Wrong meaning for words

Chosen Enemy

Chosen Enemy

Losing my soul
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
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Age
40
After the thread of words you pronounce wrong, making us all think we're all dumb (just kiddding 😀), here comes another thread to make us think we're all dumb!

Are there words that you thought you knew what they meant, but you were actually wrong about their meaning? That one day you realized that you thought wrong all along?
 
Well I know what the word "become" means but in German whe have the word "bekommen" which means something like "to get something". If you will talk to a group of Germans about 10, 5 wil translate "become" wrong!

😀😀
 
Hmm, I always get words wrong, but the worst one is when I was about 7 years old I asked my friend if she was a virgin, thinking it meant vegan... 😵 (She answered no, which makes me think she also did not know the difference)
 
When I was 6, I thought the word 'sue' meant 'punch'. I had heard another kid say it out of context and I just assumed it meant punch and never asked. So I'd go around telling people that I was going to sue them.
 
S
SlayerOfVampyrs
LMAO, that's cute though!
hum... I'm sure there are tons of words or phrases that I've been wrong about their meaning... right now my brain is having trouble remembering anything specific (ha! teach me to post before coffee!)

when my twins were little they thought "revenge" meant to walk backwards. So they'd walk around the house backwards saying "revenge! revenge!"

I think its kinda neat when we make our own meaning out of words but I guess it would complicate communication somewhat 🙂
 
False friend alarm!! 😀 "eventually" really sounds like "eventualmente", which means perhaps...there are tons of these little nasty words, this is the first one that comes to mind 😀
 
I
InsaneMystic
exactly the same false friend alarm with "eventuell" (= perhaps, maybe) in German! :)
Nope not really, I've always been quite good with language.

I did get 'instantiate' in the wrong context a little while ago though which could have made one of my essays a bit obscure if hadn't proof read it.
 
There was a period of time where I used "infamous" as if it were "famous."
 
I thought for years that erstwhile meant that someone wanted to be something but weren't yet, not that they had already been and no longer are
 
Two more:
SensibIle in italian means sensitive...so sensible/sensitive was confusing at first 😀
Pretend is similar to pretendere, which means "to demand"! 😀
 
There's probably loads but the one that sticks in my mind is ignorant because my friend would yell at me for it. Like I thought it meant if someone wasn't listening to you they were being ignorant but in the words of my mate "IGNORANT DOES NOT MEAN TO IGNORE!!!!" So now of course I do it on purpose to annoy her 😛
 
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