To have completely misunderstood the meaning of some sayings?

[KermitTheToad]

I only found out today that the term Social Butterfly refers to someone who is outgoing and loves social events. I thought it meant you didn't like social events, as in you would fly away and avoid them. I also until recently thought that a Spendthrift is somebody who is frugal in their spending. I assumed that as thrifty meant not being wasteful, that Spendthrift meant being careful in what you spent.
YANBU..I see where you are coming from.
YABU.. You are a wally, go back to school!

It’s a bit confusing in the OP but she has explained her interpretation twice without explaining what a spendthrift is. On first reading it looks as if OP if providing a definition and her interpretation, but she isn’t.

Someone who spends their thrift.
A lot of these misunderstandings in my mind, comes from people who don't' enjoy reading. Reading is essential to understand words and sayings and their meanings, from a young age into adulthood.

Yes!! My friend says mute! also says "pedal stool" as in put them on a pedestal 😳

I have heard (though my French is awful so I can't verify) that the petard explosive device got it's name from the old French word, petar, for fart. I hope it's true because I childishly find it amusing.

The bomsitit one is interesting. I had not heard it before but it seems fairly common from this thread. I get what people are saying, that it doesn't make sense as a truncated word for "it is like a bomb has hit it" because it misses out too many words but that is sometimes how expressions evolve. For example the more recent "imma" which is used in place of "I am going to" (not just "I am" as some people think). So when Kanye said to Taylor Swift "Imma let you finish" he meant "I am going to let you finish" not "I am finish" which makes no sense.

Edited because I made a hash of that one myself!

Sanction is a funny word. I’d get confused about it when younger as it has two opposite meanings depending on the context.

Your friend was wrong. It’s an expression that’s been around for a very long time.

My sister (who is really quite clever) confessed that for years she thought "air strikes" meant that there would be no wartime bombing because the pilots has refused to fly. Rather than that a region was in fact being struck by bombs from the air.

"You can't have your cake and eat it" is another common misquote which doesn't make sense. Of course you have to have (possess) the cake in order to eat it. In fact the correct expression is "you cannot eat your cake and have it too". In other words if you choose to eat your cake you will no longer possess it, because it's gone.

Aha, my husband has a MN account after all! He says this every single time he hears the word used.

One of the much discussed phrases on this thread would be a lot clearer with an added comma. A friend, in need, is a friend indeed.

It's very rare indeed to see 'deceptively' used correctly by estate agents. 'Deceptively spacious' does not mean what they think it does.

😢😢

I’m confused by this one too. The proof is how good it is when it’s cooked. It means you make your plan (or pudding) and have to wait to see if it’s successful.

Also proving bread is about letting the yeast ferment, not testing it.

I think it does? It is spacious, but in a way that you night initially think it isn't - ie you would be deceived as to the true nature of it.

Having looked it up on wiktionary, examples are given for the usage meaning 'actually but not apparently' AND 'apparently but not actually'. So it's been confused for a very long time!

Incorrect i'm afraid.

"A friend in need" is someone who is your friend in your time of need. It literally means a friend who helps you in tough times is a true friend.

Do you think that's where 'being a pussy' came from?

At least she knows the full phrase, I keep hearing people on TV saying, the proof is in the pudding - which makes no sense.

nope, thrifty mans frugal, thrift meant wealth, as a couple of us explained upthread.
similar words, different meanings.

Pusillanimous always reminds me of Richard Burton calling his girlfriend Lady Pusillanimous in Look Back in Anger!

Thank you. I never understood that saying and like you interpreted it sarcastically.

Emasculate - the e- prefix means 'out' and so the word means to remove the masculinity from someone. Nowadays I expect people mostly think of e- as a prefix for an electronic version of something, i.e. better, quicker, more modern.

My DH always thought that when instructions on a tube of cream said apply liberally you had to use very little and when it said use sparingly you smothered it on 🤦‍♀️.

Ive always struggled with ‘lucked out’. I assumed it meant you lost out, missed out, out of luck type of thing but it seems it means the opposite. That makes no sense to me 🤣

It means what you first thought, not your friend's theory.

I once saw a sign that said CAUTION HEAVY
PLANT crossing.

Strictly speaking, 'epicentre' is the point directly above the centre of something, like an earthquake. So it's actually not the strongest point where the original disturbance is. (The 'epi' prefix means the top or outer bit, as in epidermis - the top layer of skin.) In that way, you couldn't have an epicentre of a drug trade. But, like many words, it's changed meaning over time so we think if it as the centre of almost anything bad.

You don’t really see ‘thrift’ as a standalone noun any more (except perhaps in ‘thrift shop) only ‘thrifty’, but it meant wealth/money/resources, so a spendthrift was a spender of those, rather than someone who nurtured them.

An ex SiL of mine was such an extreme spendthrift that a relative cut the BiL out of her will, so that SiL wouldn’t get her hands on any of her money to waste!

But by the time she died they were divorced, and dh and other BiLs had their brother reinstated.

Thrift means being careful with your money. It doesn't mean wealth (though you might get wealthy by being thrifty). Or did you mean that thrift used to mean wealth? I can't find the comment you referred to.

As a child I wondered for ages why bottles or orange squash said ‘Dilute to taste’. How daft! You didn’t need to dilute it to taste it! 😂