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!

Yes. Cleave is another word which has two completely opposite meanings.

One which seems to come up a lot now and hasn’t been mentioned yet is ‘changed tack’ - so many people seem to think it’s ’changed tact’ for some reason

@CaveMum had no idea ‘on your Tod’ was another horse one - v interesting to look up! Poor guy :(

i was guilty of the dance settee mishear but it’s def better than the actual line so I’m keeping it

No, that was my point, edibles, the use of the plural. The "s" has come to mean drugs. Previously the word edible was just that. No plural was used. This is an edible item. This is a weed. This is weed.
You get me bruv?

No, that's not what it means. It's when someone is a friend to you in your time of need, that proves they're a true friend.

Nonplussed always reminds me of duckbilled platypus. Every time I see it written.

It does now. It didn't many centuries ago. https://www.etymonline.com/word/thrift

Lots of words and phrases in English are remnants of a time when a word meant something different from its modern meaning. Nice is one. You still occasionally hear someone, probably a laywer or pedant, use the phrase 'a nice distinction', but 'nice' there means something different from a vague 'that's pleasant enough', which is what most people mean by 'nice' now. It seems to have had a particularly eventful history from the online etymology entry! https://www.etymonline.com/word/nice

thrift originates from the phrase 'to thrive' and means wealth.

thrifty means being careful with money.

They're not the same word and don't have the same meaning.

Well I never! I always thought the same! Because the weather was cold. All on the Russian ships in fur hats breathing onto their gloved hands to keep warm.

I still think 'tender hooks' makes sense, like the S shape hooks butchers hang meet on to tenderize it

Tenterhooks were used to stretch cloth & keep it tense.

How does being nervous equate to being tenderised?

An error / mishearing that I seem to have seen more of recently is saying "step foot" instead of "set foot". It makes sense, but the older phrase is to say "I've never set foot in X " ie never placed your foot inside X.

Have we had "another think coming" / "another thing coming" on this thread yet?

Have we had "another think coming" / "another thing coming" on this thread yet?

Noooooooooo!😂

I remember my dad ranting about the misuse of that years ago. We used to live near a fancy clothes boutique called Hoi Polloi. It made me giggle.

Also trim, as in trim a christmas tree, or trim your hair.

One of my pet hates is people using “10 to the dozen” when they mean the opposite. So they say my heart was going ten to the dozen which would actually be slower. The phrase should be nineteen to the dozen, so more beats and faster.

Great thread btw 😊

Is that not just the same meaning? Is trimming a Christmas tree not just the same as trimming your hair? Cutting bits off?

A girl I used to work with would say phallus, instead of fallacy..

I assume catch was used, in the meaning of "what's the catch?", i.e. the downside. Not sure about why it was number 22.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
Changing horses mid-stream

typo edited

No. Trimming a tree is decorating it i.e. adding trimmings.

Oh, I see. I realise now the second meaning of trim is to decorate.

it’s not a word I would use in that context so took a minute to realise.

It was just a number that the author chose arbitrarily - it just sounded right - to evoke some bureaucratic set of rules: Wikipedia explanation

Did any one else used to put up the trimmings at Christmas?

My mother had a big falling out with a shop because she thought opaque meant semi-transparent/ not quite see through. This meant she ordered the wrong plastic chairs. English is her third language to be fair!

It reflects the insoluble problem in the book. So it had to be two numbers the same that balanced each other as the problem goes back and forth like bouncing off a mirror. If you see what I mean. And the "catch" is the rule that you have no way of getting out of.

From recollection as its a long time since I read it, the catch is if you say you are insane you must be sane. So a pilot can use the rule that he doesn't have to fly if he's insane but if he says he's insane he must be sane to know that, so he has to fly. No solution to that. A Catch 22 situation.

I grew up in a house were a fusspot was a pet wanting loads of attention/fuss or someone worrying excessively.

Apparently it means someone always unhappy - always finding fault who enjoys creating drama.

So supposed it fits my cats.

Interesting one I had after shopping - growing up we show what we bought and get asked if we were all spent out ie all your cash/money had gone. IL area - different part of midlands it's have up spent up ie up to your credit limit - they also inist their versions is correct.