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?

@SoupDragon
They rhyme in my Irish accent at least.

I’m Scottish and It rhymes. Not sure what accent Oxford English Dictionary uses but on the link I shared where the words are spoken it also rhymes..

spade a spade

I know that this was originally used to mean that you didn't mince your words, and said it as it is - a spade is a spade not a long handled digging implement etc.

But it came from cards, where the spades are black and I am pretty sure it was used as a racial slurr, probably in the same group as 'black as the ace of spades' which was also around.

I know that some people still object to it as it has that connection.

fastidious as well as meaning good at all the details. I have always understood this to be quite negative and have the connection too to being overly clean.
Hercule Poirot was fastidious, fussy and annoying over unimportant little things etc.

Some Irish, some Scottish, alot of Northern accents then canal and banal do rhyme

Scottish does it by making both of them having an extension on the second syllable but not as long as the South East second syllable of banal

My partners name is 2 syllable, kala

In southern England most people reading it call her karla, in Scotland Ireland and extensively in the North of England people pronounce it ka la or kalluh

Purposely and purposefully are used incorrectly often. Usually the difference between on purpose and with purpose having been misunderstood.

Re-reading Jane Austen, it's funny to think that 'nice' has completely changed meaning. A character says (can't remember who at the moment, think it was Mr Woodhouse in Emma) "Oh, but I am nice" meaning something like annoying or nitpicky (another great word!).

[quote LizzieAnt]@SoupDragon
They rhyme in my Irish accent at least.[/quote]
Yes, in my dodgy fake Irish accent I can "hear" that. Thank you!

@cateycloggs

I always thought that diaphonous meant fabric that was floaty in an attractive, romantic way. I only realised it means transparent after a friend had remarked on my diaphonous skirt at the beginning of an outing on a very hot summer's day and all was later revealed by strong sunlight when we were miles from home with no covering. I did not have the legs or figure of Lady Diana Spencer who was sinilarly caught out about that time. (The friend had not told me the correct meaning.)

I was feeling quite smug on this thread until now . I thought the same as you!

@ShowOfHands

Purposely and purposefully are used incorrectly often. Usually the difference between on purpose and with purpose having been misunderstood.

My DSes do this all the time! I can't get them to understand the difference.

@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.

It does!

Sometimes audiobooks mangle English
Detritus
Copse
And loads more often mispronounced

@WonderMoon, 'boxers' is short for boxer shorts. It came about because they were the same shapeas the shorts boxers wore, as opposed to Y fronts, or briefs.

In my accent banal and canal don't rhyme. I knew what Salubrious meant because of watching Plebs and growing up watching roman stuff. Monty Don uses bucolic. I think these things depend on what you watch/read. I did have a tutor who used pedantic completely wrong, she confused it with blunt.

Abstruse and obtuse.
I do know the difference but have to pause for a bit first!
www.dailywritingtips.com/abstruse-vs-obtuse/

@Candleabra

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

That's why in critical places "FLAMMABLE" is used, in case someone thinks "inflammable" means not flammable.

That's why in critical places "FLAMMABLE" is used, in case someone thinks "inflammable" means not flammable.

I still cringe at using the word Docile in a conversation with a friend regarding her son. What I meant by that was that he was calm, easygoing, sweet and lovely, however she took huge offence and tore a strip of me for insinuating that he wasn’t very bright. I still don’t know what the word really means and I don’t use it any more

Unique gets used way more than it should. It's meaning is there is only one in existence, but far too many people use it to say something is rare.
There are no degrees of unique, it's either unique or it's not. It is wrong to say something is rather or very unique

@jennieflower I'd say you were both wrong - I'm sure that doesn't help. Docile means quiet, but in the sense of easily controlled, or compliant. It doesn't mean stupid for sure, but not really sweet either.

@purplebunny2012

Unique gets used way more than it should. It's meaning is there is only one in existence, but far too many people use it to say something is rare. There are no degrees of unique, it's either unique or it's not. It is wrong to say something is rather or very unique

You are Simon Fisher and I claim my £5 (I completely agree that "One cannot have gradations of uniqueness; one either is or is not unique")

it drives me nuts when people use 'myself' (reflexive) instead of 'me'
and
how people use 'obviously' incorrectly all the time--especially young people

@MiniDoofa

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 😉

I had a headteacher who said "You'' have to excuse me, I'm feeling a bit bucolic today" He meant 'hungover' but I amused myself with an image of him gambolling around in a flowery meadow.

It’s a saying rather than a word, but I’ve just spotted ‘damp squid’ on another thread. That one always makes me laugh. You can’t really have a dry squid can you?!

Banal & canal are pronounced the same

Oh, and I frequently pronounce banal to rhyme with anal AS A JOKE.
Nobody gets it.....