language

I used to think that in a sentence in French, no word or beginning of a word can be capitalized. So if i would say, I like Bob. in french, i thought it would be j'aime bob. instead of J'aime Bob. Turns out it was only for dates that capitalising months and days was not allowed.

I used to think that people who spoke other languages had transaltors in their brains that made them hear in english. I was always so amazed when people could speak more than one language.

I used to believe…

when i was younger, me and my sister were going through the alphabet trying to find words that rhyme with party (like u do..), so when we got to 'f', so 'farty' my mum had a massive go at us and said it was a very rude word...i thought farty was a swear word for years afterwards.. :S

I thought that "fart" was a bad word. my mom told me never to say it. once i said it quietly infront of my mom. when she asked what i had said, i told her i said "Bart." i was shocked when i heard someone else's mother say the word. i still feel weird saying it.

I used to believe…

when i was younger singin the alphabet, i'd say a b c d e f g h i j k ellemenop lol

I used to believe…

When I was little, I used to write a lot of my letters backwards. This caused confusion when I wrote a letter to my dad whilst he was working away that started 'dear baddy...'

I don't know how long I thought this, but I thought the part of the alphabet that goes "l m n o p" was really "elemenno p" , and i thought P was the most special letter because it had a word in front to describe it.

I used to believe that if I saw or thought of the words 'to be continued' a man in white overalls and hat would go underneath my bed and paint the words underneath my bed. It scared me to see that saying.

I used to believe…

As a little kid in pre-war New Guinea, my parents would read out the eagerly awaited letters from family in Australia - "Grandma asks if you are being a good boy, and Sport (her dog) still likes to play", - and so on. So I knew early that those marks on the paper meant real words, but I wanted to talk to Grandma too, and would scribble on bits of paper while carefully shouting out my message (I knew she was a long way away). But I thought it had to be like a conversation, so I would have to invent Grandma's reply and shout and scribble that too. But if I had to know what her answer would be before "writing" it down, what was the point in asking the question? I was a logical if rather confused child. Things haven't changed much.

I used to believe…

When I was very young (less than 10, maybe 6 or 7?) my parents were talking to other adults in the house and they must have been talking about how tired they were. I thought I'd be helpful and popped up with "You should take some laxatives", believing that laxatives would help them relax. Needless to say, everyone was stunned and I felt stupid about this for a long time before I ever actually learned what laxatives are.

I used to believe…

When I was little, my brother told me that the word "farrell" was the worst word you could say. Then, one day I met a kid with the last name of Farrell, and I freaked out because I thought his last name was a bad word.

I had heard ALOT of bad things back in the day.. And I have said just as many!!.. One day at home I was thinking to myself how stupid I was because I did something that just wasn't very bright. So I decided to use a word to describe myself at this time.. Well earlier that day I heard the word "Slut" and thought that it meant "stupid" or something of that sort. So, I went up to my dad to proudly express the new word I learned.. (of course not knowing the true meaning of the word)...... "Im A Slut!!" I exclaimed..... Well.. My dad didnt take that too well.. although my sister found it funny, it was odd to have my dad explain what that is to me!!

I used to believe that people from England spoke an ancient language that wasn't English, kind of like how the Irish used to speak Galic, and that the English language was a relatively new language.

I have never heard the term outside South Australia, but it was common for decades to answer a child asking an awkward question about something to say, "Oh, it's just a wigwam for a goose's bridle". Curiously, this always seemed to satisfy the child but, covering so many things, it must have caused confusion in many tiny minds.

I used to believe…

Nephew aged 6 was crazy about westerns but always called cavalry, "cattle-ry". Well, I suppose the other blokes on horses were called "Cowboys" - so, logical? He was so persistent that the whole family now says the same, thirty years later!

I used to believe…

When my older sister was learning French at secondary school, she would practice numbers and verbs etc. Somehow I got it into my head that it went un, deux, trois etc up to 13, when I thought it went quatorze, cans, tins, and then I couldnt remember any more numbers! I was repeatedly told by my family this was incorrect, but it wasn't until I got to school was taught the numbers that I had to work really hard to forget cans and tins and continue on to vingt and beyond!