Words that sound like they should have a different meaning

[ShesTheAlbatross]

Does anyone else have words that they just think do not sound like their meaning?

I was just reading something that had the word “chartreuse” in it. Does anyone else think that this sounds like it should be red? “Puce” is also the wrong colour for the word.

Similarly, I cannot accept that “bucolic” is a word for anything good. A combination of colic and bubonic, and it means the pleasant English countryside? No.

And don't get me started about the three kinds of twilight : civil, nautical and astronomical.

I digress. Apologies.

I was in my twenties when I realised that Skegness is not near a loch in Scotland. I still find it hard to accept.

Another one voting for spendthrift. I mean, come on the English language, you're just taking the piss now

Mediocre. To me it sounds like something is amazing, brilliant, exceptional.

Querulous sounds like it should mean something like questioning/curious but actually means habitually complaining, in a whiny manner.

Yes to nearly all of the above! I concur (not conquer). The one that's been getting my goat for 50 years is strident. Everybody thinks it means shouty or speaking forcefully, but guess what it really means? Squeaky!

Some arsehole 1970s politician called women's libbers 'strident' as an insult to their female voices. I suppose I should be pleased it doesn't sound mouse-like, but it still annoys me.

Also came on to say nonplussed. It sounds like it should mean: not at all arsed. I'm not arsed/ I'm nonplussed

For some reason I feel vindicate is the opposite of it's real meaning.

Im with the post above about spendthrift. That's another sounds opposite to its meaning word.

Chartreuse should definitely be red.
Pontefract should be in Wales.
Glastonbury is clearly meant to be a Scottish town.
'A part' and 'apart' are the wrong way round.

They both mean ‘catches fire easily’.

I get that. I wonder if that's because your mind goes to plummet? I also think Nadir sounds like it should be the highest point, not the lowest.

Would like to add:

Masticate - sounds far more complicated than just chewing
Pithy - sounds like something that is frivolous and airy not sharp and sarcastic
Viscosity - to describe liquid - high viscosity sounds like it should be clear and watery, not thick and hard to stir.
Truncated - HOW DOES THIS NOT MEAN OVERLY-LONG?

Riparian

Littoral

I also came on to say spendthrift. It sounds like someone that should be tight with money but it means the opposite. Someone that is wasteful and extravagant.

I think ‘nonplussed’ should mean ‘don’t care’

i thought it did 😳 until I just googled!

I came on to say this. It really throws me as to me it should mean not bothered but it means pretty much the exact opposite!

Escutcheon. It’s a very grand word for the metal plate around a keyhole.

Shoplifting. It’s too soft a word. Call it what it is, stealing.

Same!

Dunkirk sounds as though it should be in Scotland, not France

I'm never totally confident with zenith.

Protagonist -obviously the character who antagonises the main character in a play or book

For a long time I thought "thespian" was a kind of lesbian.

I know quite a few lesbian thespians!

Miasma. I always thought it sounded like a sparkling swirling cloud of space glitter. Like the They Might Be Giants song, "The Sun Is A Miasma of Incandescent Plasma".
Turns out it means something really disgusting.