# D'oh! Late realizations.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 2, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030 "2008-02-02T23:22:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/81 "2008-02-11T21:47:18Z")
It took me quite a few years to realize that MP could mean Member of Parliment as well as Military Police. I remember a book I read where someone was considering marriage and one of the big points was that her suitor was an MP. I didn’t understand why being in the military police was such a big deal.
Somewhat embarrassingly, to this day I have to force my mind to read MP as Member of Parliment when reading about the goings on of our neighbors across the pond.
---
### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/82 "2008-02-11T23:14:00Z")
[QUOTE=thirdwarning]
Light dawned – _Hooter_ville! How did they get away with that? And how did I miss it? I saw those girls pull those dresses off that water tower every week. Of course, I wouldn’t have caught it until years after the show was on because I just had never heard that expression. But you’d think sometime in the last fifteen years or so…
[/QUOTE]
And here I always thought it had to do with owls, as in they were so far out in the sticks you heard the owls hoot in the daytime (to crib from Manly Wade Wellman).
I’m reminded that for years I’d catch the title of a show called “Cooking Secrets of the CIA”. Now, I interned one summer at HQ in Langley and let me tell you, the food there was nothing special, so who was getting all this fancy food they were preparing at the CIA?
Someone finally mentioned “Culinary Institute of America” in my hearing. :o
---
### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/83 "2008-02-12T05:39:06Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> And yet somehow, it was only today that it dawned on me that “encourage” means “en-courage,” i.e. to give courage, as “empower” means to give power.
Not 100% related, but: I could never remember what “pensive” meant until I heard it used in a MASH episode right after studying Spanish.
“Oh! Like _pensar_!” :smack:
---
### Author:  [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/84 "2008-02-12T06:19:30Z")
I had never made this connection until about a year ago; that Chubby Checker formulated his name after Fats Domino.
Chubby = Fats
Checker = Domino
I’ve shared this revelation with some Sixties types and they’ve admitted that they didn’t get the connection either. Must have been the drugs…
---
### Author:  [@berff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berff)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/85 "2008-02-12T06:44:39Z")
Man, you people are dumb. I must be brilliant.
Edit: Just kidding, I’ll think of lots of stuff soon.
---
### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/86 "2008-02-12T06:58:50Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone]
If it makes you feel any better, you’re far from the only one on this, if the stuff that comes to me to be proofread is any indication.
To be fair, I used to think the word segue was pronounced ‘seg’ and the whole thing as people spoke it was segueway. I’m just glad I got that cleared up before I began proofreading. :smack:
[/QUOTE]
Along the same lines, I had only seen the word _queue_ in books and didn’t think it had any relation to the word I had always heard as _cue_ until one day I had to read the word out loud and realized (after I had spoken) that “quey-yoo” sounded really wrong… :smack:
And count me in as another who had no idea what Chick-Fil-A meant. I have only seen the name of that place in print and can’t help but read it as “Chick-fill-uh.”
---
### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/87 "2008-02-12T07:17:47Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#):
>
> Also, there is a difference between a “new window” and a “new tab.” I’m not sure what the difference is–and no, don’t explain it. I don’t want to know.
Oh yes you do. It will make your life oh so much easier, I swear. Just try this little experiment with me (you don’t need to know why you’re doing each step as you’re doing it, just follow the instructions and I’ll explain at the end):
1. Load a web page in Internet Explorer.
2. Hold down Control and press N.
3. Load another web page in your new window.
4. Hold down Control and press T.
5. Now load another web page in your new tab.
See the difference? Tabbed browsing is cleaner, doesn’t slow your computer down as much (which I guess is negligible unless you have a good 15-45 pages open at a time like I do), and it’s easy to flip from one tab to another by holding down Control and pressing the Tab key. Or just clicking on the tab. It means you can have anywhere from two to probably 25,000+ websites open at the same time without having an assload of windows open. It keeps the taskbar at the bottom of your screen less cluttered. If you have different “types” of websites open at the same time, you can keep them separated by category in different windows, each with a bunch of those websites loaded at the same time. For example, right now I have one window with my Straight Dope tabs and other assorted miscellany, one window with my email open and several zines I plan to submit my writing to, and another window with a bunch of porn open. I can switch from Doper Mode to Writer Mode to Porn Mode and back with a quick keypress or click of the mouse.
> [@Purgatory Creek](#):
>
> Most of you might be too young to envision this, but I was in my early 20’s before I realized that the ubiquitous Fallout Shelter signs were–well, signs
Surprisingly, I know exactly what you’re talking about. My high school was built on the abandoned Naval Training Center by the bay. Those signs were everywhere.
> [@An Gadaí](#):
>
> I thought until I was 20 that misled was pronounced “Myzelled”.
So that happens on both sides of the pond, eh? Good to know!
> [@Cluricaun](#):
>
> I watched Three’s Company for years, years I tell you, before I caught on to the whole Jack had to pretend to be gay to live there portion of the show. I just thought that Roper and Furley were dicks for no good reason.
