language

I used to believe that if you knew a single word of any language, you were automatically descended from it. So I say, "I'm part English, Arabic, Spanish, Portugese," and the list goes on. That was until Mom correct

I used to believe…

when I was around 3 years old I was convinced that the alphabet went like this;
A,C,D,C, F and G. ache 'n jakey (or at least I sounded like that) L,and don't forget the P, Q or S, tee-e-vee, double-your X, then the Zex.

no matter what anyone told me It was always like this. My mother evan tryed puting a tape of someone singing the alphabet in my room when I went to sleep. I would I always sing along to it, (in my own way of corse!)

I swear this is completly true and my parents have it on tape. Strangly enough I knew the french alphabet perfectly (I am Canadian) but I didn't knew the proper english one until I was about 6.

Today I teach english to middle school children and this is always a good story to tell the children. :)

I used to believe…

This is for my oldest sister. Our family went out to eat to an Italian restaurant and, while reading the menu, she asked my mother what "Lensquata" was. It turns out it was Lasagna, she misinterpreted the cursive writing. It was pretty sad since she wasn't a child when she said that.

I read books avidly as a kid and was always awaiting the Library doors to open. I was born in 1943.

I always had a problem with two words. For years I pronounced 'Slough' as 'Sluf' and also 'Hugh' (a hero in one of my books) as 'Huff'. I suppose I had learnt to pronounce Rough and assumed the other words corresponded.

I used to believe…

Although I must have known from television and general life that Americans spoke English, I managed to convince myself, and my friends too, that they spoke an entirely different language. My father used to go on frequent business trips to America, and when he came back, I would tell my friends that he had taught me something new about the American language. I even claimed to have been taught several songs in 'American' which I performed for them - they were complete gibberish, of course.

Given the amount of American TV shows we get in the UK I don't know why I thought this would be convincing, nor why the other children believed. It never fails to surprise me, either, that I half believed these fantastic tales myself.

I used to believe…

When I was little, I thought that everyone was born knowing english, but had to learn the langauge in which they lived to 'fit in' and 'be normal'

I used to believe…

Since I couldn't make any sense of what babies were "saying" when they were babling, I was convinced when I was a child that American babies must speak Chinese. Likewise I concluded that Chinese babies must speak English.

I used to think the term "breaking a record" literally meant you took a record(the kind that plays music) and broke it in half. I didnt understand why it really mattered when people did it and why they got famouse for it. I also thought that in the Guinness Book of World Records, guinness was an adjective descibing how great the broken records were or something. It was all very confusing. Im still not really sure if guinness is a name or what. I sure am smart.

I used to believe…

Jeg trudde lenge Brannmur het "Brantmur", og at Dykkerdrakt het "Dykkertdrakt"

I used to believe that since every country had their own language; everybody laughed differently.. Yea... The Swedes laughed different from the danish and so on.. I was pretty disappointed when we first went on holiday to Sweden.... Lisa-Norway

I used to believe…

When I was 7 we moved to Malaysia. Before we left my mum told me that they speak a different language over there. I just assumed that meant that they spoke in opposites.

I used to believe…

My neighbours little boy spent one very hot summer on the beach with his father- who every time a pretty girl went buy used to say "Get 'em off, get 'em off - show us what you've got". One winter evening there was a fluttering at the window and the boy asked his father what it was and the father replied that it was a moth looking for the light - the boy then asked "What - a getamoth?" - Out of the mouths of babes .....

I used to believe…

When I was about 4 yrs old we lived in california. My parants use to call all the bad freeway drivers jerks and assholes. From then on I must have thought when something got in your way it was either a jerk or an asshole. One day I was out driving my barbie car around and crashed into a fence. so I quickly got out of my barbie car looked at the fence and said get out of my way you asshole! my mom who had been watching me looked over in disbelief at wut had just come out of her 4 yr olds mouth

I used to believe…

When I was in 3rd grade Catholic school, one day after lunch we were runnignt o the playground and on the walkway were the letters FUC in professional spray painted block letters. I knew from my classes that it was not a word because there was no E at the end or any other letter. I ignored it. The next day someone had scrawled a "K" at the end. I read it eff...you...seee....kay....fuck. It made no sense since it was not a word. A teacher's aid heard me and yanked me to the principal's office (where I heard Nuns used whips with a metal rin on the end to punish you with). No one was there so I was released not knowing what I did. I heard the word the next time about 3 years later and thought I had invented it. I took credit for it and was so adamant about it I convinced others I invented it too.

I used to believe…

When I was little and had just started school, I believed I could spell any word by just sounding out the first few letters and then saying the rest of the word as normal. I'd march around the house proudly yelling, "Listen, Daddy, I can spell table! T-A . . .bull!" I can't remember how long this went on before I learned real spelling, but until then I was convinced that I was really smart and that my way was just as good as using all the letters.

I used to believe…

When I was a kid and said "no" to something simple my Dad asked me to do, he would say "What did your last servant die of, a humphy back?" or the short version "What did you last servant die of?" Of course being a kid and not knowing what a servant was, all I heard was a bunch of syllables going whatdidyourlastservantdieof. I thought it just meant "Do it yourself". Then one day in school the teacher wanted me to write on the blackboard and I asked her "What did your last servant die of." That was not fun.