# Words of which you thought you knew the meaning **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 31, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643 "2010-07-31T01:09:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/21 "2010-08-10T00:25:30Z")
> [@drgnrdr07](#): > > Circumspect. I thought this word meant that something was shady or something that shouldn’t be trusted. Today I found out that it means cautious, prudent or discreet. No, no. Circumspect is the examination that a Mohel does after a Bris. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/22 "2010-08-10T01:10:57Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > > [@drgnrdr07](#): > > > > Circumspect. I thought this word meant that something was shady or something that shouldn’t be trusted. Today I found out that it means cautious, prudent or discreet. > > I used to think this too; I suspect that, because “watchfulness” is one aspect of its meaning, people extrapolate that to those that are being shady or untrustworthy being careful not to be detected. It seems we Americans are only circumspect when we have something to hide. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/23 "2010-08-10T04:56:24Z")
For some reason, I always think that ‘scarlet’ should be a deeper shade of red than it turns out to be. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/24 "2010-08-11T04:19:53Z")
jharvey963- are you sure you weren’t saying innervate? [http://www.onelook.com/?w=innervate&ls=a](http://www.onelook.com/?w=innervate&ls=a) It’s a bit closer to what you meant. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/25 "2010-08-11T04:25:34Z")
I used to think ‘penultimate’ means something like supermegaultimate, the best, last and totally final … except it means the next to the last, d’oh. Playing a druid in WoW makes remembering ‘innervate’ and ‘enervate’ easy, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/26 "2010-08-11T04:37:01Z")
It was only a few years ago, well into my 30s, when I realized that Calvary and cavalry not only meant something different, but were spelled differently as well. I thought it was like lead (the metal) and lead (guided) - the same spelling and pronunciation but two entirely different words. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/27 "2010-08-11T05:02:23Z")
Crepuscular. For the longest time I thought it was a sickly glow given off by rotting flesh or other organic material. Recently I looked it up and found out it meant “of, relating to, or resembling twilight.” Not quite the same thing. In the last few days, I’ve read a book which referred to both “crepuscular twilight” and “crepuscular dawn”. With my original definition, it sorta made sense. Not so much, now. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/28 "2010-08-11T10:13:43Z")
I’ll admit the “flammable”/“inflammable” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/29 "2010-08-11T10:22:46Z")
Some people think it’s stupid to think that inflammable means not flammable, but… Invincible means not vincible. Indestructible means not destructible. Insurmountable means not surmountable. Ineffective means not effective. Indecent means not decent. I think you see where I’m going here. When adding “in” to most words turns them into their opposite it becomes clear why people would think that inflammable means not flammable. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/30 "2010-08-11T10:55:13Z")
It should be spelled enflammable. It is an oddity. And I’d claim that the use of circumspect with non-anthropomorphized entities is so widespread that the incorrect definition is quickly becoming an alternate one. And scarlet is often used to describe blood for some reason, which is probably where you picked up the idea that it is a darker color. I know I have a word that I’d been screwing up, but I can’t think of it at a moment. Sorry for not being able to address the actual OP. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/31 "2010-08-11T13:10:05Z")
I started a long tangent on a “Things you didn’t know until later in life” thread when I said that I didn’t know that biweekly meant every two weeks instead of twice a week. And now that tangent will begin again. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/32 "2010-08-11T13:24:14Z")
I discovered a few days ago that “tocsin” meant “alarm”. Until then, I thought it was an old-fashioned spelling of “toxin”. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/33 "2010-08-11T14:29:33Z")
I know this one has the power to hijack but that’s not my intent. I had always thought “literally” meant, you know, like ‘literally’ and those misusing it as in “I literally fell to pieces” were, uh, well…misusing it. (I know this isn’t so hot in the clever-wording department.) Anyway it has been pointed out many times on these here boards that “literally” has a long history of serving as a simple intensifier and just about every dictionary in the English language provides a definition of it being used in this context. Therefore I have grudgingly accepted this usage and no longer cast a dubious smiley emoticon towards those using “literally” in a non-literal fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/34 "2010-08-11T16:37:46Z")
I used to think “prodigal” meant, well, clever and brilliant, like a prodigy. I’d heard the phrase “the prodigal son” but was a bit hazy on the story, so I thought a prodigal son was the brains of the family. I thought this until embarrassingly recently, too… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/35 "2010-08-11T17:15:41Z")
All right so for some reason I thought “dubious” was something like “dutiful” or “diligent.” Seriously, I just never knew. Until I used the word in an email to a client who wasn’t even very good at English and thanked him for his dubious something-or-other (using it in place of “diligent.”) He called me out on it. Yeah, I will never _ever_ mis-use that one again. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/36 "2010-08-11T17:17:42Z")
maggie- it’s lead (metal) and led (guided). Cavalry and Calvary are pronounced differently. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/37 "2010-08-11T17:45:46Z")
intrepid- when I was young, I read it so often in over-the-top, ironic descriptions of explorers and such, that I thought it meant ‘inept’ or ‘bumbling’ ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/38 "2010-08-11T17:49:50Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Cavalry and Calvary are pronounced differently. She’ll probably take the charge; I doubt she’s willing to die on that hill over this. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/39 "2010-08-11T17:52:37Z")
Today, I learned what ‘figging’ meant. It has nothing to do with figgy pudding. Nothing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643/40 "2010-08-11T18:21:06Z")
> [@Mr.Accident](#): > > Coven and convent. > > I’ve had them confused for years. You mean you didn’t know which was witch? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-of-which-you-thought-you-knew-the-meaning/548643.md?page=3)