language

I used to believe…

When I was 4 or 5, I learned how to read. But when you learn how to read, you always speak out loud so that your teacher or parent can help you along. I thought it was a group activity. So one evening at home, I was on the floor reading some children's book aloud, and my older sister got annoyed with me and said, "Andrew, be quiet and read in your head!"

I tried a page not saying anything but still taking in the words, and was amazed when I could do it! It suddenly dawned on me that I could enjoy the imaginary worlds in books in private, and this was an amazingly powerful ability.

I used to believe…

When my parents would give our last name to someone over the phone, they would say, "B, as in boy" continue to spell, and end with "M, as in Mary." They both did this the same way, and I heard them doing it all the time.

For years I didn't even realize that they were spelling our name; I assumed it was some sort of code.

I used to believe…

when i was in 4th grade, i was talking about how bad this guy was in my report. i got confused and meant to say "grouch" but i thought THAT was a bad word so i said b**** instead! i felt so embarreseed when my mom saw my report with my teacher explaining to me what that actually meant.

I used to believe that people were "human beans" instead of human beings.

I used to believe that humans were "human-beans" instead of "human-beings"!

I was shocked, shopping in Next one day with my mum, when I looked up and read the signs 'menswear'. I got quite upset and didnt tell my mum, then seen the sign 'childrenswear'! I started to cry. My mum asked me what was wrong? I said 'mum men swear in here, and so do children!!!' Obviously I couldn't read correctly being only three years old... bless me!

I used to believe…

One day I was in the car with my mom, and I said, "You know, I'm almost sixteen, you don't need to spell around me anymore." She didn't know what I was talking about. "I heard you on the phone, you were spelling a word, and I just wanted to let you know I know what you're spelling."
"What word did I spell?"
"O-B-G-Y-N."
Knowing that I was about to say something stupid, she held in her laughs and said, "Okay, then what does that spell?"
"Obgyn," I said, pronouncing it ob-gin.

I used to believe…

My mother once told my niece that she was a nighthawk when she was little, as the family was staying up late to watch movies. My niece thought she called her a "night hog", and to this day, persists on calling herself a "night hog" - she's 25 years old now and we STILL can't get her to believe the term is "nighthawk".

I used to believe that words had faces

I used to believe…

When I was little I would always get confused with the words homo and hobo. One day, while in NYC, I saw a man sleeping on a bench. To my mother's horror I exclaimed, "Look! A homo!" and recieved many puzzled stares. I haven't mixed them up since.

I used to believe…

Oddly enough, a lot of people seemed to have this belief. I believed everyone in the world thought in english, but people who spoke other languages translated into their language before saying it out loud. I believed this up until 7th grade when my french teacher, who was fluent, told us she sometimes dreamed in french.

I don't know how I managed this one, but I'm currently a French 3 honors student and, until someone corrected me this year, I believed the word 'Oui' (it means yes) was spelt 'Qui'. I guess I thought this because the u after q rule. I have no idea how I came this far without a teacher correcting me.

I add genders to numbers and letters. Here is the list:
1,2,3,5,7, and 8 are male.
4, 6, and 9 are female.

A, K, P, Q, R, V, W, X, and Y are female.
B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, S, T, U, and Z are male.

I used to believe that to speak another language all you had to do was speak english with an accent. So if I wanted to speak French, all I would do was speak English with a French accent.

I used to believe…

After I heard the joke "Why was 6 mad at 7? Beause 7 8 9 (seven ate nine)" I thought 7 was the meanest number ever and 9 became my favorite number because I felt bad for it.

I began reading the Harry Potter series when I was 10 and, according to the books, you get your letter to Hogwarts on your 11th birthday. I was completely convinced these books were real and cried for hours on my 11th birthday when no letter of acceptence to this magical school came.