speaking

when i was about 6, my mum told me a joke. it was 'how many letters are in the alphabet.....25 because the angel said no L ' i never used to get it so i used to go around saying 'cos the angel took away the g'

abi

I used to think a church choir (I pronounced it 'chore') and a church 'quire' were two different words for the same thing.

Derek Jackson

When I was little, I said "Hachy-bachy" instead of hibachi (those little outdoor grills.) So everyone started calling them that, and we even called propane grills "Hachy bachy" as well. When I was about 22, my father sent me to Sears to price "Hachy bachys." The guy at Sears looked at me like I was complete moron, and I at last discovered that there was no such thing as a "Hachy Bachy."

Derek Jackson

I recall as a child hearing grown-ups speak of someone who was going to get a pinchin'. They seemed pleased about this. I silently wondered how anyone could be happy about receiving anything as painful as a 'pinchin'! Only later did I learn they spoke of a pension!

Wanda F.

I used to believe that when my Mum said "Heaven Only Knows", that she was actually on about some guy called "Hevveroni". I always wanted to meet him....

Leah

My brother thought that if men were perverts, women must be pervettes. My sister and I were accused of this often.

Sara

When I was in primary school, I always wondered why we had to give the teacher a "round of the floors" after assembly. I mean, why on earth would a teacher want a circle of linolum?
It wasn't until many years later I dicovered the word "applause"....

Rachel Worrall

My Dad would always say 'well cut my sock'if I or any other family members told him anything interesting or remarkable. I was 25 when I realised his favourite expression was actually a spoonerism for 'suck my cock'. Oh the long lost innocence of youth.

Geoff

When I was about 5 I heard my mom say B.S. I asked what it meant and she told me brown sugar. I believed this until I was about 12

Chris C.

When I was a child there was a campaign called "keep Britain Tidy" . I was firmly convinced for many years that what I had heard was keep brit and tidy - like spick and span . At about age 11 it finally dawned that there was no such word as brit!

J.B.

I used to think Wong Ming Chuen (a Hong Kong celebrity) is called Orange because of there pronounciations are similar

Jerry

When I was young i mixed the two norwegian words for curious ("nysgjerrig") and shy ("Sjenert"). Come to think of it, I really was both... I guess people said I was both, and both words a "ch"-sound in it..

Aikeel (Norway)

My third grade student, protesting a story one of his classmates
was telling, said "That's a bald-headed lie."

Anon

When I was 4/5 I switched the meanings of hump (the verb) and
noogie (rubbing someone's head with knucles). I told my dad that
the dog was giving him a noogie by rubbing his leg up and down
and would yell at my brothers to stop humping my head.

klah

When i was at nursery school i was driving a toy car and drove into someone. The teacher then asked me if i had done it deliberately, i didn't know what this meant, i took a guess at yes and was immediatley smacked.

Nick

When I was younger, my and my (female) cousin used to role play at my nans. Anyway, one day, I decided I should play a criminal. So, I suggested she walk down the hall, and I'll jump out and rape her, and steal her purse!!

I ment I'd 'mug' her, but at the time didn't know the difference between the 2 words...!! oops!

As you can imagine, the our parents and my nan just went silent... :o/

Hmmm...

For a worryingly long time (until I was 15) I used to think specific was pronounced Pacific much to everyone’s amusement.

Amy