# "I need to shave the lawn" and other misspeakings **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 18, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604 "2010-08-18T05:10:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/41 "2010-08-23T19:47:37Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > I accidentally said that I needed to shave my lawn once when I was tired and not thinking. Now, even though I know perfectly well that the correct word is “mow”, I just can’t seem to say that anymore, I always want to say “shave” instead of mow. I even think “shave”. If I don’t want to look silly in front of other people I have to stop and think of the right word before I say it. > > Anyone else have some interesting, amusing, silly, disturbing or just plain stupid misspeaks that have become part of your language? Do you mow your beard ? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/42 "2010-08-24T00:10:32Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > Do you mow your beard ? “Mow my face” is the way I say it. I also say “mow the carpet” instead of vacuum. The cold thing is the “refrigigator”. The thing with the paper tape and the number keys is a “calcubator”. On the other hand, lawn maintenance is sometimes “walking the Deere.” ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/43 "2010-08-24T02:15:22Z")
> [@Gymnopithys](#): > > > [@Wile\_E](#): > > > > I accidentally said that I needed to shave my lawn once when I was tired and not thinking. Now, even though I know perfectly well that the correct word is “mow”, I just can’t seem to say that anymore, I always want to say “shave” instead of mow. I even think “shave”. If I don’t want to look silly in front of other people I have to stop and think of the right word before I say it. > > > > Anyone else have some interesting, amusing, silly, disturbing or just plain stupid misspeaks that have become part of your language? > > Do you mow your beard ? Despite being 1/4 Italian I have yet to grow a mustache, let alone a beard. I think the rest of my genes being Teutonic and Celtic cancels that out, the double X chromosomes help a lot, too. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/44 "2010-08-24T02:26:21Z")
Back in the 60’s, my cousin’s husband had her to go to the neighborhood garage to have the mechanic clean the spark plugs because the car was running a bit poorly. She went there and asked to have the spark plugs “washed”. Her husband tells that story to this day. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/45 "2010-08-24T20:57:06Z")
I blame GW Bush for my occasional blurting of the term “misunderestimate.” My mom refers to every Netflix DVD as a “NetFleck.” ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/46 "2010-08-24T21:57:05Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > > [@BG43214\_YAHOO.COM](#): > > > > When we got our first TV, back in the 1950’s, and my mom wanted us to turn it off, she always said, ‘close the TV’…and also ‘close the lights’…never ‘turn off’…she did this all her life!!! & thought we were crazy for telling her it was not the right way to say it… > > Was she French? In French one would literally say close(fermer) the lights. I’ve heard native French speakers say “close the lights” before. AHA! Just last night my wife, originally from Quebec, asked me to close the light when I left the bedroom. Five years together and that’s the first time that construction has come out, but now it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/47 "2010-08-24T22:27:05Z")
> [@torie](#): > > We lived near a couple called Ben and Layne a long time ago. > > All of us mistakenly called them Len and Bayne at one point. It got so we would just call them that all the time. O gosh, I’d almost forgotten about Blake and Jackie (Jake and Blackie). Nice couple. My dear parents have a similar problem, as both of them have mildly gender-neutral names. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/48 "2010-08-24T23:09:18Z")
Worked in an office of a large US pharmaceutical firm where an executive originally from Quebec (a medical doctor whose first language was French) would tell his secretary that he was going out to “make an errand”. I sat next to her and she would just give me a look and we’d kind of chuckle about it. If I worked directly for him and knew him better I might have found an opportunity to tell him that “go on”, “run” or even “do” an errand would sound better. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/49 "2010-08-24T23:20:28Z")
“We grow cows” for “We raise cows.” The friend I said that in front of once gave me a package of “cow seeds” (hand-relabeled milk duds) and her dad still brings it up pretty often. ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/50 "2010-08-25T12:03:34Z")
> [@torie](#): > > We lived near a couple called Ben and Layne a long time ago. > > All of us mistakenly called them Len and Bayne at one point. It got so we would just call them that all the time. I was at a wedding reception where the father of the bride did this to his daughter and new son-in-law. “Jen and Dan” became “Jan and Den”. ---
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/51 "2010-08-26T02:54:09Z")
My older grand-daughter, when she was about 3, fell in love with sushi. She pronounced it “squishy” and that is the generic term in her immediate family, even today. an seanchai ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/52 "2010-08-27T06:51:48Z")
> [@RalfCoder](#): > > I’ve said that I need to run the washdisher more than once… You meant the wishdosher, of course. Meanwhile I’ll put on my Susan Shocks so I can go feed the EatAnter and the Armoured Dildo. Afterwards I’ll need to wash my teeth and brush my hands. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/53 "2010-08-27T07:11:24Z")
I grew up with a pair of brothers who lived down the block named Dirk and Eric. My mom would usually wind up calling them Derek and Eric, but us kids had other names for them. Dirk and Erk. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604/54 "2010-09-07T16:44:37Z")
Hopefully I’m not necro-ing a dead thread but an ill one 😉 Badly Drawn Kitties [http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/new/18.html](http://www.badlydrawnkitties.com/new/18.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-shave-the-lawn-and-other-misspeakings/550604.md?page=2)