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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

560 replies

Lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 11/11/2020 15:21

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?

OP posts:
Harmarsuperstar · 11/11/2020 15:23

It also means pleasant Smile

GuillermoVanHelsing · 11/11/2020 15:23

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

Lemonsaretheonlyfruit · 11/11/2020 15:25

@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.

OP posts:
PatriciaHolm · 11/11/2020 15:29

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!

Candleabra · 11/11/2020 15:31

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

Candleabra · 11/11/2020 15:32

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

whitershadeofpale · 11/11/2020 15:32

@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 😂
StrawberrySquash · 11/11/2020 15:33

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.

CRbear · 11/11/2020 15:33

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

Melroses · 11/11/2020 15:47

@CRbear

I thought salubrious meant the opposite! A bit seedy/rough!
Me too - probably getting it mixed up with salacious or something.
Melroses · 11/11/2020 15:49

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

JemimaTiggywinkle · 11/11/2020 15:51

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.

Anoisagusaris · 11/11/2020 15:51

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

BobbinThreadbare123 · 11/11/2020 15:52

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

BlueBirdGreenFence · 11/11/2020 15:53

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

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.

AndromedaDud · 11/11/2020 15:54

"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!

MiniDoofa · 11/11/2020 15:54

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 😉

Oreservoir · 11/11/2020 15:55

@Anoisagusaris I'd be mortified to admit that!

feistyoneyouare · 11/11/2020 15:57

@Candleabra

I always think it's weird that flammable and inflammable mean the same thing
Was just about to post the same thing! Grin
ShowOfHands · 11/11/2020 15:57

Very few people use ambivalent correctly.

Imply and infer are often mixed up.

Andante57 · 11/11/2020 15:57

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.

Interestedwoman · 11/11/2020 15:58

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

RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 11/11/2020 15:58

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

DrManhattan · 11/11/2020 15:58

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

TerribleLizard · 11/11/2020 15:59

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

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