Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what “tories” meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it’s not usual to use it as short for “territories” as I’ve used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I’m reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.
More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing “encephalitis” with “hydrocephalus” when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.
How about " till " in English vs " 'til " ?
In English, a till is a cash drawer or a plough. The abbreviation for “until” is " 'til ".
I see it in subtitles. I worry for society.
Even happened in the comments here
TIL
Oh in English – I used to say renumerate (numerate a second time) instead of remunerate (pay someone for a thing).
I have never heard nor saw it spelled “remunerate”.
Yup, that was the case for me too. I think I only figured it out when I was like 30.
Me too!! I’m Italian and I used to say “renumerare” instead of “remunerare”.
If you’re curious, the verb comes from Latin “munus” = service/duty/tax
holy… well, blow me.
I thought phallic (fálico) meant flawed (falho) and used it so much. I cringe when I remember this 😭
Is encephalitis caused only by HIV, though?
I seem to think it was a thing before HIV.
Proscribe and prescribe.
Redux. I’ve always just used it as a fancier ‘re-do’. Still going to keep using it as such. I like the word too much.
every word i use is right, its the english language that is wrong
“Alternately” when I meant “alternatively”.
Still don’t know the difference.
“Alternately” means “switching back and forth” like “She spoke rapidly, alternately English and Spanish, whichever came more readily to her tongue.”
“Alternatively” means “as another option”, like “We usually go with Bob in this situation; alternatively, I think Rudi is ready to try this solo.”
Thank you for the explanation!
Apparently muted? I was using it like a muted yellow, so yellow but it’s been faded in some way. They thought I meant like a muted sound on the computer which meant turned off entirely.
Prostate and prostrate are close to each other in my brain and I don’t use either much.
Idk, there were a lot of words I apparently used wrong as a kid but it was never explained how. But also if you jump down someone’s throat for a definition right there and then I struggle to give one
Penultimate. I used it as though it referred to the last thing rather than the second to last thing.
Inconceivable!
Impossibru!
Inflammable means flammable? What a country
I was homeschooled and was basically educated by books, so I have a massively large vocabulary and I mostly use it correctly.
But pronunciation? I’m fucked.
My son is a voracious reader, and he has the same thing. He’s 15 now but still, every so often, he’ll say a word and it’ll take me a minute to figure out what he means.
Removed by mod
“I’m sorry, is ‘your rear is as creamy as a bowl of oatmeal’ not a compliment?”
ages ago, i spent something like half a year thinking there was a word “appericate”. it was an odd one, since i only ever saw it in print, and from context it was clear that it meant the same thing as “appreciate”, which, oddly enough, i only ever heard in speech.
and then one day i stopped at an “appericate” in a book and re-read it 9 times, very slowly.
