speaking

My dad often says, "Is it _____ or what?" When I was little I thought I had to say "what" if it wasn't the "blank". For example if he said "Is it funny or what?" I thought I had to say "what" if I didn't think it was funny. I took things very literally back then. I think I actually did have to answer with "what" once!

Molly

Until I was in my 20s, I thought the word "stuck" in the phrase "bleed like a stuck pig" meant stuck as in stuck inside something, and didn't get how it made any sense. Then one day I realized it meant stuck like stabbed or punctured, and I was like "oh, duh!"

Anon

I used to think that Americans and Australians were just British people living abroad and speaking with an alternative accent because they are international
Lol.

Natasha

My mom thought "ambulance" was "ambliance"

Molly

I thought the phrase "At one's disposal" meant you should dispose of the person or thing.

Geirskogul

I used to believe that accord was short for accordion

Anon

I used to think that the word pizzazz was something to do with pizza.

Anon

I used to think gladiators were meant to be some sort of alligator.

Anon

I used to think Art Deco was Aunt Deco, and wondered who this famously artistic woman was meant to be.

Anon

When I was little I used to believe that if you told a lie, your nose would grow in length.

Lluna

Because of Beauty and the Beast, I thought that "provincial" meant "boring" because she sings, "I want much more than this provincial life!".

It also made me think "primeval" meant "prime evil", e.g really bad, because Belle uses that word to describe Gaston.

Anon

At 31 I moved from Italy to London, UK. I used to believe that the phrase "out of spit" was a particularly graphic and rather dramatic way of expressing one's animosity and vengeful intententions. Only 8 years later, after moving back to Italy, I eventually realized that one is supposed to say "out of spite".

Fed

There's a website called TV Tropes that has a trope called "Heroic BSoD", which means a hero has an emotional breakdown.

Because of this, I thought BSoD was a disorder, like OCD or PTSD, that meant you were prone to emotional breakdowns.

Later, I learnt that it's actually an abbreviation for Blue Screen of Death.

Anon

I thought for a long time that the word "awry" was pronounced like "aw-ree" (rhymes with sorry) , instead of "uh-rye". The weird part? I had heard people say it lots of times, but it took ages before I realized it was the same word

dumby

I used to think you could go to jail just by saying a word wrong during a speech.

Anon

I used to think that weasel was short for wooden easel, and was confused as to why someone would be called a piece of art equipment as an insult.

Anon

I thought "prison" and "prism" are the same words as each other.

Anon