language

I used to think that when gangsters on TV said stuff like "bada bing" and "fuggeddaboudid", I thought they were speaking a foreign language.

I saw a truck that said "non-potable water" on it. Not knowing that word, I thought it said "non-PORTABLE water", and wondered how they could transport it in a truck if it's not portable.

I used to believe…

1 belief I had as a kid was that being on the phone or radio could distort your voice and make it sound likeypu had a foreign accent.

I used to think that "boobies" was a bad word all the time

I used to believe that the phrase "Mamma Mia" referred to a girl named Mia.

I thought that the term "mild-mannered" meant the person didn't have very good manners, as I knew "mild" meant "not very much" (due to things like mild hot sauce), but had never heard that definition of "manner(ed)" before.

I thought that "caucus" was a bad word (not sure where I heard that word as a kid, but whatever) it took ages for me to get up the courage to ask my mom if it really was, as I was afraid I'd get in a lot of trouble if it turned out to be something really offensive

I thought that awry was pronounced "aw-ree" (rhymes with sorry), instead of "uh-rye". The odd part is, I had heard people say the word aloud lots of times, but it took me ages to realize it was the same word.

I used to believe that rats and mice were the same species, rats being males and mice females, and that similar to the b-word meaning a female dog, the word "rat" was a swear word. Euphemistically, I referred to rats as big mice.

I Used To Believe Profanity Was A Language And The Words Were Okay To Say/Speak In That Way Until I Learned That Is Not True And I Could Get In Very Huge/Big Amounts Of Trouble For Swearing At The Wrong Person Or Calling Them Slurs!

I Used To Believe Gibberish Was A Real Language, And I Thought I Was Fluent At Gibberish And I Came From A Country That Spoke Gibberish

I used to believe…

My dad often says, "Is it _____ or what?" When I was little I thought I had to say "what" if it wasn't the "blank". For example if he said "Is it funny or what?" I thought I had to say "what" if I didn't think it was funny. I took things very literally back then. I think I actually did have to answer with "what" once!

I used to believe…

Until I was in my 20s, I thought the word "stuck" in the phrase "bleed like a stuck pig" meant stuck as in stuck inside something, and didn't get how it made any sense. Then one day I realized it meant stuck like stabbed or punctured, and I was like "oh, duh!"

I used to believe…

Because of Pocahontas, I grew up believing Native Americans noises sounded like English to Native Americans.

I used to think that the word creative was always associated with crayons, because of the artistic 'cr' sound in both words.

I used to believe…

When I was a little kid there was a short on Sesame Street about the letter G. At the end the guy said something like "and G also stands for (starts cracking up) Giggle! (bursts out laughing)". For the longest time, I misheard "giggle" as "eagle" and didn't get why he said that, as even as a kid I knew that was wrong, or what was supposedly so funny.