So I was thinking today as the line of storms was moving through...
From th first time I heard a storm broadcast when we moved to Kansas when i was 5 until...well, not too long ago, maybe last year...I was -sure- they aways sad A train spotter has spotted a tornado..." Well, turns out it's -not- a train spotter, but rather a train
ed spotter. I remember thinking about why on earth train spotters, who I imagined were looking for trains, would be reporting tornadoes on the ground. I eventually convinced myself that it was because there must be train spotters out all day and all night anyway, so they might as well let someone know when they see a tornado...
Anyway, there are tons of other things like that I've done, I just thought of this one tonight. Anyone else do things like this? Examples?
I just remembered another one...not exactly the same, but close. When I first heard of a "tornado warning" I always pistured this black-and-white image of a tornado with a big hand waving a finger as if it were saying "I'm warning you!" and then when I learned about the tornado sirens, I heard those in my head along with the picture...in fact, at that point the tornado grew a mouth and that's where the sirens came from, lol. I'm surprised at how clearly I can still see that picture in my head, from 15 years ago
This is totally off your actually topic, 'ponine, but where in Kansas?
I'm in Wichita.
"Bliss shows the average family unit's deterioration into alcoholism, sex, incest, violence and death. Discuss." Instead of addressing the general concept of the disintegration of this whacko family I instead went through item by item - alcoholism, sex, violence - picking out instances.
I think I probably would have done the same, honestly.
An English professor once busted me on an essay test:
"This is a brilliant answer to a question no one asked."
Yeah, I've received comments along those lines on a few occasions...
It seems like once my husband has a word in his head, you cannot change it. He always says "Do you want to go to Chili's?" when he means "Do you want to go to Chevy's?" He has these words "stuck in his head" and they seem to be an unfixable thing.
I was out shopping one day and got arrested for indecent exposure. Totally misunderstood the term Strip Mall.
HA HA HA HA! FELL OFF MY CHAIR! Still laughing, can't type!
Seriously though I do mix up words in my head. I may try to say, " I went to the store today." But I can tell "school" not "store" wants to come out of my mouth so I stop talking to give myself the chance to say the word I want. I guess it's stammering.
I also hear things wrong. I call it trainwreck. It's when someone says something and the words sound like onebiglongword.
You, my husband, and my daughter all share those things. I see it in my daughter, the wrong word comes out and she looks puzzled, but like she cannot figure out what is bothering her.
We take things as "one step at a time" in my house as well. Everything past the first thing just gets lost.
Yeah we just laugh and say, "Let's not confuse Chosen."
He also learned not to give me too much information all at once. Like "Honey I'm going to get the grill ready and grill the steaks. You get the potatoes cleaned and in the oven, start the rice and we'll make salad together." Yikes!
Yep, my mom would get mad at me when I was younger because she'd tell me to do things, and I'd think she meant to do them all at once, and I;d say "I can only do one thing at a time!" and throw a little fit
I also hear things wrong. I call it trainwreck. It's when someone says something and the words sound like onebiglongword.
I do that too...seems as if sometimes my most common phase is "What?" I went out with a couple girls from work the other night, and one of them asked me about my summer plans, and I told them I'd be going to Tennessee next month, then she said something, and I -thought- it was a question, but after asking her to repeat herself about 5 times I figured she was just saying "Neato." Hardly worth the effort to hear that one. It's worse when I'm in a place like a restaurant and there are people talking around me.
An English professor once busted me on an essay test:
"This is a brilliant answer to a question no one asked."
Ha - my academic career in a nutshell! Fortunately (???) I was doing an unpopular course (literature) at a manky regional university where they were probably so stoked to have a student who could put together five thousand articulate, fully-referenced words that they didn't seem to mind how many light-years they deviated from the actual question. I still doubt I could write an actual essay if I had to!
Speaking of peeled/unpeeled... flammable/inflammable. I still don't get them.
irreregardless/regardless
What about that one?
Thats why I stick to chemistry / science. The progression of a research report is logical. And I don't have to figure out vague meanings as per literature (which I cannot comprehend). It is or it isn't in hard sciences. Not maybe, sort of or whatever what one comes across in literature. However, I can get around these problems in literature by paraphrasing references. An actual essay, not likely.
How about invaluable? I swear, took me forever to realize it didn't mean "not able to be valued/not worth a damn thing"
How about invaluable? I swear, took me forever to realize it didn't mean "not able to be valued/not worth a damn thing"
Of course, when the definition is not able to be valued because no realistic value can be attached to it.
My dad told me the other day when he was a kid someone told hi that there was a watchdog at this place he went to, and when he got there he asked where the dog was hiding his watch
And the other day my nephew told me his markers are out of mark