What Words Do You or Did You Use Before Knowing What They Meant?

1. 65

   NateSeanposted 14 years ago

   I'll admit that in my youth there were a number of words that sounded big and impressive. I loved hearing them and I would use them without always knowing what they meant. Sometimes they were in context so no one noticed other times it was painfully obvious.
   
   Words I used as a kid that I didn't know the meaning of:
   
   Suicide
   Masturbation
   Retrospect
   
   And I'm sure there were more. So you're free to admit right here what words you used to use without know what they meant.

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      Pearldiverposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      There weren't many words that I used that I didn't understand when I was young..... but more becoz I talked in a series of grunts, according to my parents who clearly suffered from the problem of not understanding the spoken language.
      
      I bet you would never have believed then that you could even use those 3 words in a sentence today, let alone allow others to gauge your perspective in using those words!

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   2. 0

      cosetteposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      haha....the word was "recalcitrant".

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2. 88

   IzzyMposted 14 years ago

   Well it's not quite what you were asking for, but there was a Kenny Roger's song years ago where he snag about 3 hungry children, and I always sang along '3 hundred children'...

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3. 88

   IzzyMposted 14 years ago

   PS and I always thought when my teacher taught us about 'Grace Darling' she was saying 'Grey Starling' and no I never thought that was a strange name for a historical character.

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4. 61

   Rayalternatelyposted 14 years ago

   We all use words all the time that we "know what it means", that is until we have to explain exactly what it means to an inquisitive child! Homework is a great leveler and has certainly taught me to be a little more humble in my actual understanding of language.

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5. 70

   Bill Manningposted 14 years ago

   I'm actually 90% deaf, so I do that all the time. I use to love songs, thinking they were about love or something. Then a friend would write down what the words actually are and I no longer liked the songs!
   
   Or I would mispronounce words because I say them how they are spelled. So many words do NOT sound the way they are spelled!

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   1. 72

      livewithrichardposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Rondezvous - I use to say this word the way it was spelled until I was about 16...lol I didn't know what Ron-Dez-Vus meant and of course I was too lazy to look it up.

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      de'Arabposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      So Bill Manning, how would you have pronounced obscene language? You do curse, Right? I mean who doesn't  from time to time..

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      1. 70

         Bill Manningposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Oh I can curse just fine, thanks! Funny, you never have any problem knowing how to say curse words right, it just seems to come natural!

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6. 0

   PrettyPantherposted 14 years ago

   When I was a kid, around 8 or 9 years old, I would call my younger brother a "dildo" when I was annoyed with him.
   
   I had no idea what it meant. 

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   1. 70

      wyanjenposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      get out!!
      I did that too
      
      
      I was reading the Hobbit (Bilbo Baggins), and I was making up words like in the name game song...
      
      I called my sister a dildo and my mother gasped so loud I thought she would fall off the chair.
      Neither one would tell me what it meant...
      
      needless to say when I eventually found out I laughed my head off...
      
      

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      1. 0

         PrettyPantherposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         LOL!  Too funny. 

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         Tammy Lochmannposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         too funny
         
         I called my sister a prick when we were uptown with my mom when I was oh about 8.  My mom had a fit.  It wasn't like I knew what it meant I thought it was like a thorn or pricks on a bush... you know annoying. 
         
         Now I know.

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7. 61

   caravalhophotoposted 14 years ago

   juxtaposition...one of my favorite words now!!!

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8. 63

   Daniel Carterposted 14 years ago

   Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious.
   
   And I still don't know what the hell it means.

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   1. 59

      pinkboxerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I don't either. But I love to say it too! It is one of my favorite words. Each time I create my own meaning. What a fantastic word.

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9. 60

   EFPotterposted 14 years ago

   "Jerk off."
   
   I used to think it was just a combination of "jerk" (mean person) and "off." I told people to do so. I thought it meant to go away. when I got older and learned...I still get embarrassed.
   
   Also, when I was little a couple boys on the bus called me a lesbian (they weren't much older, I doubt they knew what it meant) so of course I went home and asked what it meant.

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   1. 65

      NateSeanposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I learned the word lesbian and "slut" in the fifth grade without knowing what they meant. Oddly enough it was a girl who called me a "slut" to insult me.

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10. 79

    Mekenzieposted 14 years ago

    Two of my kids as teenagers used to come home with words they used all the time.  They knew I did not accept inappropriate language and I never thought their lingo was inappropriate.  One day I was shopping with my teen daughter who was running down an aisle.  I yelled for her, with a tease in my voice, saying ... "come here you little wench"  She fell to the ground with her hands over her mouth...  oh no, I thought ... I've been had ...

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11. 89

    mistyhorizon2003posted 14 years ago

    I used to call people who annoyed me "twats" or "a twat", until my Mum explained it was actually the same as calling someone a woman's genitalia!!!!

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    1. 61

       casparposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Me too! I thought it was a slightly stronger version of "twit". I think I used the "c" word once too and my Dad realised I didn't have a clue what it meant (he didn't explain, just said it wasn't a very nice word and I mustn't use it again).
       
       

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12. 61

    bulletproofchrisposted 14 years ago

    i remember eric clapton's song, 'cocaine', playing on the radio one day when i was young(maybe 5 yrs.old). i began to sing along with the song, when my mom and dad came bursting through the door wondering why they heard me yelling "cocaine"...obviously i was unaware that the word in question was a drug, or even what a drug was...ah, childhood. thanks for the trip down memory lane.

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13. 59

    fits4lifeposted 14 years ago

    One word I used as a child was love jones. I thouht it meant someone I loved who's last name was Jones.

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14. 0

    Pani Midnyte Odinposted 14 years ago

    Well, when I was about 7 years old, my mother got her tubes tied. I, being the nosy child that I was, heard my mother and father talking about the surgery from inside their bedroom. When I heard the word "tubes," I didn't know people had tubes. Then I heard my mother say they wouldn't have to use a condom anymore when they had sex because they could no longer get pregnant. A few months before, my mother had still been breast-feeding my brother and I remembered my father calling her breasts "boobs." I also remembered hearing my grandfather call the television, the "boob tube." So, I thought "boob" and "tube" must be the same thing.
    
    Well, we went to my grandmother's house shortly afterwards. I told my older cousin I had learned some new words. She asked me to prove to her what they meant. So I went to the living room and I pointed at the TV. "That's the tube," I said.
    
    She asked me what the other word was, so I led her to my mother and said very loudly in front of the entire family, "My mommy got her boobs tied." My mother turned beet red, but everyone else laughed.
    
    THEN my cousin asked what that meant. Not realizing that I was the butt of a joke, I said "It means Mommy and Daddy don't have to wear condones anymore when they suck each other cuz they can't have babies."
    
    We went home rather quickly, I wonder why?

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15. 0

    loriamooreposted 14 years ago

    Dichotomy was one that I had heard and tried to use, unsuccessfully, until I finally looked it up to determine what it meant.  Now I use it all the time.
    
    And . . . this isn't one that I didn't know what it meant, but one of my favorite words to say is "exacerabate."  I like that word.  I used to be an insurance adjuster, so we frequently got to use that word, as in, "The accident didn't injure your back, it just exacerbated a previous condition."

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16. 57

    Effectorposted 14 years ago

    i used the word "preface" alot for some reason. i'm a writer today

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