Things you thought were normal... till that fateful, maybe embarrassing, day - Page 9 - Other Topics Forum - Discuss Pop Culture, Arts and Entertainment

Borodog · 03-29-2011, 05:26 PM

Not me, but innumerable people I know call realtors "relators." I want to beat them every time I hear it.

prohornblower · 03-29-2011, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MortalWombat

Maybe he was Irish and it was pronounced pin-AID.

Pinhead O'Downer

Phildo · 03-29-2011, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by econophile

to be fair, i had some strange notions of how certain words were pronounced

reading ghost rider comics, i somehow thought that "vengeance" was pronounced "vay-gance"

reading visions of gerard in high school for a kerouac project, i thought catechism was pronounced "catch-uh-kism" (not catholic imo)

maybe i don't read so good

when i was a kid reading hulk comics i always thought "puny" was pronounced in a way that rhymed with "funny" even though i knew the word "puny" and its proper pronunciation. i guess i thought it was spelled differently.

when i was really young i thought you pronounced the t at the end of "chevrolet" and i thought it was some kind of knock off of chevrolay.

**Pudge714** · 03-29-2011, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomCollins

We called a friend of ours Gee-Off just for the hell of it. Not abnormal IMO.

I did that with a friend as well, but people thinking it is actually pronounced that way is a pretty huge fail.

Another common mispronunciation hyperbole = hyper-bowl.

I was watching Colbert on Ash Wednesday this year and incredulously asked why Colbert had a small black cross on his face.

**Dids** · 03-29-2011, 05:33 PM

I thought the word "ratio" was "rat eee oh" and was bitter when I learned I was wrong because I thought it sounded way cooler (which it doesn't, wtf).

I also learned it wasn't Typ-er-writer until far too late in life.

Pudge, when did you learn about milk in non-bag form?

SBR · 03-29-2011, 05:33 PM

I thought the expression "play it by ear", was actually "play it by year" until about 6 months ago.

The thing is I use it fairly frequently but because they sound so similar I was never called out on it.

Theres also another common expression that I have wrong and my girlfriend corrected me on it recently but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

Trikkur · 03-29-2011, 05:35 PM

Ugh, I couldn't actually think of something until I read the "rendezvous" one from English class above. Now I'm squirming because it brought back such bad memories.

In 8th grade English, every Friday, the class would look through a dictionary and nominate "words of the week". You would then have to know their definitions for a quiz the next week. One week I picked the word "imbecile" pronounced "im-bess-il". I gave the definition and a few seconds later one of the kids realized what I was trying to say. If there is any word to mispronounce I had definitely found it.

MikeyObviously · 03-29-2011, 05:37 PM

I did the same thing with Geoff because I used Geoff Rowley in the Tony Hawk games (street skate > vert skate)

amoeba · 03-29-2011, 05:37 PM

For the longest time I really thought nacho cheese was a type of cheese since I would see it on the labels of tons of junk food. Also didn't understand the puns on "nacho cheese" for a long time.

ganstaman · 03-29-2011, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by econophile

didn't know that "prerogative" started with p-r until a few years ago

Wait, what? That's another 'r' I've been leaving off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prohornblower

In before someone from New York posts:

"I always thought everyone called it 'standing on line' until I found out most people say 'standing in line'"

I'm from NJ, I've always said both. Is 'standing in line' really that much more more standard than 'standing on line?'

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by amoeba

For the longest time I really thought nacho cheese was a type of cheese since I would see it on the labels of tons of junk food.

Seriously, I didn't think the point of this thread was to learn a lot of things I didn't know.

Pelican86 · 03-29-2011, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wires

Until my I was in my mid twenties I would say "no more good". For example if food in the refrigerator had passed its expiration date then I'd say it was no more good.

I feel like this is something I've heard my parents say and something I've probably said at some point, although I don't know if it'd be the first phrase I'd use. I knew what you meant by it right away, but looking on Google I can't find any references to it. Surely other people use this, right?

And it makes sense if you think of it as "no more" = "not anymore." The word order is a bit odd, I guess, but that's common enough in idiomatic phrases.

**Dids** · 03-29-2011, 05:40 PM

We've done this before, but "on line" seems to be an NY-area regional thing so I guess it depends on if standard is defined by volume of people or of land mass.

Pelican86 · 03-29-2011, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganstaman

Wait, what? That's another 'r' I've been leaving off.

I'm from NJ, I've always said both. Is 'standing in line' really that much more more standard than 'standing on line?'

Yes, if you're not from the NYC area.

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/...maps/q_93.html

DMC0627 · 03-29-2011, 05:44 PM

When I was a kid there was a church named Grace Baptist in my neighborhood. One day we were driving by it on the bus to school and I asked if anyone had ever met her.

DMC0627 · 03-29-2011, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Double Down

I have a ton of these, including some that I'm sure may lose me any shreds of respect that I may have created for myself on these forums. I want to put some effort into them and have to leave in a few mins, so I'll just post a couple quick ones for now.

When I was a little kid like 3-5, my parents would have my picture taken at the mall (you know, where you can choose between the silly fall colors backdrops and you kneel on that mini-footstool thing). So to get the kids to smile, instead of doing the "look at the birdie" thing, it was standard that the photographer would play a game with the kids where they'd ask you not to blow at the light that was lighting the area. Then you would do it, and they would hit the switch and turn it off and pretend to get mad or frustrated, as if you blowing at it turned it off like it was a candle. They'd do this a few times to get the kid laughing and then "ok seriously, now we have to take the picture" and then the kid was all giddy and happy and then the pics would be taken.

I actually thought that this light was somehow sensitive to air pressure and blowing at it actually turned it off.

Yeah.

Cut to years later, I'm 17 and I'm at some photo place getting my Yearbook picture taken. Everything is all set up and we're ready to take the pic, and for the sake of getting a taste of nostalgia, I start blowing at the light like a jack ass. The mid 20's emo chick who is running the photo session asks me what the hell I'm doing. I tell her.

FML

I like this thread, a lot of these are good. This one was special though. Please share more.