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!

I know I defo have phrases I was using wrong but I can't remember them now. People saying generally instead of genuinely drives me nuts.

I've probably gone on about this before but there's a MN post that always stuck in my head, about someone's young colleague who thought "three sheets to the wind" meant "really busy" ... telling colleagues/clients he couldn't help them as he was three sheets to the wind!

We also had a long thread recently about spitting feathers (and tangentially, spitting tacks).

OMG, that is priceless!

Spare the rod & spoil the child - I always took that to be an entreaty, not a warning of children growing up to be brats because they weren't routinely walloped

Also one of my favourites i read recently on here, where they thought a petard, as in "hoist by your own petard", was a sort of leotard and it was giving you a wedgie 😂

CurlyhairedAssassin

Near a roundabout where I grew up there's enormous metal irises. As a joke someone put a "heavy plant crossing" sign next to them. It always made my mum laugh driving by. It absolutely terrified me! I always pictured these huge plants coming to life and walking about!

This is why I know that "plant" can mean two things 😁

It’s both- in the parable he goes off and wastes his fortune. Then he returns and welcomed as the golden boy.

I thought that ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ was to do with the Trojan horse, and thought it made no sense as it would have been helpful to look in its mouth and see all the people inside.

Completely agree about spendthrift. It's the absolute opposite of what it sounds like.

Well I’ve just learnt the meaning of spendthrift right now so thank you

😂my understanding is that it refers to the fact that if you were buying a horse you would look at its teeth to age it and not buy it if it was really old, but if someone was just giving you the horse then you wouldn't because it's a free horse.

A spendthrift is the opposite of being thrifty!

Another one who thought spendthrift was the opposite of what it means.

A leotard giving you a wedgie 😂

It actually is another one from the Bible - when Queen Esther's cousin Mordecai had an enemy who made a huge stake to hang him on, and ended up being hung on it himself

This is misheard lyrics meets misheard sayings

When I was a kid I misheard the lyrics to Tomorrow from Annie and thought she said "Betcha Bottom's Honour" not "bet your bottom dollar" so I figured maybe a Bottom was what Americans had instead of Brownies.

@CurlyhairedAssassin me too! Somewhere we used to drive past regularly when I was a child had that sign and I immediately imagined little shop of horrors 🤣 I was about 17 when I found out what it meant and in a weird twist of fate, ended up working for a plant hire company when I graduated…

"Feet of clay" - either "can't run very fast" or "a very grounded person". Quite a surprise to find it was (another) biblical reference to a dream that Daniel interpreted, of an impressive gold statue which hadn't been properly finished at its base. So it means someone once considered great but who turns out to be flawed.

Jo

I always thought the protagonist in a film was the baddie, sounds like it should be, until I realised that was the antagonist (which makes more sense - pro and anti)

Oh, this is amazing!

"I'd love to help you, Beryl, but I just can't manage it - I'm three sheets to the wind!"
"It's ten o'clock in the morning, Derek..."

My pet hate is people referring to 'rest bite' instead of respite.
But then I thought for years that having a poker face meant your face was long and thin and straight like an actual poker so I'm in no position to judge.

You’re right about a ‘spendthrift’ being someone who’s frugal. Love that you thought that about a ‘social butterfly’. My friend’s son thought ‘peace and quiet’ was ‘a piece of quiet’.

It took me years to work out that 'a stitch in time saves nine' meant fixing something small saves you from fixing a bigger hole later. I thought it meant saved as in salvation. Was never sure what was saved though, people? Cats? Breadsticks?

This is exactly what it means. It's the first thing you do when buying a horse as you can age them through their teeth.

Never heard the term spendthrift

My son once told me he didn't need to go outside because his hair was already fresh. He was about 5 though.

*edited to add I'm sorry I quoted someone, didn't mean to.

The plant was called Audrey II I think @CurlyhairedAssassin

My mother always corrects me when I describe a man with rugby player sort of build as ‘stocky’. She says stocky means short & stout. So what is the word for a tall well-built but not overweight man?