatedly interupted asking for a sleep over. Again and again they were told no but they kept asking. Finally I turned and said "read my lips, the answer is no" to which my daughter burst out crying "But I can't read!"

I used to believe…

One time my sister and I were fighting over what game to play so, looking in the corner where a fire escape ladder was, she yelled "If you play boggle with me after you can play whatever you want. We can even play escape ladder!" at first I thought she was joking but after a moment I realized she sincerly believed that the escape ladder was a board game.

I used to believe…

One year, my Dad and I went Christmas shopping and he spent two hours talking a price down on a gift for my mother.When we returned home mom exclaimed "What took you so long?" I replied "Dad spent forever masturbating with the guy at the counter." As soon as I said it my mom cracked up and Dad turned red. I tried to play it off like I knew what I was talking about until I told my friend the story.She explained to me I mixed the word "masturbate" up with the word "haggle."

I have always been a notoriously bad speller even though I was a straight A honors kid (which was pretty hard to pull off before the days of spell checker.) I would have to rely on people helping me to spell but there was one word that frustrated me. I would ask a million times if "title" had two 't's" in it and everyone would say yes. Yet whenever I wrote "tiTTle" I would be marked down for spelling.

I used to believe…

When I was little, I would bike past the City Motor Company on my way to the library. However, I thought it was the City MURDER Company. I was scared to go past it for years.

I used to believe…

When me an my little brother were little, we took a family vacation road trip to Disney World. On the way there, my little brother would ask me what the billboards said because he wasn't old enough to read yet and I was. I told him some of the roadside billboards near Disney World said, "Tommy is a a dummy." and he believed me.

I used to believe that whenever people said "So-and-so" that they were talking about an actual person named Soandso.

I always heard "Soandso" did this and "Soandso" did that.

I wondered, who IS this person and how did everyone know him?

I used to believe…

I�m Spanish speaker and I was until I was 35 y/o. When I was kid my parents never explained to me the meaning of some bad words but they told me they were bad words and as I heard them all the time with out understanding what they were talking about, I thought anything that I couldn�t understand was bad, at the same time the Beatles song became so popular on the radio and I was convinced that people liked to sing bad word songs.

I used to believe…

My parents designated the words "hockey puck"as their swear word for idiot, jerk (insert truly bad word here). I grew up believing that hockey puck was a bad word not to be used in polite company.

I used to believe…

When I was young I heard the f-word often, along with the gesture that went with it, so to stop me from using it my father told me a secret. He said that there was something worse....you stick up your pinky finger and say "fitzel bitzel". Worked for years till I realized he made it all up.

I used to believe…

Remember the show "Wide World of Sports" that was hosted by Jim McKay? The show opened with McKay saying "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport� the thrill of victory� and the agony of defeat� the human drama of athletic competition� This is ABC's Wide World of Sports! For the longest time, even into my adulthood, I thought "agony of defeat" was "agony of the feet."

I used to believe…

When I was about 5 or 6 I asked my mom why people called African Americans "the n-word". She said and I quote:

"Oh, it's because they're always nigging you for money"

I believed that until I was in the 9th grade.

I used to believe…

When I was little, I was (sort of) allergic to a certain preservative found in most hot dogs. When I ate them, I'd get this weird feeling in my throat, like there were chunks at the back of my throat. So it seemed logical to say i felt "chunky". My family and I used this commonly around the house for the next few years. At my friend's 6th birthday party, I remember refusing to eat hotdogs " 'Cause they make me chunky!" Now I know why everyone was looking at me weirdly the whole time...

I used to believe…

For the most part, I was always a good speller, but I refused to believe that "etalics" was spelled with an I instead of an E. I got in an argument with my mom about that.