speaking

This one is not mine, it's my oldest daughter's... When she was about two, we were driving somewhere (I think I was taking her to the McDonald's for a treat), and she was very excited, and kept saying, "Look for it, Mommy, look hard...", to which I told her I was looking hard, and asked her if she was looking, and she said yes, but she didn't see the McDonald's. I told her that we would see it soon, and told her, "Keep your eyes peeled, and you'll find it," to which she replied, "But Mommy, I DON'T WANT to peel my eyes! That would hurt reawwy bad!" I laughed so hard I nearly had to pull the car over.

Hannah's Mommy

I used to believe the word "isolated" meant "maybe". This was due to the weather reports on the news saying isolated showers, and my parents saying that meant maybe it would rain and maybe it wouldn't.

Dan

As an African from an English colony,I used to believe that all white people spoke English.Really.So when I saw a white person,I would say,"there goes another 'England man'"
I never imagined I would grow up speaking English far more better than millions of white people.

no name

I used to believe that anyone speaking a foreign language translated it into english in their head

galen

I used to believe the word 'lack' meant lots of something. I'd say things like "we sure have a lack of pepsi here!", and adults thought I had learned sarcasm.

SlowLearner

I really used to believe that languages had barriers,physical barriers and you were prevented from crossing from one language to the other unless you had some kind of a permit or visa

epimeno01

when i was little i used to think bumble bee was actually pronounced bumbow bee

cathy

Me and my friend asked her little brother if he knew was gay meant, and he said "yeah, it means like happy."
Hahaha.
It was cute.

Anon

When I was about seven years old, I found out that the word 'bitch' was the name for a female dog.
Then one day, when I was playing outside with my big brother and his friends, one of them came up to me and said 'Sophie, do you know what a male dog is called?'
I said 'B***ard' and they all laughed at me and called me stupid.

I ran home crying and to this day I've not told my family what happened.

Sophie

My mother is from London and she always used to say 'maswell,' as in 'yeah, we maswell do that.' I never really thought about it until it came to my GCSE English Lit exam and I could not figure out how to spell it. She said it again a few days later and I questioned her over it. Turns out 'maswell' is actually her version of may as well. I have no idea why I didn't work it out earlier.

Lynda UK

Until recently I thought that a minge was a weird sort of cake...
(I have no idea why)
My brother was helping me create an email address and I said go away and I'll do it myself, I thought of the perfect one, Eat My Minge, I thought it was brilliant and when I went to add my brother he ran into my room and asked if that was me, he looked angry and I just replied "No". He asked me who it was and I said it was a friend of mine. He asked me if I knew what it meant and I said I did but I wouldn't tell him. (I was so pannicked that it might be something really bad) I googled it and to my horror I found out it was slang for Vagina.

Vagina or Cake?

Well. There are a few words I come across I cannot pronounce properly the first time I read it. The one I remember most is the word "patio." I was reading from a novel, and I remember re-reading the section about the "patio" (which I was pronouncing "Pay-She-Oh, probably due to French lessons.) Anyways, I turned to my mom and was like "What is a Pay-She-Oh?" and she was like "What?!?!" (This is coming from a grammar/spelling nerd, and a kid who used to read dictionaries and encyclopedias for fun, so it was extremely embarrassing for me.) I turned around and said "Pay-She-Oh." again, thinking it was some strange word. I showed my mom and read: (This is basically what it said, as far as I remember.) "They were sitting around a table on the pay-she-oh, eating Sloppy Joes." she turned around and looked me in the eye, and said "Honey, that's Pat-Ee-Oh." I really, really felt embarrassed. I've always taken my spelling, grammar, and pronunciation very seriously, and needless to say, I was tormenting myself by studying more of the dictionary after this happened.

StrangerForYou

I would always get words mixed up, and two I still have problems with today are Mushroom and Marshmallow, and Sleeping Bag and Suitcase. I always need to think, Okay I need to pack my sleep...Suitcase.

ilia