:smack:
Never even occurred to me.
> [@Phase42](#):
>
> Can somebody explain Chick-Fil-A to me? 'Cuz I still don’t get it. But I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I’ve only heard about this restaurant chain.
Looks like you’ve been educated on the pronunciation, so all that’s left is for you to realize that inside that place lives the food of the gods. I’ve been jonesing for it ever since I left Arizona and came back home–and one just opened up by my old high school, where I just started working at this week! Maybe there _is_ a God! BTW, they also sell the best lemonade you’ll ever have without having to kill the lemon yourself, which is a godsend when you live in Arizona.
---
### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/88 "2008-02-12T07:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom]
Along the same lines, I had only seen the word _queue_ in books and didn’t think it had any relation to the word I had always heard as _cue_ until one day I had to read the word out loud and realized (after I had spoken) that “quey-yoo” sounded really wrong… :smack:
[/QUOTE]
Hah! And there’s another one of those words ending with an extraneous, silent “ue” to go along with plague, rogue, tongue, fugue, morgue, etc.
What makes “segue” so damned special that it gets to be a two-syllable word?
Is this something we can blame the French for?
😃
---
### Author:  [@Ro\_Carter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ro_Carter)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/89 "2008-02-12T15:10:18Z")
In keeping with words I pronounced incorrectly in my head for an extended period of time:
Chaos: cha-os (as in ghOSt). I knew the spoken “kayoss”, and what it meant, and I had an idea of what cha-os meant from context, but the little lightbulb for cha-os = kayoss didn’t go on for a while.
Belatedly: I thought this was Bleat-edly until I was corrected by a teacher. The fact that it contains the word “late” which is a good part of it’s meaning didn’t hit me until after I got the correct pronunciation.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/90 "2008-02-12T17:27:45Z")
[QUOTE=Phase42]
Is this something we can blame the French for?
😃
[/QUOTE]
No, it’s the Italians who are to blame. If it was a French word the u and e would be silent. Until very recently I thought people who said “segway” were stupid - then one day I decided to look it up in the dictionary :smack:
---
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/91 "2008-02-12T17:37:54Z")
I once thought that scarey things were “ma-cob” and that disgusting things were “mac-a-bre,” like the people in the Bible.
---
### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/92 "2008-02-12T17:43:28Z")
Just last week I realized that when giving the cats canned food --aka “Fresh Wet” ™–that after using a spoon to dig it out of the can and dump it in the bowl, I can use the edge of the can to scrape the last bit stuck on the spoon into the bowl.
I’ve been living with cats and feeding them for 12 years now. And that doesn’t include my family having cats as I was growing up.
---
### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/93 "2008-02-12T18:02:23Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
I once thought that scarey things were “ma-cob” and that disgusting things were “mac-a-bre,” like the people in the Bible.
[/QUOTE]
Heh. I’ve always thought of macabre as being pronounced like ma-cob. Your post made me look it up at [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and fought my ignorance. Thanks Annie!
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/94 "2008-02-12T18:15:10Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01]
Heh. I’ve always thought of macabre as being pronounced like ma-cob. Your post made me look it up at [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and fought my ignorance. Thanks Annie!
[/QUOTE]
According to Merriam-Webster, there are two pronunciations, ma-cob being one of them.
---
### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/95 "2008-02-12T18:18:51Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
According to Merriam-Webster, there are two pronunciations, ma-cob being one of them.
[/QUOTE]
So Annie and I weren’t wrong? We were just being alternative? I like that. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/96 "2008-02-12T18:25:24Z")
My wife and I were watching TV a couple of months ago, when a commercial for a certain insurance company came on. Finally, the question that had been bubbling in the back of my mind came to the surface. I turned and asked my wife, “Who the hell is Stan?”
She didn’t stop laughing for five minutes.
---
### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/97 "2008-02-12T18:35:59Z")
[QUOTE=Maus Magill]
My wife and I were watching TV a couple of months ago, when a commercial for a certain insurance company came on. Finally, the question that had been bubbling in the back of my mind came to the surface. I turned and asked my wife, “Who the hell is Stan?”
She didn’t stop laughing for five minutes.
[/QUOTE]
What? 😕
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/98 "2008-02-12T18:56:40Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01]
So Annie and I weren’t wrong? We were just being alternative? I like that. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Not at all.
The pronunciation you gave was the **primary** pronunciation.
You’re about as white bread and mayonaise as it gets. Sorry, man.
---
### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/99 "2008-02-12T19:00:46Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
Not at all.
The pronunciation you gave was the **primary** pronunciation.
You’re about as white bread and mayonaise as it gets. Sorry, man.
[/QUOTE]
I am not. I grew up with Miracle Whip. So there! 😃
---
### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/100 "2008-02-12T19:10:59Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect]
What? 😕
[/QUOTE]
The guy from The Unit in the Allstate commercials says, “That’s Allstate stand.” For a couple of years, I was hearing, “That’s Allstate, Stan.”
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030.md?page=4)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030.md?page=6)