language

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to believe that all the people on Earth really knew English, but invented all the different languages because everybody speaking English all the time would be boring.

I used to believe…

When I was in second grade the teacher asked everybody if they knew a foreign language. Having learned both French and Japanese as foreign languages but not knowing there was any difference between them, I spoke up and said I knew French and proceeded to count in Japanese. The teacher, who actually knew French said it was a lie, disregarded me and it hurts me to this day.

I used to believe…

When I was little, when I saw something with the word "original" written on it, I thought it was pronounced "origontal," even though I knew what "original" meant. Then one day I was having my dad write on the back of a blank video tape case, and I had him write the word "original." I then noticed it wasn't actually "origontal", once I saw it in print.

I used to believe that when my dad yelled "Jesus!" at other cars when he drove me places, he was really saying "Cheeses!" So I started yelling that when I was upset. One day, my parents took me aside and told me not to say it anymore because some people found it offensive. I always wondered what they had against cheese.

I used to believe…

When I was little, I had a speech problem where I pronouced my "g" like a "d". I had an Aunt Gloria who I called "Aunt Doria". In turn, she called me "Daffy" because my nickname was "Kathy." In kindergarten, I went to speech classes that corrected the problem. I started calling her Gloria, so she called me Kathy. I was like "Aunt Gloria, you don't have a speech problem anymore!" She said, "I never had one," but I didn't realize that she had been making fun of me until later.

I used to believe…

when i was in about 2nd grade a girl said to my friend F**k you. and i wispered to my friend "what did they say?, duck you?" i was totally unaware of what it meant. so my friend informed me that it was a bad word.

I used to believe…

one time when i was about 5, i asked my dad if you could only say a certain number of words in your life! I thought there was likea certain number of times you coudl say each word, like you could say your own name a million times before you died, but you could only say your best friends name half of a million times. After you used up all your times for saying a word you were never allowed to say it again.

i had my7 year old cousin over and i was checking my emails as she was sat with me. In the email it said "ROFL" (Rolling on floor laughing)
My cousin, being the dipstick she is, thought it was another word for Funny, like "hilarious" or something.
So when she tells stories about funny things instead of saying "it was funny" she says "It was roffle"
:/

I used to believe…

once at preschool, me and some other kids stuck up our middle fingers, having no clue what it meant, and my mom who worked at the day care told me and my friend tabitha that if we stuck up our middle finger, we'd get struck by lightning. since lightning is usually accompanied by dark clouds and rain, and since there was none i thought it'd be ok just this one time, so the 2 of us kept doing it...and then there was this teengage boy who worked there and said, "she just stuck up her middle finger. she's gonna get struck by lightning!" i didn't learn until i was in grade school what it actually meant.

I used to believe…

I used to believe that if something was labeled �Adult� it just meant that it was really boring, and that kids wouldn�t like it. Because of this I often wondered why church wasn�t considered �Adult�

I used to believe…

When I was little, my grandparents used to read the Bible to me. There are a few times that it uses the A word. I got upset because I thought the Bible was cussing until my granny explained that it wasn't a bad word if you use it in context. A few days later, I was acting up, and my dad said he was going to bust my a... I flipped out and said, "Ooooom, you said a bad word. You didn't say it in context." Without missing a beat, Dad goes, "Well would it be in context if I said I'm gonna bust your donkey?" I laughed my head off.

I'm from Ireland and in primary school coming up to St. Patricks Day they'd have plays and stuff on in scool and they'd always mention the millions of people who emigrated, but i thought emigrated meant disintegrated at the time so could never understand how millions of people went puff into dust... i pictured it kinda like vampires getting staked in Buffy... but Buffy wasn't on tv then so blame over active imagination....

I always believed movable bungalows were called "dungalows" and always believed it was right.

I visited a park when I was younger called "duinrell" in Holland and it's not until a couple days ago when I visited the website that I realised "duingalow" is just a gimmick..

I am 21.

I used to believe…

When I was three or four I believed that letters and numbers were either boys or girls. The letters A, B, H, K, M, N, P, Q, R, U, V, W, and Y are girl letters whereas C, D, E, F, G, I, J, L, O, S, T, and Z were boy letters. X always kind of tricked me (ironic considering our chromosomes). 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 are boys and 4, 6, 8, and 9 are girls. I can remember to this day (20 years later!) exactly what letters and numbers are the girls and which ones are the boys!

I used to believe…

When I was a little girl, my Father would take us out for lunch at a new restaurant every Sunday after church. I remember back now...to a moment, when my father used humor to discipline us in public quietly. I did not happen to chance to a belief that was completely off the mark. For my father implanted this belief into my brain. Not realizing that I would "really" believe him. anyways...back to the story...on this particular Sunday my sisters and I got a little more rambunctous than was proper. As all kids do from time to time when out sitting quietly for too long in a freshly pressed dress. anyways...I noticed a no soliciting sign on the wall and asked my father..."What does no soliciting mean daddy?". He answered, "it means you can't spank your children in here." I interpreted his humorous answer to mean that I ought to calm down. Which is I think what he intended. but then...later in life...I would read those signs and wonder why people couldn't spank their children there. When I began dating my husband in 1993 and one day I went to meet him for dinner at his parent house. On the door was a "no soliciting" sign. I remember commenting to my then boyfriend..."You can't spank your kinds here?" upon arriving at the door. Rob looked at me and said something like, "what are you talking about?" I think I said, "well no soliciting means no spanking your kids here right?" My now husband Robert lovingly replied, "no it means you cannot try to sell something here." when he told me this as gently as he did I did believe him and my brain wandered back to that day when I first learned the meaning of "no soliciting". I had believed my father's humorous discipline most certainly longer than he expected. I never got the chance to tell him about this hilarious misunderstanding. maybe someday I will whoop it up with him once again. ;)

I used to believe…

When I was like 5 and "got" a Mexican cousin, I thought that his tongue would actually be only able to pronounce in Spanish, but that he was in fact thinking in French (which I speak), because the one real language was French.