Words and phrases that confused you as a child at school - or am I the only one?

[FortunesFave]

I clearly remember thinking 'what?" whenever the teacher mentioned "The Apparatus" during PE.

I didn't know what apparatus was! This was in primary school. She'd shout to the group of us in the 'big hall' "Don't touch the apparatus!" during the times when we were allowed to run around aimlessly during "PE lessons"

Then there was the mysterious "Cloakroom" I couldn't work out if this was a euphemism for toilets or if they meant the tiny bit of the corridor where we hung our coats.

Still not sure. Was I a lone weirdo who didn't understand basic stuff?

I thought "Arthur Unk-noun" was a very popular writer of hymns. It took me a while before I realised our hymn books actually said author unknown.

I also wondered why we were asking God to shine "the petrol light" on dead people and also how and why we were going to receive lunch from God's bounty.

Catholic school was confusing!

@Sleepyblueocean

At primary school being told not to sit on the radiator (those big wide old fashioned ones) because you would get piles. Piles of what?

I thought it was cold surfaces that gave you piles?

It wasn't sitting on radiators that gave me piles. It was childbirth.

As a child, I was impressed by the number of songs and poems Anon. had composed.
I was well into college before I realised that "Ibid" (Latin, ibidem, the same) meant that the author, having quoted a source once, was quoting from the same work. I passed "O" level Latin, but never joined the dots.

I remember my year 1 teacher shouting at various pupils to apologize and then getting really cross when they refused. I always hoped someone would apologize when told before she asked me to do it so I could find out what it meant!

I went to a C of E primary school, and for quite a long time, I was mystified by the very long nonsense word we all had to say in chorus before lunch:

Forwhatweareabouttoreceivemaythelordmakeustrulythankfulamen

I was only ten when I started at grammar school. (yes, I took the Eleven Plus exam when I was only ten).
During my first maths lesson there the teacher, when demonstrating something from the blackboard, called out “Of course, girls, this is purely diagrammatic”.
I had never before heard this expression and neither had some of my other classmates. I think the mistress in charge of this subject should have known our limitations and explained what “purely diagrammatic” meant to our young minds.

@twoshedsjackson

As a child, I was impressed by the number of songs and poems Anon. had composed. I was well into college before I realised that "Ibid" (Latin, ibidem, the same) meant that the author, having quoted a source once, was quoting from the same work. I passed "O" level Latin, but never joined the dots.

I was a postgrad before I worked out Ibid!

(Though in my defence I never studied Latin)

Graffiti in the loo, with dates written with a T - e.g. 9T8 (ninety eight)

I didnmt understand it and when I did my own little graffiti on my pencil case I wrote 0T0 and 0T1 in 2000 and 2001. I was a bit of a plonker.

@belinda789

I was only ten when I started at grammar school. (yes, I took the Eleven Plus exam when I was only ten). During my first maths lesson there the teacher, when demonstrating something from the blackboard, called out “Of course, girls, this is purely diagrammatic”. I had never before heard this expression and neither had some of my other classmates. I think the mistress in charge of this subject should have known our limitations and explained what “purely diagrammatic” meant to our young minds.

Boasting like a true Belinda 😂

@LadyJaye

2 root 2?

Like 'toddledoo!', like a trumpet?

Oh god. I was clearly completely alone and absolutely nobody else gets it. No wonder the entire class looked at me like I was an idiot...

I got it! Maybe needs to be said in a Scottish accent.

At primary school being told not to sit on the radiator (those big wide old fashioned ones) because you would get piles. Piles of what

In my school it was chilblains.

@iamalighthouse

I don't understand the word "condone" I can't condone that. I never get whether it's good or bad.,even when I look it up. .its a total blind spot

I felt the same about 'opaque' for a long time. It sounds see-through, somehow. It's taken some effort to come to terms with its opposite meaning.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Not at school, but the ‘Dilute to taste’ message on squash bottles.

How daft was that? You didn’t have to dilute it in order to taste it!

It was some years before I realised what they meant by that sort of ‘taste’.

I was today years old when I finally realised what that actually means!

Thought of this thread today - I posted before about never being taught the rules to team sports, but just being expected to know.

I've just recieved an invite to a team building day with work, loads of people, outdoor thing. I have a disability so can't do the more physical things. They've only put me down as the bloody umpire!!!

🤣

I always thought "Away in a manger" meant asleep in a manger

And "away with the fairies" ment asleep and dreaming about fairies