Words that puzzled me as a kid...

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Does anyone else remember wondering what a word meant the first time they heard it??

One that stands out in my mind is: VEGETARIAN

I first heard this word in 1st grade when the teacher asked me what kind of soup I wanted for lunch. I said, "Chicken Noodle." Teacher: "We don't eat that here." Me: "Vegetable Beef." "We don't eat that either." By this time I'm wondering just what do they eat? So I said, "what do you have?" "Vegetarian vegetable or Tomato." Not knowing what sort of animal a vegetarian was, little 6-yr-old Pam said, "Tomato."

[cricket]

I can't remember any word that puzzled me--though I'm sure there were many. I do remember my daughter once telling me that she couldn't find her "Ory" book. We were going to a piano lesson and she had two books to bring. One says "Practice" and the other one was her "Ory" book. I was puzzled when she kept telling me she couldn't go because she couldn't find the Ory book. When she finally did find it, I looked at the cover and it read, "Theory."

Ironically, her reasoning was theoretically sound!

[LynnDel]

Reading the Bible at about age 7 for worship and coming across the word Egypt, pronounced Egg-wiped. No one else knew what I was talking about. Neither did I. Mom grabbed the Bible and looked to see what I was reading so confidently. She was rolling on the sofa laughing for quite some time.

LD

[Kevin H]

Not a word, but the tongue played a major part in this. Although in an Adventist home, we lived a long distance from church and did eat the clean meats. On my first visit to California at age 4 my aunt prepared for us a hot dog. At that time all vegimeats tasted the same, like what is today sold as say Protos and another term I can't think of right now. Only the shape was different.

As I bit into it and the molecules exploded on my taste-buds, I went through an experience that was seared in my memory, and today if I ever see the shade of pink that those vegi-hot dogs were I still get nauseous.

[joeb]

I didn't have any words that puzzled me in the sense rudywoofs is talking about, but I remember going to church and wondering why every time after the pastor asked for a hand vote he would say Mrs. Carrie. The Carrie's were friends of my parents so I was really curious why Mrs. Carrie was involved with the outcome of votes.

After 4th or 5th time it happened I finally asked my mom, in a whisper just after another vote, what Mrs. Carrie had to do with all these votes. She LOLed right in church. Then she told me that pastor was saying "It is carried", and that meant the the church approved of what they had just voted on.

I got razzed for that for years.

[Naomi]

Mother read the story of "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." I was preschool age and thought this was a really cool story.

At SS the teacher asked about our week, with great enthusiasm I told her this great story of Shadrack, Mesack & tobedwego. She repeated it correctly and I corrected her! The older kids began to laugh and I thought they were all a bit confused.

To this day, when I hear the story I always think of Shadrach Meshach and TO-BED-We-GO and have to smile. (After all I know their real names)

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

LOLOL these are great stories!!!

[Lauralea]

I used to think hors d'oeuvres were a separate different thing from orderves, which I had heard spoken. I also thought milk came from that tube-looking thing on the middle of Elsie the cow's forehead. I was about 7 when I met a real cow and her calf at my Grandma's farm- to my defense, I grew up in Brooklyn, and while we did have trees, I do not recall any cows there.

[olger]

I ate some of them hors doovers once't.

Wasn't as bad as I thought..

[Gordon1]

I ate some of them hors doovers once't.

Wasn't as bad as I thought..

I think you meant to say you hoovered some donuts.

[olger]

[joeb]

I just remembered another story about a word that had me bamboozled for a short time.

I did a lot of reading from the 3rd grade on up. One of the books I read as a 3rd grader was a biography of Jim Thorpe, probably the greatest American Indian athlete to ever live, and maybe the greatest athlete, period.

After I got done reading it I was telling my older brother about it and I said Jim Thorpe had gotten sick with penomia. He looked at me, and gave me a, HUH?. Then he said there's no such thing. I said, Yes there is. He said show it to me, so I did. He cracked up laughing and said, that's pneumonia. I said, HUH? That word starts with a "pn". Then he told me the "p" was silent. I didn't believe him as he was always messing with me so I went and asked my mom. She agreed with him....

Probably my most embarrasing moment ever associated with reading.