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?

I had a partner who used 'droll' to mean dull, unpleasant , something to avoid ...I did try and tell them it didnt mean that ..reader ,I too became something 'droll'..

@BlueBirdGreenFence banal definitely does rhyme with canal

DrManhattan you need to confuse them by talking about the specific ocean

I agree banal does rhyme with canal

@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.

Banal/canal do rhythm 👍

I'd say 'canal' with an AL at the end, and 'banal' with an 'arl' at the end so I think they don't rhyme

@ginandbearit sounds like droll has been the victim of understatement. You often hear it used sarcastically ‘how very droll’ etc, but the meaning conveyed is the opposite. I think I’ve mainly heard it used in an understated sarcastic manner and hardly ever earnestly

Ah, someone has already said unctuous which is mine!

I don't rhyme banal with canal. I say ba- naaal with the a like the second a in banana, and can-AL, with the second a like the a in apple.

My word is livid. I always think of it as being a red colour and it is actually blue grey. Puce on the other hand I think of as white grey and is actually purple.

I always thought sight for sore eyes meant you looked awful / horrifying.

@parietal

I'd say 'canal' with an AL at the end, and 'banal' with an 'arl' at the end so I think they don't rhyme

Agree, trying to work out how anyone could think they rhyme ... (if they've not heard them spoken, obviously, just reading them I get it).

I often see people say ‘disinterested’ when they mean ‘uninterested’. I think people mean the same thing when they don’t.

Uninterested means the opposite of interested.

Disinterested means impartial.

I keep seeing 'regime' used when 'regimen' is meant. I keep imagining some sort of S American junta getting involved with face masks, serums and double cleansing!

I think banal and canal possibly rhyme in an American accent? They don't in mine.

Agree, trying to work out how anyone could think they rhyme ... (if they've not heard them spoken, obviously, just reading them I get it).

(As in trying to say them in my head to make them rhyme, not thinking anyone is daft - it's a well known thing that reading words rather than hearing them often causes mispronunciation.)

@Interestedwoman

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

I've never heard it in that context before.

Isn't language interesting. If it literally means healthy, then its use as a descriptor of living quarters makes sense. I guess the health aspect of houses isn't thankfully as much of an issue these days as standard if living is so much higher, and the term salubrious now means nice as well as just healthy.

My word is livid. I always think of it as being a red colour and it is actually blue grey. Puce on the other hand I think of as white grey and is actually purple.

I am absolutely livid that I didn't even realise livid was a colour

(But of course yes it should be an angry-red type colour).

Fulsome seems to have fallen into misuse.

Fulsome praise was never a good thing.

@CRbear

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

So did I! I have a good vocabulary but occasionally find I'm very very wrong...

I used to get prevaricate and procrastinate mixed up.

Banal doesn't really rhyme with canal, at least in my accent (southern/RP English) - banal is more ba-nahl, sort of.

Whereas canal is can-al.

@TheDowagerDuchess

I agree banal does rhyme with canal

buh/naal is how UK English pronounces banal.

I remember being told on a journalism course not to use pristine as an adjective meaning "spotless", as it actually means "primeval, not corrupted by civilization" - so you could have a pristine landscape, unspoilt by development, but you are unlikely to have a pristine living room. I think the meaning has changed now though as so many people use it to mean spotless, that is what it has come to mean.

@ChessieFL

I often see people say ‘disinterested’ when they mean ‘uninterested’. I think people mean the same thing when they don’t.

Uninterested means the opposite of interested.

Disinterested means impartial.

It does, though it started off meaning uninterested back in the 1600s. Modern usage of the word disinterested to mean not interested means it's come full circle.

@thistimelastweek

Fulsome seems to have fallen into misuse. Fulsome praise was never a good thing.

JK Rowling misuses fulsome in her latest Strike book. It made me wince.