language

I always thought "vulnerable," was a bad word because it started with "vul" as in "vulgar," so whenever someone said vulnerable I thought they were using a vulgar word~

I used to believe…

When my brother was about 5 years old, he came to me asking why people spoke other languages. He had just assumed everyone thought in English but translated it into other languages in their heads before saying things.
It was really tough to explain that many of these people didn't know any English, much less think English thoughts.

I used to believe…

In my fifth grade class years ago, someone said the word "boner" rather quietly. I asked "What's a boner?" but was quickly shushed by my classmates who said it was a bad word. I logically figured out it had something to do with a bone, like the typical white kind with rounded ends that's in your arm. It took me a long time to realize that there was nothing "naughty" about a skeleton!

I used to believe…

just like wendy down there me and my sister used to come up with genders for each letter of the alphabet..and we still remember them all!!!!

i used to believe dumb was a bad word cuz on that show called wimzy's house she got busted for saying dumb ..

I used to believe…

For some reason I used to see the letters of the alphabet as having genders.

A, D, H, K, M, N, O, P, Q, S, U, V, W, and Y are all girls.

B, C, E, F, G, I, J, L, R, T, X and Z are all boys.

What am I saying, "used to"? I still see them this way....

I used to believe…

When I came to the States, I was learning English in ESL English as a Second language) Program, and all the other students in the class were from different countries too. I couldn't hear the difference in pronounciation and spelling of the words 'shit' and 'sheet', 'ship' and 'sheep', and the worst of all 'skank' and 'skunk'!!! So I was using this words very wrongly among other students. Since they didn't know better, I kept on missusing the words until I asked my teacher a "shit" of paper in order to write the story of how I ran over a skank w/my car!

I grew up in an extremely conservative Catholic family and when I was around five or so my older sister's boyfriend came over. I can't remember exactly why, but I got very angry at him and screamed "YOU STUPID DEMOCRAT!" I thought it was a bad name you called someone.

I used to believe…

when I was a kid most of the men adult around the house used to say this F*** you for nothing so one time my mom was teaching me how to sing Happy Birthday song and I thought I heard her singing Happy Birthday F*** you and I started to sing Happy Birthday F*** you over and over again since then they never mention that bad words inside the house anymore.

I used to believe…

Well, as a child, my mother always taught me that when I can't understand a word, to break it down and I'll understand it (I found out later that she was just much too lazy!). So one fine afternoon, I was sitting on my big blue bean bag chair reading the dictionary, and I came across the word 'prostitute'. I didn't know what it was, so I took my mother's advice and didn't even bother to look at the definition. I just broke down the word.
Pro-something you are good at.
stitute- sounds like subsitute.
So it sounded like a very good subsitute in school.
Oh, the look on the poor principals face when my teacher was absent one day, and he came inside the classroom and asked if the teacher was in. (The substitute was inside the closet getting her coat, so he couldn't see her). And I, wanting to sound smart, said, "No! We have a prostitute! She's in the closet!"
Mind you this was in the late 1950's too.
Oh, did I have some fun...

I used to think the 'okay sign' -- when you put your thumb and middle finger together and stick the rest of your fingers up -- was actually a 'monocle sign' and meant that you lost your monocle or something like that. I only wish I could tell you what made me believe this.

I used to believe the word "privacy" was considered rude, because my parents explained to me when I was little the reason they shut the bathroom door was for privacy. I thought it pertained to something involving nudity, and even after I learned different, still felt odd saying the word in public for a long time afterwards.

I used to believe…

One particular babysitter of mine was comforting me after I became hysterical and was crying over something or other. She started cooing "Calm down, it's okay." Having never heard anyone use the phrase "calm down", I thought she was saying "come down" (as in "come down out of the tree", or off of something high off). I looked up at her and said "Come down from where? I'm not on anything, i'm right here."

I used to bekeive philosiphy was a language, because my mom tought spanish and my dad taught philosiphy, and I would ask him things like "Say (so and so) in philosiphy.

I thought 'Disney' was spelt 'Gisney' because of on TV, the D was all curly and looked more like a backwards G. I was never able to read it as a 'd' and the closest thing I could figure out was a 'G'.
I eventually figured out the font was just weird and it wasn't Gisney.

I used to believe…

When I was preschool age, I somehow convinced myself that "hospital" was a bad word - maybe because of the sick people in it, or because my dad worked in one and I didn't get to see him much. When my teacher asked me what I'd received for Christmas I burst into tears because I thought she'd yell at me for telling her I'd gotten a hospital playset.