speaking

I used to believe when my Mom would tell me that Christmas was "just around the corner" that the people on the next block were having Christmas and we had to wait our turn.

Bonnie

My parents told me that my great-grandmother was in the 'historical society'. I thought that they meant 'hysterical society' - and that they sat around all day laughing like maniacs.

Amy

Around age 10 I heard my mother in a verbal fight with my grandmother. She said something about being "aloof and cold", and I thought for years that she had said "a hoof and colt".

Amy

If you're from the Northeast USA, you may remember the chain-store Caldor (also called Caldors). Well, until I was about 6, I thought that the name was Cow-Doors. I was always looking for those cows.

My friend, whose last name is Hanlon, thought that her name was Hamlon until she learned to read and write. You know...like ham.

Amy

Not really a belief , but a mispronuciation. When I was a freshman in High School I was asked to define an organism in my Biology class. I knew what it was but I called it an orgasm. Repeatedly. I couldn't understand why everyone was sniggering at my "correct" answer.

Anon

I used to say it was "Pit dark" or Pit black instead of pitch when I was explaining how dark it was outside. I always thought it refered to how dark it was at the bottom of a bottomless pit.

Scott McElvany

I once asked a teenage friend's dad on the way to a play what a "thespian" was, since it was being put on by a Thespian club. He told me, straight faced, that it was when the doctor came in and said to the parents, "Well, he's healthy, but he'll never be quite right." I thought I was going to see a play put on by the disabled.

Coach1977

I used to believe the saying "It's a dog eat dog world" was really "It's a doggie dog world".

GrantJ

I had always thought 'laminacs' were crazy lambs. I was a special kid.

Matthew Cabral

When I was in kindergarten, my father ran his own construction company. When he came home one day complaining to my Mom about how he was going to have to fire a guy, I thought he meant that he was going to burn the guy at the stake, on top of a big bonfire of leftover construction materials.

ah to be young...

I used to think that the letter W had a sound that you'd repeat U two times. I was three and would pronounce, for example, watermelon: "U-Umelon". (double u...?)

Katie

I used to believe that when people said "(such and such) is on the house" I thought it meant that it was so expensive you'd have sell your house to afford it.

It's on the apartment.

I used to think there were 3 guys who lived together in a cabin and made up all the words

Mommy

When I was little, I liked to ask lots of questions. And sometimes I would ask my parents. And they would reply(since I am sure they were tired of hearing my questions) go look it up in your *funkin wagnal* I had no idea that meant dictionary. I always thought they were cussing at me.

Carrie Jane

I used to believe that the name Sean was pronounced "seen". I also used to believe that the name Esther was pronounced "es-thurr".

Kelsie

When I had just learned to talk ( like in saying sentences) My mom once asked me to go call to dad that dinner was ready. Neither of them could stop laughing when I stood at the bottom of the stairs shouting "Call, Call,Call"
Unfortunately for me my dad even taped it on video.

little girl blue

My friend and I had some confusion about the word "rape." I insisted that the word was pronounced "rap," as my dad with his heavy Chinese accent said it was, and that it was when a man kidnapped a girl. My friend thought it was pronounced the correct way, because his older siblings had told him that, but didn't know what the word meant. In the end we accepted my pronounciation of the word since after all, I knew what the word meant.

Jen