I’m very much one of those people who made up her own pronounciation of words while reading because God knows, words like “epitome” aren’t used in everyday speak here in Yooperland.
This one is technically my Mother’s fault, but I got bit by it. A couple years ago, we decided to put out some deer feed during a particularly hard winter. My Mom mentioned that there was something my Dad fed the deer that they really seemed to like. She didn’t know what it was, but she said she’d find out and email it to me.
A couple days later I got an email explaining that the deer seemed to really like this stuff called “Alpha Alpha.”
I though it was an odd name, but that’s what she wrote and I figured it was a brand name for something. “Alpha Alpha Deer Feed”, something like that. So I call the local feed store, and ask if they have “Alpha Alpha.” The guy is confused; I repeat it, saying the deer like to eat it. Finally, he figures out what I meant was alfalfa. :smack:
I’m never going to let my mother live that one down.
Last year I had two roommates who were living in the apartment for almost a year before they discovered the medicine cabinet behind the bathroom mirror. :smack:
I’m guilty of this one as well.
I had no idea who those people were until I saw this thread, but I do have a Get Fuzzy book where they sort of explain it. If I may transcribe the strip…
(It’s so hard to look through a book to try and find something when I’m so used to pressing Ctrl+F!)
I didn’t know there was a difference until I saw this thread. I looked it up, but I’ve already forgotten which is which.
I thought the road sign saying "for emergencies, use right shoulder " meant that you actually use your right shoulder in case of an emergency. I pondered this for many years – how would one use one’s right shoulder in case of an emergency? What kinds of emergencies are they talking about? Would one try to punch out the door with one’s right shoulder if in the passenger seat? How would you use your right shoulder to help yourself in an emergency if you’re the driver?
Until I was about 12, I thought the condition where you are asleep after a car accident or something was called “acoma”. For example, “He’s in acoma.” instead of, “He’s in a coma.”
A colleague at work was using an ice-pack that he kept putting in the fridge. I noticed that it wasn’t very cold and then looked closer and said ‘dude, you have to activate it’ I showed him and then handed it to him…
“wow that is…cold!”
I recently pronounced ‘Arkansas’ the way it’s spelled.
This reminds me of the time I couldn’t find the zip for my trousers until I found it… round the back.
My big embarrassment: It was a long, long time before I really understood what circumcision was about. It was never clear to me what a foreskin was. I’d look over my own, and think, what foreskin? What are they talking about?
I wasn’t Jewish, so I wasn’t circumcised, right?
Right?
But I was a male born in America in 1970.
I won’t embarrass myself by telling how old I was when I finally got it all sorted out. Luckily, it coincided with recently no longer being a virgin and having a very understanding and nice girlfriend.
When I was a little kid (maybe 1st Grade?) I was studying my list of Spelling words and had to ask my Dad exactly what kind of fish a “Selfish” was and if it tastes good.
I did the same thing once, trying on costumes for a play. The costume lady handed me a long skirt that buttoned all the way down the front, unbuttoned. While she turned to help another actor, I tried to figure the thing out. She turned back around and I said, totally confused, “Colleen, this jacket has no sleeves!”
I felt better later- after that play (my first of high school) I became the costume apprentice and almost every single person we handed the skirt to did the same thing.
When I was young I never connected UB40 and U2 with “YouBeForty” and “YouToo”. I had some amount of English, but if it didn’t get that till I was about 14.
Worse still, just recently I said very scornfully to a friend "Look at this, it’s a posh offical document and they can’t spell “renumeration”. Though it had something to do with numbers…
Cool new word!