A lot of people couldn’t understand this line as they originally sang it. After a year or so they re-recorded the opening with more clearly enunciated words. But as it was originally sung I couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to be saying. It sounded like an Italian greeting to an American woman:
“Giarola, Sarah Grey!”
I didn’t realize it until reading this thread, but it’s a pun on the classic Western film High Noon; Shanghai Noon also happens to be a Western. (I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know if there are any plot comparisons to be drawn between the two films.)
Until recently, I didn’t get the irony of Weird Al’s “Money For Nothing” parody.
You know, that a song about crass consumerism and a culture of entitlement would be used to tell the story of The Beverley Hillbillies: money for nothin’.
Me dumbass.
I do too, but apparently this is a fairly common thing.
OTOH, I pronounce the “w” in sword - something I know is wrong, but reading at too early of an age made it habit. I also have to correct myself when I say geustures; I always, ALWAYS pronounce it like the game “Guess-tures”. :smack:
'Course, I have a good excuse, living in Tennessee near MY-lin (Milan) and CAY-ro (Cairo).
For years I thought herpes were just bugs. In elementary school we played a game where instead of just “boys have the cooties”, we decided “boys have cooties, girls have herpes” and chased each other around like mental patients. That night I remember telling my parents at the dinner table what a fun game we played where the boys had cooties and girls have herpes. They asked me if I knew what a herpe was and I told them it was some kind of bug. Of course no one ever clued me in to the real meaning so it was probably late high school when I finally realized what it was.
I had many unknowns about sex in my former years, due to my repressed Catholic upbringing 
The in-and-out thing didn’t really make sense, I just thought a man inserted his penis and left it in there until he was “done” (an idea which I didn’t understand either). LIke others here I though blowjob was just blowing on the penis until he was “done”. “Eating someone out” was completely unknown to me, and I think I remember thinking it was someone eating food off another person’s private parts. My sophomore year boyfriend clued me in otherwise and thought it was the height of hilarity that I didn’t know what any of that stuff was. How was I supposed to know? How did everyone else get this information and I didn’t?
“High Noon” - Gary Cooper, I think. Old western.
“Shang-High Noon” - Jackie Chan. Kung-Fu western in England.
Actually, Shanghai Noon was a martial arts western in the American west. Shanghai Knights is the same characters in England. Looks like fun.
Lok
I didn’t know until recently that the brand-name disinfectant “Lysol” was a play on words, i.e., lyse all.
To lyse: a biology term meaning “to kill cells via membrane breakage.”
I never knew the origin of the “Lysol” product name, either.
I never learned the card game “Go Fish” as a kid. Nobody ever taught it to me. I didn’t know anything about the game until I recently looked it up on the web. Other card games I never learned were Old Maid or War.
For the longest time I thought a skirt and a dress were the same thing.
There are lots of French words and phrases commonly used in English that I have never taken the time to learn and commit to my lexicon. Same goes for Latin.
There’s a car commercial with a woman driving her car, first with the puppy and the guy, then the hippy and the dog, then the businessman with the dog, then her alone with the dog–I thought those were all supposed to be the same guy. Duh. The song playing is talking about boyfriends, so I figured out that they were all different guys.
I have a friend who is a missionary kid, and grew up with American parents in France. He said he didn’t know that English used “nonchalant” until he saw it on his college entrance exams to go to U. of Virgina. He knew immediately what it must mean, because he knew it in French as a native speaker, but he’d never heard it in English, although he has a perfect American accent.
I was among the confused. It wasn’t until season 3 and their third take of the song that it became understandable. If you compare the versions, in the first two they weren’t pronouncing the “d” in “old” or the “t” in “great” very clearly.
Before I heard it spoken, I thought “epitome” was pronounced “epp - i - TOAM”.
Just a couple of days ago I was watching a program about Greece on the History Channel. I heard the word “Boeotia” pronounced “bee-OH-shuh”. I had to check a dictionary before I was convinced that was right. I had always pronounced it to myself as “boh-EE-shuh”.
I thought Dubya was George Bush Jr.'s nickname too.
I couldn’t begin to tell you the number of times I’ve mispronounced words I have read and never heard spoken.
I once embarrassed myself singing in my loud, drunk voice to Sting’s Every Breath You Take, by Puff Daddy.
That some turkeys can fly and that only the males gobble and that they are really fast.
:smack:
Count me in the Weird Earl’s. I always thought it must be a contributor from way back (the very often mentioned “AOL Days”) and that they kept the name in honour of him or something. :o
I had no idea that hens only lay one egg a day, I thought that they did a basketfull all the time, since that’s what it always looks like in colouring books. I’m still not sure if this is right, though… :dubious:
Oh, and another thing. How is “awry” pronounced?
A conversation with my Brother regarding misconstrued lyrics brought forth the usual:
There’s a Bathroom on the Right, CCR
'Scuse me while I Kiss this Guy, Hendrix
And the menage a trois song, Groovin. SIL asks what we’re talking about, and reveals that she always thought it was: “Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie”.
SIL did not share our levity. 
“Uh-rye”
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I recalled something I learned just a few months ago.
I was having a discussion with someone in a chat room about music when the discussion turned to The Beatles. I spelled the band name “Beetles” and the other guy spelled it “Beatles.” I eventually noticed the discrepancy and it suddenly dawned on me – for the first time in my life (I’m 35) – that the band name is spelled Beatles. I swear to God I never knew it up until then. I then realized that it was a fun play on words; Beetles spelled with the word “Beat.” I still can’t believe I’ve never realized this. Am I the only one?
I never noticed that either. That’s actually quite clever. I knew the band was Beatles and the bugs are beetles, but for some reason I never noticed a difference. I’m glad I get to find this out at the tender age of 19 and not, say, 35. You’ve bravely sacrificed your own dignity to save me from your own horrible fate. Thank you.
Lobsang , I can’t believe I’m the first to praise this brilliant post of yours.
That’s GENIUS!
…Eh hem.
Anyway, until reading a book partially set around Britain in 5th grade I thought that Ireland was somewhere around South America. I think that was because I associated both South America and Ireland with green. (South America for all its jungles. Ireland, naturally, is known for causing brutal pinchings on St. Patrick’s Day for all those who are absentminded enough to forget to wear green that day)
Still, though, I outright clung to that belief until that point. I remember watching “The Spirit of St. Louis” on TV with my dad and Lindbergh looks down and thinks “That must be Ireland” and I thought “Wow. He’s WAY off course”.:smack: