To have misunderstood the meaning of this word my whole life?

[Lemonsaretheonlyfruit]

Salubrious.

I always thought it meant luxurious. Turns out it means healthy or health giving. (My 10 year old DS asked me this morning so I looked it up just to double check I was giving him the correct definition!)

Who knew? (Probably everyone apart from me). Any more of these to share?

It also means pleasant

Spendthrift. To me, that should mean a miserly, penny pinching person not some irresponsible cash splasher

@Harmarsuperstar does it? Maybe that's where I got the idea of luxurious from.

@GuillermoVanHelsing yes that's another one that confuses me. Thanks for clarifying.

Well, in relation to a place, salubrious does mean nice/agreeable/pleasant etc. You can refer to, for example "very salubrious surroundings".

For me - iconoclast always sounds as if it should be something to do with being an icon, not to do with attacking them!

I'd always use salubrious about surroundings - ie a nice place or house etc

I always think it's weird that flammable and inflammable mean the same thing

@GuillermoVanHelsing

Spendthrift. To me, that should mean a miserly, penny pinching person not some irresponsible cash splasher

I came on this thread to say the exact same thing 😂

In origin it comes from health, but agree it tends to be used of surroundings. A dodgy pub where you don't feel safe is unsalubrious. I wouldn't make a salubrious dinner.

I thought salubrious meant the opposite! A bit seedy/rough!

@CRbear

I thought salubrious meant the opposite! A bit seedy/rough!

Me too - probably getting it mixed up with salacious or something.

Then there is lagubrious which I thought meant what salubrious now means.

I’ve mainly heard it as “not very salubrious” - which means a bit seedy.

E.g. my dentist is not in a very salubrious location. Meaning it’s down an alleyway with a strip club.

A lot of people on here don’t know the meaning of mortified.

Salubrious means health-giving/healthy, or if it's about a place, it means pleasant.
Insalubrious is the opposite.

I only discovered last year banal doesn't ryhme with canal .

This is why I stopped listening to audio books. Couldn't cope with the embarrassment of how many words I've been pronouncing wrong for years.

"Unctuous" was used all the time to refer to what I assumed was sumptuous, indulgent food - perhaps like those m&s ads with the oozing chocolate fondant.
It means oily/greasy, so I can kind of see why "indulgent" food might be oily but it sounds horrible now!

Bucolic - sounds hideous like an illness to me but actually means “relating to pleasant aspects of countryside life”😂
Not one I have much opportunity to use anyway 😉

@Anoisagusaris I'd be mortified to admit that!

@Candleabra

I always think it's weird that flammable and inflammable mean the same thing

Was just about to post the same thing!

Very few people use ambivalent correctly.

Imply and infer are often mixed up.

Sanction means bother banning and allowing.
Sanctions in South Africa are beginning to bite
I’ve sanctioned the teenagers’ camping trip.

I agree it’s odd about flammable and inflammable.

Apparently that's one meaning, but I think people usually use it to mean pleasant nowadays. I.e 'a salubrious climate' etc.

Ambivalent - I always think is means to not care about something but is actually means to have mixed feelings.

I can't deal with people who say Pacific when they mean specific.

@MiniDoofa I’m with you - bucolic sounds too much like colic and bubonic.