What stupid things have you believed/said/assumed before finding out to your embarrassment you were wrong?

[CookieRookie]

Could do with a laugh today

Here's mine...

1 - I thought a filet mignon was something presented on fire, you know with brandy or something...a flamin yon

2 - I thought rollmops where called roll 'em ups because they're rolled up but I was kind of right with that one.

Not hilarious, though dh did laugh at me til he was nearly sick, but I'm hoping some of you have much better, more embarrassing ones.

But when someone is described as exhibiting "quixotic behaviour" how do you pronounce that?

And to add to the mix, last night I remembered the time when my twenty three year old self argued long and hard with a man from the north east of England, stridently proclaiming to him that County Durham was in Northern Ireland.

< cringe >

Quick-Zaw-tic, BalloonSlayer.

quicks-ottic. I suppose it's been Anglicised. I doubt the Spanish have the expression 'quixotic behaviour' anyway. Although happy to be proved wrong, as, actually, I have no idea!

That's what I thought, Tee.

But why not Kee-hote-ic?

(Mind you I heard Jeremey Paxman pronounce Don Juan as it reads rather than "Don Hwan" and I was but I looked it up and apparently it's OK to say it both ways.)

I have no idea BalloonSlayer. But you would say Don Key-hoe-tay was Quick-zaw-tic!

Gala 'freed from desire' (that classic song) - a dear friend thought the lyrics were 'he's got his tambourine' rather than 'strong beliefs'

Dh thought ham and pork were two different parts of a pig.

It's Wiki, but apparently:

"English speakers generally attempt something close to the modern Spanish pronunciation when saying Quixote (Quijote), as [dɒŋ kiːˈhoʊteɪ], although the traditional English pronunciation /ˈkwɪksət/ or /ˈkwɪksoʊt/ is still sometimes used.

The traditional English rendering is preserved in the pronunciation of the adjectival form quixotic, i.e., /kwɪkˈsoʊtɨk/ or /kwɪkˈsɒtɪk/, the foolishly impractical pursuit of ideals, typically marked with rash and lofty romantic ideals."

oops, sorry about the ASCII code in the middle! It's the phonetics!

Oh, I thought that 'meat' (you ate) and 'muscle' (what makes you move) were two quite seperate things....

I have a lovely image in my mind now of little foals with armbands in the toddler pool, learning how to play water polo

8 months pregnant with ds, in hospital due to itching and polyhydramneous. The lady vicar comes to do visiting rounds. We get talking. I ask her; "Are you from the Catholic church?"

She replies, verrry slowly...

"No dear"

Luna, that reminds me of the time I was talking to a distant family friend who is a priest. He looked at DS and asked if I was married, to which I laughingly replied "oh god no!".

He smirked and said "I think you're getting confused, I'm just his representative"!

reminds me of the time I was talking to a distant family friend who is a priest. He looked at DS and asked if I was married, to which I laughingly replied "oh god no!".

He smirked and said "I think you're getting confused, I'm just his representative"!

My partner delighted in taking the piss out of me for weeks when I told him off for 'Renegading on the deal'.

For youngishbag and bottersnike

I was embarrassingly old before I realised that 'wiggars' not a general term for insects, spiders and all the other things we now call 'mini beasts'. It was just a family term invented by my older brother for things that wiggle.

Pacific Dogwood, are you sure she wasn't saying they make you fart? Cos they do that, you know.

I remember having a very embarrassing event in Trivial Pursuit with friends - the question was "Where is Swallows and Amazons set?". Now, I hadn't read these but my then-BF was a huge fan, because they went to the Norfolk Broads every year on holidays and he said they were to do with that. Like a twat, I had believed him and stood my ground against my (far better educated and had actually read them) team mate who said it was the Lake District. Obviously she was right - still don't know why she let me give my answer

Thumbwitch some of the books in the Swallows and Amazons series were set in the Norfolk broads
here

My (Christian) friend firmly believed Judaism & Christianity were just two branches of the same religion. As in, the Jewish people also worshipped Jesus.

Well that explains that then, Elefant! Thank you. :) I feel a little better (it's been a tiny thorn for nearly 20 years!)

Until about the age of 18 I had no idea what gay men did during sex, I thought they just rubbed their willies together or something. The idea of bumsex never entered my head

Right as we are all fessing up... I was very young when on holiday with family I saw a sign which said Tall Trees Walk and turned to my mother and said "but mummy, trees don't walk".

However it was years and years (at least in my 20's), before I realised what the sign actually meant , I just thought the sign was wrong.

I have had to correct people who say pacifically instead of specifically; I had to explain to one that the Pacific was an ocean and these are business people.

LMAO at bumsex... VERY funny!!!!!!!! :)

thumbwitch, sadly I need no help whatsoever with farting .

Iklboo, well, Jesus was a Jew and ASAIK in Judaism Jesus is seen as a prophet but not worshipped as such. So the two religion share a lot of the same roots albeit Judaism being much much older of course.

frazzle, at bumsex.

Until I investigated how to start a sourdough starter myself I did not realise that sourdough is also made with yeasts. I thought there were doughs that rise with 'yeast' and others that rise with 'sourdough' . I think I learnt that last year, aged 44.

You live, you learn

Pacific I know that bit about Jesus, but my friend thought the two religions were EXACTLY the same, but Judaism followed the Old Testament as well. She thought synagogues had crosses as well as The Star of David.