language

I used to believe…

when i was in 5 grade my aunt said think of names that rhyme with '-ut' so my sister came up with sl*t and we that it was pretty funny and we didn't know what it was and we went home and said "hey, sl*ts!" when we got in the kitchen we got in trouble and were sent to our rooms we didn't know why i looked it up and told my sister they still wont let us live it down

I used to think that a cubic foot was how things were measured in Cuba. I'd hear ads for refrigerators with so many cubic feet of space and I just didn't get it. Were all refrigerators made in Cuba? I think I was 12 or 13 before some one set me straight on that one.

I used to believe…

When I was very young, almost six, one of my older cousins left a copy of Huckelberry Finn at my house. I started to read it and was puzzled when Huck told Tom about his life with the Widow Douglas.

To paraphrase, he said that he had to cuss for ten minutes just to get the taste back. My grand mother had always told me that if we kids said bad words or talked back that our tongues would turn black and shrivel up and fall right out of our heads.

Well, I wanted to know what it tasted like to cuss anyhow, so one morning after every one else had gotten up, I went upstairs and said every bad word I could think of. Needless to say, I didn't get any taste from it, just a bad case of the guilt and fear that I would wake up one morning and my tongue would be lying on my pillow beside me.

I used to believe…

When I was a little girl my brother use to call me "naughty name" and I would run and tell my mom. She separated us in a room and could later her my brother whispering across the room to me "naughty name, naughty name".

I was a precocious reader, and due to construction going on at my school, I attended kindergarten at a local church. I came home one day and asked Mother what "off ice" meant since I saw it on a sign outside the church where I went to school. She was very puzzled. I kept asking her day after day, so finally she got tired of being pestered, bundled me up, and we walked to the church to see. The sign said "office."

I used to believe…

When my brother was five he was sitting on the floor playing with his toys when out of nowhere he shouted "D*mn It!" My dad was like, "What did you say!?!" My brother inoccently, unaware that it was anything bad repeated to him. "I said "D*mn it!" My dad then explained to him that it was a bad word and that he should never say it again.
The next day my brother was sitting there again and broke out of nowhere with an unexpected "Sh*t!" My dad was now obviously slighty more upset than the last time jumped up. "What did you just say!?!" My brother jumped back and cryed out, "I said sh*t dad! I didn't say d*mn it! I said sh*t"!

I used to believe that until I was 6 that all people, no matter what language they spook or read, spook and thought words in English in their head. I remember looking at a Spanish picture book, and thought "Silly people, why don't they just speak English instead of speaking this stuff. It would be a lot easier."

I used to believe…

Once I told the teacher "I'm almost done!" Thinking I had just let her know I was as finished as I can be, I was quite confused to hear her say" Well go and finish it up then, Suzie." I learned quickly what "almost" meant. This was in kindergarten, I was still kind of new to English--even though strangely teachers had no idea it was my 2nd language--I heard a kid using the word "almsot" and I liked it.

I used to believe…

When I was in grdae 2, we were learning geograohy and I was asked by the teacher to read 'Niger' I had never heard of this country and thought it was pronounced with a hard G. It came out as "Nigger." A black kid in the class got so mad and accuse of being racist. Even the teacher could hardly believ I didn't know I was saying something wrong!!! I was totally hurt.

I used to believe…

my parents use to talk in chinese (my 2nd language) and subsequently hakka and teochew (their dilects) when they didnt want me or my sister to know what they were talking about. i use to think that i was a code they made up in the middle of the night and that it wasnt a real language at all.

I had a friend growing up, and her parents used to talk about "Sumbees". These, apparently, were very bad people.

I was always puzzled by this, until they told the story that when she was about 18 months old, she was looking through her coloring book, and every time she couldn't get the page to turn smoothly, she'd exclaim, "Sumbee!"

It took them several times of seeing this to figure out she was saying, "Sonofabitch!". (If you're not British, and you've never heard a Texan pronounce this word, it comes out as "Sum-bitch!".

I used to believe…

When I was in preschool and learning the alphabet, I always thought that l,m,n,o was one letter because in the sing-song version you say it really quick. It took some serious explaining to get the truth through to me.

I used to believe that the sign "in case of fire, do not use elevator" was meant to be proactive. I read it as "you shouldn't use elevators, because someday, there might be a fire." It never stopped me from using elevators, but I remember being puzzled by the sign.

i used to think that when british people spoke english with accents they knew that they talked with accents. when i found out that from their point of view Americans have accents it blew my frickin mind'... and i was in 6th grade when that happened.

I used to believe…

My parents told me the word "butt" was a very bad word and would always scould me for using it. My friends and I would get together and just say that word and laugh hysterically.

I used to believe…

When I was a child, I was very picky about the fabric and fit of my socks, and until I was about 8 or 9, I had somehow gotten the idea that "edible" meant "accpetable" I still have a vivid memory of my parents laughing hysterically at my announcement that I didn't have "any edible socks!"