speaking

Quite a few years ago, we went away with some friends near Christmas time and we were talking abut what our New Year's resolutions were going to be, and one of my friends said she gesticulated a lot when she talked and that her family etc said it can be annoying, so she was going to try and not do it so much. I had no idea what it meant, but for some reason, I thought it was something to do with sex, so i looked round really awkwardly as if to say 'Is she allowed to say that????' even though no one else flinched when she said it. I now realise why!!

Lauren Nind

When I was younger, I used to think when my mom said "P.O. Box" she was really saying "Pill Box." So I wondered why she would call it as pill box as if there were medicine pills in there when there was only mail. Just recently am I finding out that it's pronounced Pee-Oh box.

Tiara

I used to think people were saying "Youth in Asia" when talking about "Euthanasia." I never understood why everyone was obsessed with talking about little kids from Asia.

asia

I used to believe that if I spoke any sort of gibberish I'd actually be speaking some secret spell that would unleash bad things (monsters, plagues, death) upon the world.

Sarah

For most of my life, I've thought that a jukebox was actually a "jutebox."

I also recently found out that it's "eavesdrop" as apposed to "easedrop," which I thought it was.

Anon

When I was little I thought that the saying was "party gifts" instead of "parting gifts". I thought that the people who lost on games shows got prizes that were called party gifts because they were fun!

Loves any gifts

I used to believe when I was little that "cognito" was a place because I would hear the phrase "____ is hiding incognito".

Sheena

I used to believe that people who spoke different languages just had different ears than us. If someone was speaking spanish, i thought they heard english.

Rachel

I used to think that if someone was "behind the times", that meant that they were dead. Ironically, I first heard the expression used in a song from a kid's show, and I became upset wondering why they would mention such a terrible thing in a song for little ones.

Anon

I used to think that the words "supposed to" were "post to" and said it that way till I learned to spell it in 4th grade!

Anon

When I was little, I used to believe that Baskin Robbins was called Batman and Robin's. For the longest time I never knew why everyone would laugh at me when I said, "Hey mom, can we go to Batman and Robin's?"

Anon

When I was little my mother called being naked 'nakey-no-nos' as in, "bath time, get in your nakey-no-nos". I believed this was a common term everyone used until I was about 17.

Anon

My sister had her own language as a toddler. Once she told my dad and me she needed a "bone for her didden". We had no idea what she was talking about and had to call my mom to interpret.

She wanted a comb for her hair.

Bonnie's Sister

Until I was probably thirteen, when my mom referred to the list she would give my dad to do on weekends as "A Honey-Do List", I always wondered what on earth honeydew melons had to do with it!

Rachel