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!

ExDP was a former English teacher, but he still got the meaning of wherefore (as used in Romeo & Juliet) wrong.

There was another word he used often, and incorrectly; he was always rather over-sensitive about being corrected, so I just let it go, until one day DD started using it in the same incorrect way, having picked it up from him, so I had to tell her, and then him. That was another nail in the coffin of our relationship.

He also insisted it was 'another thing coming' for ages, but eventually conceded he was wrong there too.

One of my dad's school students told him that his pregnant sister was going to hospital "to be seduced". One of the other teachers commented that that had probably already happened.

Not long ago I was listening to a professional talk and the speaker used vinaigrette instead of vignette.

Me.
I am mildly dyslexic and confused weary and wary.

I sent a lot of work emails telling people I was weary of their recommendations because x y z.

My aunty is very proud of her ‘glory hole’ in her home 😂. It’s actually a little cupboard in the hallway where she can throw all the junk she doesn’t want anyone to see. We don’t have the heart to tell her what a glory hole is and why she shouldn’t be boasting about it to people who don’t know her as well as we do.

My husband and I still laugh about some of the things a former boss of mine came out with.

A relative had died and he told me he was concentrating on writing the trilogy (eulogy).

I’d been saying he was an extrovert and he got annoyed because he thought I was saying he was eccentric and he told me he wasn’t strange. It took me a while to realise what he was talking about.

His daughter was heading off to do some voluntary work in Nambia. I asked whether he meant Namibia or The Gambia and he reiterated, several times, it was ‘Nambia’. His daughter later confirmed that she was heading to Namibia.

He was discussing life cover with clients and he told them that the mortality rate in the UK was zero. I explained (afterwards) that he was wrong, and why, and he didn’t believe me. Trust me, people don’t live forever in the UK.

There were loads more examples and you won’t be surprised that he used to say ‘pacific’ instead of ‘specific’.

That’s such an judgemental comment.

I always thought it was Mo-way. Not because I was trying to be sophisticated, but because that’s how Freddie Mercury pronounced it in “Killer Queen”.

Not being a sophisticated 13 year old when the record came out, I had never heard of it and assumed the pronunciation was correct.

My friend kept describing her kids as "ferile" (she meant 'feral') I nipped up (I'm a pedant) everytime she said it, but my people pleasing arse just couldn't muster up the strength to correct her. (And yes, her kids were feral )

I thought it was 'mo-ay' I don't know where the 'w' Is coming from ☺️. Mo-ay sounds better. I'm keeping it. To hell with the education!

Discrete is a synonym for distinct though.

Discreet means careful or quiet and that will be what you are thinking of.

They are both pronounced the same.

Apologies, I meant to quote @Putneydad7 who spelled it with a w. I agree that “Mo-ay” is a closer approximation.

Don't worry, you didn't quote me, I'm just jumping on the bandwagon 😄. I'm a bit peeved that it's not pronounced "mo-ay" 🤭

But glory hole is a legitimate and widely used term for a cupboard or other space used to store miscellaneous stuff... whatever else it may also mean.

That's correct (discrete).

Mortified is the one that really annoys me.

People referring to neurodiversity instead of neurodivergent.

I can't be asked with this thread.

You're a tool

I actually worked at a dictionary for a while. I was not a lexicographer and nearly all staff except me, had language PHDs, I was almost scared to speak as I knew their vocabularies were vastly superior to mine and mines not too bad. I quite often say the wrong word in common phrases. It was a humbling experience as I really was a bumbling fool next to these people 😂

My granddaughter aged 5 told me that she wants to be a pandamedic when she is a grown up …bless her ,she meant a paramedic.My defence is that she was a COVID baby 😊

Or… she wants to be either a paramedic for pandas or a panda who is a paramedic! At 5 either is likely 😂 🐼🐼🐼

I love the idea of a caricature board. 🤣🤣🤣

I put the “w” in otherwise the “et” part made no sense. Mo -et, see? It is of course silent

My lovely colleague says seized when she means ceased (talking about EHCPs). It might just be the way she pronounces it, but I sometimes wonder about telling her but it’s too late now.

Mortified , I heard it used by a family member instead of disappointed.
Also in a tv interview once used numerous times instead of upset.

I was quite concerned that at a local venue I was going to be told off by the hot water…