I have always thought superlatives were a class of descriptive comic book adjectives like Fantastic! Astounding! Incredible! Uncanny! Amazing! Stupefying! etc. That may be broadly true of adverbs and adjectives in the elative sense, but not how I was using the term. Oh, well.
I still maintain I am not wrong, just ahead of my time.
My dictionary does say that a nemesis is an enemy or opponent, esp. one not easily overcome.
Not quite on topic, but I used to have a Husky / German Shepard mix. When we got him I wanted his initals to be UW as I am a big U. of Washington fan, and their mascot is a Husky. Well our last name already starts with a W so no problem. Thinking of something to name him I came up with Yukon as it was a cold place, and Huskies are known for being in cold places. I just changed the spelling to Ukon. I had this dog for 7 or 8 years before he passed away 4 years ago. I just found out this week watching basketball that U of Washington is not the only team with a Husky as a mascot. In fact U. of Conneticut also uses a Husky. Of course U of Conneticut is abbriviated UConn, pronouced the same way as my dog’s name. I had that dog for over 5 years, and never knew he was named after the wrong school.
-Otanx
I just recently learned that “several” means “a few.” I thought it meant “a whole lot.”
Yes, I’m that dense.
When I was a little kid, maybe 8 or so, I called my mom a whore. My little brain somehow made the connection thinking that whore meant something similar to horrible.
Kinda a hijack since it’s by no means a recent or adult misconcpetion, but there you go.
You should have claimed to have said “hoary” tho this may not have gotten a much better responce 
I also have the shallot/scallion problem! I have to ask my SO which are which whenever we’re at a restaurant.
My word is “tautology.” I used it incorrectly several times in my M.A. thesis to mean something akin to “strong bond.”