language: reading

I used to believe…

A certain cousin of mine tends to be quite stubborn. When she was about five years old (and I in my late teens), she was absolutely certain that there was no way I could know how to read, as I'd never "went to school." (My parents chose to home-school me.) Eventually, I managed to set her straight and even tease her about it a couple of times.

I remember how my mum would read me stories, and I would always assume they were true. once, though my brother told me a scary story, and I couldn't sleep, so my mum told me that not all stories are true. I called her a liar for telling me made up stories.

I used to believe…

As a child, I was a voracious reader. Unfortunately, I didn't read aloud to anyone to correct my pronunciation. For years, I thought the word "awry" was pronounced "ow-ree". Hearing the word "awry" in conversation did nothing to dispel this belief. I jsut assumed they were two separate words.

I used to believe…

For some reason when i was little, i don't think i knew what public was, either that or i couldn't read, anyway, i thought 'Public' toilets were Pubic toilets. The strange thing was, i don't think i knnew what pubic was either.

I used to believe…

When I was in kindergarden when I just learned how to read, I always stared at the Union bank trucks.I believed that union was pronounced 'onion.' When I asked my mother why they had a bank where they used onions for money, she told me it was pronounces YOUn-ee-un, and I learned a lesson in language. =)

I used to believe…

When I was younger, I noticed there was a spot on certain forms that said "Sex: -Male -Female" I used to think that I had to mark off which I preferred sex from. It scared me...

I used to believe…

My mum told me that 'Grown up books' didn't go in chronological order after i asked if they did. She was being sarcastic but 3 year olds don't do sarcasm!!

I used to believe…

As a small child I was fascinated by all kinds of signs and notices, including fire safety notices in hotel rooms and public buildings. It said what to do if you discovered a fire, and I used to confuse the two types of fire (i.e. as in a heater versus as in an arson attack). I remember once seeing a notice saying �in case of fire��, and there was a heater nearby so I said �Here�s a fire�.

I used to believe…

When at home reading out loud from my science book while doing homework I pronouced 'organism' as orgasim. I didn't know what was going on until I realized my mom was trying to keep from falling in the floor laughing. She came over and looked in my book and corrected me. The next day in class we had to check each other's papers and read out loud from the chapter. A boy in my class got those same paragraphs and did the same thing I had done. The teacher didn't say nothing until he finished reading his section then corrected him. A few kids were laughing. He didn't know either. At least I had my embaressing moment at home! Poor kid!

I was nearly ten when I found out that
'Clairvoyant' wasn't an 'agony aunt'

I used to believe…

Every day my Grandma would sit down with the Bible and my Mom, Grandpa and I would sit around her on the floor. She was older and when she looked down to read it looked like she would close her eyes, so I always thought you had to close your eyes when you read.

I used to think that "To Let" signs were meant to say "Toilet", but they were mispelled. I always wondered why they only ever left the "I" out and not any other letters.

I used to believe when you'd see a company sign that says "Est. 1928” it meant they estimated the company was founded in 1928. I always wondered why some companies had to estimate when they were only a few years old. Much later I realized est stands for "established" and not "estimated".

I used to think that pages in books were divided into little parts (paragraphs) to make boring writing look interesting, and that the more different-length paragraphs something had, the more boring the book was.

I used to believe…

Here in Norway, we have a weekly magazine with Disney comics, called "Donald Duck & Co." When I was a kid, maybe about 8 years old, I used to read it every week. Then, my older sister told me that Donald Duck was dead, and they therefore had ended publishing the magazine. I actually believed her, and started crying!

I used to believe that anything printed in a book had to be true!