speaking

I was really taken aback when someone told me what "toe jam" actually means. Before that, I had heard the term quite a few times, always thinking it was the name of some rock band.

Alison

When I was 8 or 9 there was a very unpleasant girl in my class. She was on my bus and lived at a place called "____ Manor," so I thought that's where they sent the really bad kids to learn their "manners." Every time my parents yelled at me for misbehaving, I thought that they didn't realize how fortunate they were to have me: at least I wasn't so nasty that I had to be sent to a manor!

Anon

I used to think the the "gyne" in gynecologist was pronounced like the end of the word "vagina," much to my embarrassment when I had to read it out loud in high school health class.

Anon

One summer while my family was visiting my cousin's family, a new family moved into my cousin's neighborhood from Davenport, Iowa. Whether coincidentally or not, it was while playing with my cousin and the new kid from Davenport that I for the first time heard a sofa called a "davenport'. I got thet idea that perhaps in a lot of places people call a sofa by the name of whatever city they are familiar with living in.

Doug

when i was around 6 I was at school
when it was recess me and my friends were playing with a little rubber octopus.
i stretched out the tentacle's and one broke off
and so i yelled "oh shoot i broke off one of its testicles!"
I meant to say tentacle.
i had no idea what a testicle was .
I Felt so embarrassed after my teachers reaction.

tentawhat?

My best friend and i were talking one day and i mentioned that my boyfriend's sister was "as pure as the driven snow". My friend said, "Don't you mean the UN-driven snow? It gets pretty dirty after you drive on it." I guess she thought the phrase meant someone was on longer pure, like snow that has been driven over with a vehicle. I tried not to laugh as i explain that it was driven as is blown by the wind, not driven like a car.

Rachel Gordon's friend

I used to believe that the word 'indie' was a way of saying that something was made in India. Like everytime I heard about indie movies & indie music, I wondered how the heck so many things could be made in India! But then it dawned on me that indie meant independent. XD

Anon

I'm a Finn, and I used to believe that everyone in the world understands Finnish. Also when, say, two Englishmen would talk English to each other, they actually hear it as Finnish.

Sbetsho

I used to think the shallow end of the pool was the hollow end of the pool.

Alice

I thought I invented the word yesterday

DW

I wish to beleive that white Christmast was for white people.

Ati Mosupyoe

When I was a kid my father had a file holder on his desk that was like a hybrid between a letter rack and a lazy susan. His secretaries would put things in there he needed to deal with immediately.

The first time I ever heard someone say "I'll put that in my circular file" I formed an immediate association with the filing tool on my father's desk and the phrase. Obviously very important things went in the circular file!

Well into my adult life I'd use that phrase in conversation, not realizing I was implying that I would immediately throw the item I had just been given into the trash.

Boss: Ok, this project is critically important.
Me: I'll put it in my circular file right away!
Boss: .... Uhh ....

Anon

My family name is pronounced "Wah" and I thought when my parents were talking about a large number of something they were talking about the "'Wah' Zoo," meaning our family or our house. So it was a large amount of something that we had. I was VERY confused when I heard a friend using the term "up the wazoo" in regards to her family . . . I told her she should use the term "Jones's zoo" since that was her last name.

Anon

I had a large group of girlfriends with whom I walked to and from elementary school. We always walked in the street because on the sidewalk we had to walk in a line (and it was a small town so traffic was minimal). One day I went home and announced to my mom that we were the "street walkers". She cracked up and then suggested that we come up with a different term to describe ourselves. It was many years before I understood why.

Anon

When I was little, my brother would always say to me "You're sttttt....upendous!!" I would get so upset because I thought stupendous meant stupid, so I would always tell on him, and my mum would just go "So?"

Sally

I used to believe (thanks to my brother...) that whenever anybody said 'They', they were talking about my other brother's class. "They're going to build a huge bridge across the river." "Who's they?" "Greg's class!"

Sally

I used to think the expression "to be in a quandry" was "to be in a quarry" It seemed logical to me because if you were stuck in a quarry this would definitely be a big problem!

G.B.