# Words and phrases you misunderstood as a child **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655 "2014-01-25T00:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rowanchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rowanchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rowanchilde)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/61 "2014-01-26T00:48:02Z")
I must have been very young since I was just learning the alphabet but when I was singing "h-i-j-k-l-amenno-p I couldn’t conceptualize the “menno” letter. I remember asking my mom what a menno was. She was confused until I sang it to her… ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/62 "2014-01-26T01:09:14Z")
I was very confused by the US having a Silver War because I couldn’t figure out who we were warring with. Civil War. Duh. (Though it doesn’t appear that it was any more civil than other wars.;)) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/63 "2014-01-26T01:22:08Z")
Johnny, my brother made your 3rd mistake. He was older than 5, though. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/64 "2014-01-26T01:30:34Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Johnny, my brother made your 4th mistake. He was older than 5, though. Edited due to miscounting. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/65 "2014-01-26T01:40:19Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Johnny, my brother made your 4th mistake. He was older than 5, though. ‘Jacqueline Hyde’? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/66 "2014-01-26T01:44:35Z")
Ib ah shedah. As in, ib ah shedah before I awake. I was really young, and it was a good thing not to dwell on my mortality. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/67 "2014-01-26T01:49:47Z")
My parents had a tape recording of me reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when I was three. Our nation was 'indibibbible… ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/68 "2014-01-26T01:52:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > We had after-school programs in French and Spanish in my elementary school, starting in the third grade. I’m not sure where my third-grade teacher picked up her pronunciation, but she told us that we should ask our parents for permission to learn ‘farn’ language after school. What I head was ‘far **m** ’ language. I figured my Kansas cousins must already know that language, and I’d be able to speak it with them if I signed up for it. “Farn” sounds like West Virginian accent. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/69 "2014-01-26T01:54:52Z")
Can someone please tell me what “farn” is anyway? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/70 "2014-01-26T02:13:01Z")
You are ‘farn’ for sure, Cannuck! Or, imagine GW Bush saying … foreign ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/71 "2014-01-26T02:52:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘Jacqueline Hyde’? I corrected myself above you. I was referring to “super salad”. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/72 "2014-01-26T02:55:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My parents had a tape recording of me reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when I was three. Really? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/73 "2014-01-26T02:57:26Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Really? Yes. Navy brat. . ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/74 "2014-01-26T03:23:39Z")
Oh. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/75 "2014-01-26T03:37:46Z")
OK. Not me, but my brother. My brother was writing a thank-you letter for a birthday present he received from an aunt who was going to be visiting for Thanksgiving. He wanted to mention that he couldn’t wait to see her. He asked, "How do you spell “Thanksgiving? F…A…”. He was 5 (and much more literate than I, then and now). excavating (for a mind) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/76 "2014-01-26T12:02:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Now you live in ‘Merlin’? :dubious: 😛 I suppose that’s how Mrs. Fowler would say it, if she were still alive. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Can someone please tell me what “farn” is anyway? Looks like **USCDiver** has covered that one. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/77 "2014-01-26T12:16:42Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Every day, when my mom walked into my room, she’d say, “Up and at 'em!” > I heard it as, “Up and Adam!” which my me think it had something to do with either Adam and Eve or the company that made my apple juice juice boxes. 😃 My Dad was the one who would always holler “up and at 'em!” to rouse us in the mornings. I took it in as “Up and Atom” myself. Never did ask Dad what atoms had to do with it. > [@Leaffan](#): > > I understood that “a couple” equaled two. > > I thought that “a few” equaled three. > > And I seriously thought that “several” meant seven. I, too, elided ‘several’ with ‘seven.’ Even though I asked my dad about that at a fairly early age, I never have been able to completely break that association. FWIW, in answer to my questions, my dad said ‘a few’ was three or four, and that ‘several’ was anywhere from five to nine. I’d say the actual meaning of both these terms is a bit looser than that, but it’s a good starting point. And of course, when we’re talking about time, rather than things that come in discrete packages (e.g. “I’ve got a couple of books to pick up at the library, we’ll leave in just a couple of minutes”) things get blurrier still. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/78 "2014-01-26T13:50:11Z")
In my first year of collecting baseball cards (1971), Topps had a series of cards featuring each team’s new players, calling them “Rookie Stars”. In my 7-year-old brain, I thought that any first-year player was a rookie star. I’m told that was my first question about any player: Is he a rookie star? ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/79 "2014-01-26T15:57:42Z")
My father worked for a company that provided service to various news organizations, and when Eisenhower was in office he would often be assigned to cover an event at the Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg PA. I was about 5 or so and was told that he had gone to Gettysburg, which to me sounded like he had gone to “get his burg.” One day I said to my mother that a “burg” must be hard to get, since he always went to “get his burg” but never returned with one. This was met with great amusement in our household, and when my father returned my mom told him about it. I asked him if he got his “burg,” and he said “I got one, but then it flew right out of my hand.” He was quite the jokester. One time I drew a picture of a lady I had seen on TV. When asked who it was I said it was a picture of “Antja.” When asked who Antja was, I replied that it was “Antja Mima.” I remember this incident quite clearly. I must have been a weird kid. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655/80 "2014-01-27T16:47:43Z")
I thought we were “gorilla fighting” in Viet Nam. Fighting actual gorillas, which makes sense, as the place is a jungle. I was grown up before I read the phrase “guerilla fighting.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-and-phrases-you-misunderstood-as-a-child/679655.md?page=5)