Do you know people who use words and don’t know the meaning of them?! *lighthearted*

[PoshestPaws]

I have a friend and work colleague who do this all the time and I would love to point it out and correct them or ask if they know what the words mean.
It would feel rude and patronising to mention it, especially when I’m not perfect and make my own mistakes!

I sometimes pretend I don’t understand (and sometimes I genuinely don’t) when it’s just a sentence of random words that don’t make sense.

I wondered if anyone else knows someone who acts in such a billowing way and if you feel pensive towards them when they are being perpendicular? Do you take a collateral response or just decide it’s not worth being kinetic over it?

I did overhear my colleague once saying she reads a lot which has increased her vocabulary, I wonder if I should buy her a dictionary and thesaurus for Christmas? 😂

An example from earlier today that inspired this thread was my friend saying “I feel a bit convoluted about seeing Ben tonight, I’m not sure if I want to go out or not”
I just replied “that’s understandable” it really isn’t though!

I'm always saying the wrong worm.

I am not sure if this counts. I had a friend who loved to over use the word 'literally '. She once told me that she had done something embarrassing, and that she literally died afterwards. No Sarah, you did not. You are still very much alive.

I think this is OP’s example of words being used in the wrong place, I assume it’s meant to be a joke.

The Champagne Moet et Chandon.

People who have never really encountered it pronounce it Mo-wet.
Those who think they are sophisticated pronounce it Mo-way

Guess what (don't spoil it those that know it).
Moet is Dutch and is pronounced Mo-wet.
So it is Mo-wet ey Chandon.

So many get this wrong....

Best example was Billy Corkhill's mother in law, Julia something, on Brookside. Gems included 'we consummated our relationship on the close'.

I love a good spoonerism, but the whole wrong word is extra level. I know someone who regularly uses the word trivial to mean difficult and it’s too late now to correct it without embarrassing her. Not sure what to do!

LOL. I was incorrectly corrected on this once by a pretentious arse at a dinner party. She didn’t know I worked in the wine industry at the time. Even did exams!

I once got pounced on by a sales lady on Boots selling skin products. She genuinely wanted me to try their skin ‘semen’ 🙀😱. She said it more than once and I had to walk away before I laughed.

You used the word 'kinetic' incorrectly.

She was joking.

Yep I thought that was fairly obvious.

I think that was the point. Do you think she used perpendicular correctly?

The latter.

Well yes. that's the point. She pacifically used that word to illustrate what she was describing.

Chapeau to me!

I did wonder!!

I used to work with someone who did this and it got under my skin so badly.

She also caused a new Deputy Head Teacher to have a near heart attack when she said she'd "literally killed X's father in the playground" on arrival to the staff room one day. What she meant was that she'd politely shut down his repeated, nonsense, complaints that took up way too much time (he needed to be complaining to the government with his type of complaints) in record time on that particular day.

The same DHT later said "you literally did not..." when she heard "I literally died" - she didn't mean to say it aloud, but we were all thinking it.

Bruschetta comes to mind. In an Italian restaurant once I ordered it as a starter and said ‘bru-sket-tah’ to which my friend laughed and said that isn’t how you say it! The waiter gave him a side eye and said actually yes it is. It was wonderful!

I also get annoyed when people don’t use pronunciation correctly and say proNOUNciation. I could go on.

My elderly mum used to call DD's laptop her lambchop :)

I have a retired nurse friend who thinks Lucy Letby was an escape goat.

Someone in my cohort at uni recently told us all that she had a "photogenic memory".

I like using big words even if I’m not sure what they mean. They make me sound more photosynthesis

My MIL says ‘wherefore’ instead of ‘whereas’. ‘I like white wine wherefore Bob has always preferred red’. Afaik wherefore is an old English word meaning why, used famously by Shakespeare in the R and J balcony scene. It’s often misunderstood to mean where but less commonly used in place of whereas. She says it very frequently!

Probably not.

I'm reminded of the Friends episode where Joey grapples with the word 'acrimonious' trying to use it correctly. 'If we wanna catch that movie we'd better get acrimonious... No? Am I getting close?'

Edit: Sorry, accidentally replied to a specific poster when I didn't mean to!

I saw a thread on here earlier where a poster mentioned being on "tenderhooks"