speaking

When I was 9 I overheard my mother talking to a guy friend. Well I was across the room but I swore I had heard him say he was a lesbian. This confused me greatly because I knew lesbians were women and this was clearly a man. I didn't know what to make of it so I put in the back of my mind for a while. A while later he came back to visit and as he was leaving my brother pulled in the driveway and when he came in the door he asked who it was that was leaving our house. My mother replied "Oh that was Mark. Cynthia's husband" and I eagerly added "Yeah and he's a lesbian!" with much enthusiasm. My mom looked at me bewildered and asked where I had gotten that idea. I told her from the visit before, he had said he was a lesbian. She still looked confused a few seconds when it dawned on her and she started cracking up laughing. "He said he was a thespian not lesbian, you silly girl!". Apparently when across the room and listening to the t.v. the word thespian can sound a lot like lesbian to a child.

Gillian

When I was about six and first encountered the word 'slippers', I asked what it meant, and was told that slippers were shoes you put on your feet indoors. I made the assumption that they were called 'slippers' because you slide around on them indoors, like on ice skates, and was disappointed for a long time afterwards that this didn't seem to work.

The Tall Guy

When my dad used to go out and didn't want me to accompany him, he would always tell me that he was going to see a man about a dog. I used to get really excited thinking that he was going to bring a dog home! I never sussed it even though he never came home with a dog.

amanda

When I asked for something or acted like i was the best when I was younger my dad would say "who do you think you are. the queen of sheeba?!?!" for some reason,no idea how, i always thought the queen of sheeba was a small white poodle that sat on a velvet cushion, and that she had servants. I thought this for a very long time,oh dear.

Anon

When I was around six or so, I got the words hamper and hamster mixed up. My parents would get very confused when I told them the hamster was full, because we didn't own one.

Raine

I mix up the words impotent and incomptent. Or at least, I used to. This was a conversation, right after mid-terms, while walking home with a male friend. it went something like this

me : what'd you get on your mid-terms?
him : needs improvment for everything, exacept in Fasion. The teachers hate me because Im incompotent.
me : why would they know you cant get a boner?

lis

my son who is now 15 used to say "can i have a bowl of colins " instead of cornflakes !! WE DID NOT EVEN KNOW ANYONE CALLED COLIN so god knows where that came from,he also used to think that the postman brought the snow with him in his bag (we are from u.k where it obviously does not snow alot)

emma jane

I also had trouble hearing and still do but anyways around 4 or 5 I always thought Wind Sheild Wipers was pronounced Win sheer wipers, K-Mart was Kane Mart, and Mix 95.1 (a local radio station) was Nix 95.1. It took untill about I was 7 or so to find out what the real names were.

Red #1 PA

When I was little, I used to believe that people REALLY DID need a pinch to grow an inch.

Marjorie McNaughton

okay, this is gonna sound very wrong, but I swear I believed this at like 3 or 4, tho I have no idea where I got it from.
I had the word nun confused with a certain word that is used as a derogatory racial comment, n****r. (I wont even say it now, let alone type it.) One day while my mom was on the porch sewing and talking with some of her friends, I picked up a spare piece of cloth, that was black, and put it on my head, like a nun, and exclaimed, "Look, mommy, now I am a n****r!"
My mother was horrified, and had no idea I meant nun. (One of her friends who was sitting there was black.) She told me that it was very bad and I was to never say that word again. I couldnt understand why someone I had seen at church was a bad word to say. This didnt get cleared up until I was about six and started religous education classes at school.....

Niky

I used to believe that "thistles" was actually "fistles".

Cris

When I was kid visiting at a friends house with my Parents, and it got late, they would say, well we have to hit the road now, and I thought they were getting ready to go out and slap the pavement.

Joanne

When I was little, I played a video game called "The Legend of Zelda" in which the hero must rescue the kidnapped Princess Zelda. From that I divined that this new word "legend" meant that someone was kidnapped and you had to save them; I thought that a game called "The Legend of Your Pets" would be pretty fun.

(Eventually in school they taught me that a "legend" was something found on a map. This didn't help.)

Y

I was staying over at a friends house one night and while we were lying in the bunk beds he would be able to fart whenever he wanted to. I asked him how he did it and he said 'Tricular'. For the next couple of years, everytime I farted in front of people I would say 'Tricular' and smile at them. One day when I farted in front of the same friend who had told me the word, he asked me what I was saying. He then told me he had said not 'Tricular' but 'Trick you learn' I felt the last couple of years of embarassment rush into me.

spon000

Y'know, tiger eye jewelry is really misleading and cruel to those who don't know what it really is. And don't get me started on artichoke hearts.

Anon

When I was a child, I used to believe that at the end of game shows, they were giving the losing guest "partying gifts." I recently made a comment on this to my husband, and he informed me that the losers did not get "partying gifts", but rather parting gifts

angie

I used to believe that 'blanket' was pronounced 'blanklet' until I was about 10, I was very embarassed when my mum finally told be the correct pronounciation.

Ness R.

when I was about 5 years old, I entered a coloring contest. The prize was a pitcher of coke, I thought it was a picture of a coke bottle. Boy was disappointed.

maegan