language

3,499 beliefs in this area

I used to believe…

We once had an Austrian exchange student, Maria, stay with us. We were driving around her showing her the Aussie countryside and we passed some emus in a paddock. 'Look!' Maria exclaimed, 'Emos!'
This was met with much laughter. She didn't have any idea what we were laughing at.

I used to hear random words and start using them out of context.
For example, my dad did something funny, and I said to my mother, "Dad's such a jerk".
Fortunately I never attempted it with any swear words.

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i used to believe that if you were sat in a comfortable chair for example you were 'comfty', not 'comfy' and also that 'helicopters' were 'helicockters'

I used to believe…

When I was in college, I took Swahili. When we came in the door of class the first day, the instructor started pointing to stuff and saying "Nini hii?" (Nina hee) Which later we found out meant "What is this?". For a few seconds I was convinced that if "Nini hii?" was the name for everything in the room, the class would be a cinch to pass. I still enjoyed the class when I discovered I was wrong, and went on to study it for 2 more years.

I used to believe that kids in France were really smart. They already had learned French! It didn't occur to me that they had been taught French from the beginning and had to learn English in school like I learned French. Unfortunately, I was in Jr. High School when I came up with that - before then, I never thought about any other language. I thought everyone spoke English.

I used to believe different languages were just the English alphabet in a different order eg for french A was D or G was T and so on, I thought learning a different language just meant learning the code!

— Catriona Scotlandlanguage : foreign languages

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I used to believe…

When i was little i thought the F word was a religious person because my dad used to say "HOLY F..." alot.

until that day i said it in church!

I used to believe…

About swearing, I'm Irish, and we have a....colorful word choice.

So, I was playing A-10 Cuba flight sim about 11 years ago, good old Win 95 :P (some of you might know the sim, and I just showed my age), and was stuck on a mission, so I first said f**k you to an enemy, but very, very quietly. I completed the mission, but got shot down. I then yelled something like...f**king c**t s**t b******s. At the exact moment my father walked in.

Yep. Great timing

I used to believe…

Until I was nearly six, I thought that lasagna was called "vagina". My aunt used to make vegetable lasagna, which i loved, and I enthusiastically always told her "I LOVE vagina!"

I used to believe…

When I was 3 I watched a Micky Mouse cartoon where Mickey called Pluto a dumb mutt. I thought he said damn it, so I figured it was ok to say it. My mom wasn't happy when I repeated it...

I used to believe…

When I was about 4, my friend and I thought that writing in cursive was just writing a letter and then putting a big squiggle behind it, and then putting the next letter with a big squiggle, etc..
i.e.
"car" in our cursive would be
C~~~ a~~~~ r~~~~~
We didn't figure out what cursive actually was until 3 years later...ooops

I used to believe…

one day when i was little i drew out the alphabet and i made a story about who loved who. For example a and b loved each other and c and loved each other. Mr C and Mrs D to be exact. Mrs I. and Mrs. K were both in love with Mr. J though. Uh Oh..

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I used to think everyone in the world knew and thought in English, but choose to speak different languages.

I used to believe…

When I was 4 I was told not to use God's name in vain. I thought this just meant saying the word "God" at all. So I thought that you were supposed to say "Fairy Goshmother" instead of "Fairy Godmother".

What's weird about this is that I later found out this was just a belief on my mom's side of the family and not my dad's. It can be very confusing to be raised in a family of both a believer in God and someone who doesn't quite believe in Him that much.

I wrote in my first degree essay that a bilingual friend spoke Polish because she had grown up in Walsall. The lecturer wrote (quite harshly I feel!) "I wasn't aware there was a large Polish community in Birmingham". I'm just glad papers were marked anonymously!

I used to believe…

not really a belief, but when I was little my friend told me he liked to make up words, so I decided to try it. On my first attempt I came up with the F word. I was playing with blocks in the living room and blurted it out right in front of both my parents, like, "Hey, look what I made". The memory of how angry they got keeps me from swearing to this day (Junior in high school).

I used to believe (at 3 or 4) that counting money was very difficult and confusing. I was so very worried that I would grow up to be a cashier. Counting back all that change made my head spin just thinking about it. I still get confused when to give the cashier one penny to round out the total.

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I used to believe - until maybe the age of 12 - that the Pullitzer Prize was in fact the "Pullet Surprise," as in, "Surprise! You won!"

I used to believe…

when i was little i thought 'rats' was a bad word. so when my brother loudly shouted out "RATS!" in frustration i was appalled that he had actually said a bad word!

i used to get 'prosecuted' and 'persecuted' mixed up all the time, so i figured the signs in stores that said "shoplifters will be prosecuted" meant the store owner was going to take anyone he found stealing stuff out back and shoot him!