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Original poster

To have completely misunderstood the meaning of some sayings?

843 replies

KermitTheToad · 18/11/2025 20:53

I only found out today that the term Social Butterfly refers to someone who is outgoing and loves social events. I thought it meant you didn't like social events, as in you would fly away and avoid them. I also until recently thought that a Spendthrift is somebody who is frugal in their spending. I assumed that as thrifty meant not being wasteful, that Spendthrift meant being careful in what you spent.
YANBU..I see where you are coming from.
YABU.. You are a wally, go back to school!

OP posts:
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7
pinkpony88 · 18/11/2025 23:41

Medicimama · 18/11/2025 22:03

Slow
Children
Ahead

🤣

Dontlletmedownbruce · 18/11/2025 23:40

My neighbour thought 'Slow School Ahead' referred to the special needs school.

RaraRachael · 18/11/2025 23:40

A local newspaper had an article about a musician who'd been appearing with celebrities ' "Young Musician mixes with the hoi polloi" 🙄

Twattergy · 18/11/2025 23:39

Deceptively large = larger than it first seemed. E.g this cottage is deceptively large...it's much more spacious than it looks from outside.

Deceptively small = smaller than you'd think. E.g. 'this handbag can hardly fit anything in it, it's deceptively small!'

Ladygodalmighty · 18/11/2025 23:36

CurlyhairedAssassin · 18/11/2025 21:10

Heavy plant crossing. I was flummoxed by that one for years. Always thought of triffids when I was a kid. Knew it couldn't be that but it was years into adulthood before I knew for sure what it meant. (probably when Google was invented so I could look it up without embarrassing myself by asking an acutal human).

🤣😂🤣🤣

Lunde · 18/11/2025 23:36

AnAudacityofinlaws · 18/11/2025 21:20

Think of the old meaning of “thrift” as in money, savings or wealth - money put away. spendthrift makes sense now doesn’t it?

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Yes - thrift used to mean savings/wealth

So a spendthrift was literally someone spending their savings

MILLYmo0se · 18/11/2025 23:36

Bomsisit is interesting, we'd often use 'bombsite' to describe a mess here
I've noticed on social media, only in the last year or so, that a lot of people use 'mortified' when they mean 'horrified'. I was so confused!

Arpegios · 18/11/2025 23:36

DarkEyedSailor · 18/11/2025 21:27

Audrey Junior

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I thought it was Audrey 2!

MySilentLions · 18/11/2025 23:35

Theextraordinaryisintheordinary · 18/11/2025 21:48

You’re right about a ‘spendthrift’ being someone who’s frugal. Love that you thought that about a ‘social butterfly’. My friend’s son thought ‘peace and quiet’ was ‘a piece of quiet’.

You might want to read the thread … a spendthrift is the opposite of frugal.

Lunde · 18/11/2025 23:34

I found out that "scuttlebutt" originated in about 1800 as a naval term

There used to be a cask of fresh drinking water on deck (a scuttled butt) and sailors used to congregate to take a drink and exchange gossip -so literally the original water cooler gossip site!

Inthewindandrain · 18/11/2025 23:31

DeanStockwell · 18/11/2025 23:09

I remember having a conversation with my dad in our car when I was about 10 asking him why we couldn't drive down a the toad if it was working .
It really tickled him and he explained what the sign meant but he couldn't explained why the signs don't say 'road not working '

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And what about the road works sign my cousin asked "why is the man putting up a brolly?"

Glindaa · 18/11/2025 23:31

manineed · 18/11/2025 21:12

Or put on a pedal stool

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OP will end up a social piranha at this rate

TellingBone · 18/11/2025 23:30

Bomsitit as a noun meaning a mess is the new chester draws

realsavagelike · 18/11/2025 23:29

soupyspoon · 18/11/2025 23:12

I know its 'looks like a bombs hit it'. They knew 'it looks like a bombs hit it'

But its changed over the years to bomsisit meaning 'a mess'.

Its a bomsitit in here.

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Really?? I don't buy that. I will happily recant if I find such a word in a dictionary.

SagittariusDwarf · 18/11/2025 23:29

fost · 18/11/2025 23:11

As a kid I thought a stuck pig was squealing because he was trapped and wanted to be set free. It was a long time before I realised that is not what 'stuck' meant in this phrase.

Ooohhhhh.... I thought it meant a trapped pig too, until literally just now....

SagittariusDwarf · 18/11/2025 23:28

soupyspoon · 18/11/2025 23:12

I know its 'looks like a bombs hit it'. They knew 'it looks like a bombs hit it'

But its changed over the years to bomsisit meaning 'a mess'.

Its a bomsitit in here.

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I don't think that's a thing

Inthewindandrain · 18/11/2025 23:27

When I was a kid I had a story book (mini novel, no pictures) in which the child found half a crown under the car. I thought it was a surprising thing to find.. it was some years later before I realised it was a coin not an actual half a crown!

TheendofmrY · 18/11/2025 23:26

Until recently I thought that if you were “gunning for someone” you were on their side, like providing defensive fire rather than attacking.

realsavagelike · 18/11/2025 23:26

DeanStockwell · 18/11/2025 23:09

I remember having a conversation with my dad in our car when I was about 10 asking him why we couldn't drive down a the toad if it was working .
It really tickled him and he explained what the sign meant but he couldn't explained why the signs don't say 'road not working '

Show quote history

Because it is short for 'work is being done on the road', dad

VivienneDelacroix · 18/11/2025 23:25

Greenbeanmcgee · 18/11/2025 21:24

I know what it actually means but salubrious sounds like it should have the opposite meaning imo.

Yes! I always think this.

Doobedobe · 18/11/2025 23:25

emmetgirl · 18/11/2025 22:30

But spendthrift comes from the word thrifty which means careful with money so its meaning should be quite clear 🤷‍♀️

Actually, I just googled this one as I was curious and discovered that in this context 'thrift' comes from the old word for wealth. So a spendthrift was someone who spent all their wealth. Not someone who is thrifty with their spending

theunbreakablecleopatrajones · 18/11/2025 23:25

Makeitstop2025 · 18/11/2025 21:12

Tall, Dark and Handsome. I always pictured that to mean a white man and that the "dark" was in reference to features such as black/brown hair or brown eyes. A friend told me that the dark was in reference to skin colour and that it basically meant a person of colour.

Before anyone comments that it shows my bias, I am a person of colour!

No, you are right, it's a reference to dark hair.

bluegreengreenblue · 18/11/2025 23:22

(As a child,) hambags and handburgers 😊

I agree about bucolic sounding medical and unpleasant.

Cailleachnamara · 18/11/2025 23:21

Kbroughton · 18/11/2025 22:17

I thougt I'd heard a new word when my DH said 'hyperberly' to me. Turns out I have been saying hyperbole wrong for 40 odd years and nobody told me.

So you were pronouncing it like Super Bowl?

realsavagelike · 18/11/2025 23:20

RaraRachael · 18/11/2025 22:48

I hated Lord of the Dance as a child because I thought it was "And I'll eat you all in the dance said he"

I had visions of this man going around gobbling up little kids 😅

I hated it because it had seventy billion verses and I had to really strain my eyes to read the words from the ancient projector, sitting on the uncomfortable infant school gymnasium floor.