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?

@deeplybaffled

Not quite the same but I’ve always loved the idea of “purpose built flats” as it makes me imagine somewhere that there might be accidentally built ones. Maybe by a builder who’d had a few too many the night before.

I would think it's to distinguish them from huge buildings - mansions, etc, divided up into flats at a later date. I do like the idea of accidental flats, though.

@amicissimma

I'm intrigued by the banal/canal thing.

Are people who think they rhyme pronouncing them:
ban-al and can-al
or
ban-AHL and can-AHL?

Er, we don’t THINK they rhyme. We know they do. For us.

The former, to answer your question.

@CheetasOnFajitas
Very dodgy mobile service on the moors round here...
We met someone while we were walking who was surprised when one of us mentioned the brackish water (which had soaked through our boots and stained our socks) - how was it salty that far inland? Once back in mobile service, we googled, as far as I remember.

[quote Scarby9]@CheetasOnFajitas
Very dodgy mobile service on the moors round here...
We met someone while we were walking who was surprised when one of us mentioned the brackish water (which had soaked through our boots and stained our socks) - how was it salty that far inland? Once back in mobile service, we googled, as far as I remember.[/quote]
thanks for replying!

@deeplybaffled

Not quite the same but I’ve always loved the idea of “purpose built flats” as it makes me imagine somewhere that there might be accidentally built ones. Maybe by a builder who’d had a few too many the night before.

I love some of these. Haven't got through them all yet!

Can I clarify .. @XingMing (in your opinion) awould you say that saying someone is pedantic is not a world apart from fastidious but pedantic is saying that somebody splits hairs for the sake of being annoying, and fastidious is being exceptionally organised but also has a positive connotation?

Actually I just looked fastidious up. It's really not always a positive thing is it?

[quote LizzieAnt]@MillicentMartha
I say bath like you do then
I love seeing the way language has changed since Austen's time too. Another example is the word unexceptional. in Pride and Prejudice, for example, the women want to make unexceptional marriages. That word would be understood as a negative today, but it was meant in the sense 'can't take exception to'.[/quote]
Being pedantic... are you sure it was 'unexceptional' rather than 'unexceptionable' - the latter still has the meaning you describe.

'Disinterested' is the word in Austen which is unfortunately so often misused nowadays to mean 'uninterested' that it's almost lost its useful meaning - the opposite of being 'an interested party'. But the funniest linguistic shift has to be Darcy violently making love to Lizzie.

@ErrolTheDragon sorry to be pedantic/fastidious but I'm pretty sure that was Mr Elliot in a carriage with Emma. I think there's also something in Mansfield Park along the lines of 'have you met my talented Fanny?' Many sniggers in the classroom about both of those

I only found out recently that the term dulcet tones means having a nice soothing voice

A few time’s it been said to me and I thought they were telling me my voice sounded dull or I was slightly boring them

Brackish = We both thought it meant brownish - the colour of the streams you often get on moorland.

Well, everyday's a school day apparently evidently.

@ErrolTheDragon
Being pedantic... are you sure it was 'unexceptional' rather than 'unexceptionable' - the latter still has the meaning you describe
Oops, yes, I think you're right.

For the longest time, I thought that languish meant lounging about lazily.

@Laplanddreams err so did I until now. What does it mean? I am learning so much from this thread

@ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN

I only found out recently that the term dulcet tones means having a nice soothing voice

A few time’s it been said to me and I thought they were telling me my voice sounded dull or I was slightly boring them

This is hilarious. All those compliments you took offence to, oh dear!

Like the poster upthread with the temp who was insulted by “invaluable”.

I use evidently for when something is very clear. Eg "Sarah is crying in the loo. She is evidently having a really hard time right now, so let's cut her some slack."

Yes, she always thought canal and banal rhymed, till today

Personally, I'm in the "doesn't rhyme" camp but can we all agree though that canal is in no way pronounced to rhyme with "a snail"?

Are you getting languish, get weak or be forced to stay still in prison, and languorous, be pleasantly idle, mixed up?

@BlueBirdGreenFence

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.

Does it not? how is it pronounced then?

The 'bana' in banal is pronounced the same way as the 'bana' in banana. The 'al' at the end of canal is shorter, as in Al Murray!

ban-AAL
can-AL

(Although I don’t know how canal is pronounced in some southern accents.. possible it could rhyme?)

I thought 'boxers' as in, mens boxers were called boxing shorts. It wasn't till my bf (now DH) started laughing and asked my to repeat what I said then corrected me.
I was in my early 20s so abit cringe.

@JemimaTiggywinkle.

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

Open wide and say aaah

@HunkyPunk

The 'bana' in banal is pronounced the same way as the 'bana' in banana. The 'al' at the end of canal is shorter, as in Al Murray!

In your accent. (And mine as it happens)

Can someone tell me what accent they have if they pronounce them to rhyme please?

We've been through all this
There are at least two common pronunciations of banal (and banana) it seems.
Where I am (Ireland) banal rhymes with canal, all short a's (as in apple, or Al). The a's in banana are the same.
However, many in the UK pronounce the second 'a' in banal and banana differently to the second 'a' in canal. Others don't.