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Words that you thought you knew the meaning of?

M

Mia

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
List here words that you thought you knew the meaning of but were mistaken about:

Boondoggle - Work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value. (Thought it meant something that had been botched or messed up).

Bollixed - The word is often used figuratively in colloquial British English and Hiberno-English as a noun to mean "nonsense." (Because of 'ix' in the word, I thought it meant a group of oxen).

Asterisk - a symbol (*) used to mark printed or written text, typically as a reference to an annotation or to stand for omitted matter. (A bouquet of aster flowers was my interpretation).:rolleyes:
 
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Mia said:
List here words that you thought you knew the meaning of but were mistaken about:

Boondoggle - Work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value. (Thought it meant something that had been botched or messed up).

Bollixed - The word is often used figuratively in colloquial British English and Hiberno-English as a noun to mean "nonsense." (Because of 'ix' in the word, I thought it meant a group of oxen).

Asterix - a symbol (*) used to mark printed or written text, typically as a reference to an annotation or to stand for omitted matter. (A bouquet of nine aster flowers was my interpretation).:rolleyes:
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My take on bollixed. ''He whole thing is bollixed up'

Which can mean broken or messed up.

You can get many variations 'a load of bollocks'. - load of rubbish.

It's one of those words which is used as an expressive sort of swearword to mean anything.
Absolute ********. Rubbish,not good.
The dogs ******** . - very good

One time in South Africa in a posh hotel, we were asked by the waitress what it was.
She had often heard English people say it.

Think of a polite way to say 'testicles'
 
Boondoggle still had some currency in the military but I thought was dying out. It was a easy/useless job that was desirable as being preferrable to actual work. Great for slackers.

I never heard of Bollixed but would have guessed it related to the term Bollocks (meaning Rubbish). But it was only a term I thought I heard in English movies/tv not in USA.

Asterix I knew as a French Cartoon Character. Do you mean Asterisk for the symbol * ?

asterix.webp
 
I say "bollixed up" a lot, meaning mixed up in the wrong way, or messed up.
Thought boondoggle meant a failed & legally questionable venture.
Trying to think of words which I was using incorrectly. Will post some later if I can think of them.

Here's some fun Yiddish words for you :D
fatootsed : puzzled, frustrated, confused is how I interpreted it, but means confused
chutzpah : gall, nerve as in foolishly brave (BTW the c is silent)
mensch : Got this one wrong- thought it was a meek mannered person and it's a person of integrity and honor
 
How many of you know what the meaning of the word "decay" is? Most people think it means rotting of decomposing. It actually means to fade out or fade away.
 
Okeedoke. Guess I'll just put on these big girl britches because Imma fixin to have a hissie fit over all these high falutin' words cause taint no way I kin keep up and not ahankerin to either. :confused::confused::confused::D
I'll just head over yonder a while and sit a spell. Maybe drink me a pop before I start piddlin round the house. If yaint gonna talk plain English I aint gonna lissen.
I thought chutzpah was something a son says to his dad when he's caught doing something wrong and bottom was purchasing items - like I bottom at Walmart. lol
 
here's a little brain teaser.

Did you know that X, horizontal, pan, row and latitude are the same thing? It means going from left to right.

The same thing goes for Y, vertical, tilt, column and longitude. It means going up and down.

And sience we are the subject. Did you know that "grid" and "matrix" are the same thing too.
 
Are we all "pau" with this thread? Thank you for your kokua. Time for me to take my akole to drive in for ono delish bento box.
 
K. On a more serious note - I always thought holler was an area between 2 mountains because I had aunts and uncles that lived down in the holler. Later I learned it means to yell.
 
Tom said:
Asterix I knew as a French Cartoon Character. Do you mean Asterisk for the symbol * ?
Click to expand...

Changed it on the original question. Realizing that it should be asterisk the symbol, rather than asterix the character in the childhood books I read.
 
Dude. I thought it just meant "guy", but it apparently refers to a male person from the city, a 'city slicker'. In the USA there are places called 'dude ranches' where people from the city can go to experience cowboy, ranch life.
 
Pats said:
K. On a more serious note - I always thought holler was an area between 2 mountains because I had aunts and uncles that lived down in the holler. Later I learned it means to yell.
Click to expand...
In the Ozarks it means both due to the local way of speaking.
"They live in the holler between the razor backs."
"If you need me, just holler."
"Did ya know the weeder's daughter wrenched the clothes in the crick then hung them over the cheers and
in the winder? I never seed such a mess. Ever heerd such a thing befur? 'Nuff to make ya want to
chaw yer backer and whittle a spell."

You need a dictionary if you've never visited that area before and are a city slicker. :)

Isn't that just the cat's meow or it the cat's pajamas?
 
SusanLR said:
In the Ozarks it means both due to the local way of speaking.
"They live in the holler between the razor backs."
"If you need me, just holler."
"Did ya know the weeder's daughter wrenched the clothes in the crick then hung them over the cheers and
in the winder? I never seed such a mess. Ever heerd such a thing befur? 'Nuff to make ya want to
chaw yer backer and whittle a spell."

You need a dictionary if you've never visited that area before and are a city slicker. :)

Isn't that just the cat's meow or it the cat's pajamas?
Click to expand...
Picked some maters fer ya.
Is it bad that I understood everything you said? lol
 
I understand all of the southern-speak, too. Holler can mean empty inside: The owl lived in the tree holler.
Testicles can be called mountain oysters and cowboy fries. When our son was about 6 years old on a ferry ride in the ocean, he told me that he saw a huge octopus with long testicles in the water. Took me a moment to realize he meant tentacles, LOL.

One of my southern favorites: Jeet yet?
 
Mary Terry said:
I understand all of the southern-speak, too. Holler can mean empty inside: The owl lived in the tree holler.
Testicles can be called mountain oysters and cowboy fries. When our son was about 6 years old on a ferry ride in the ocean, he told me that he saw a huge octopus with long testicles in the water. Took me a moment to realize he meant tentacles, LOL.

One of my southern favorites: Jeet yet?
Click to expand...
I like the 'child' talk. :) Especially 4-6 year olds. It took us a while to figure out when my grandson kept saying his mountain hurt that he was talking about his heel (hill). So, if we want new terminology, just hang out with kids. lol
 
Pats said:
I like the 'child' talk. :) Especially 4-6 year olds. It took us a while to figure out when my grandson kept saying his mountain hurt that he was talking about his heel (hill). So, if we want new terminology, just hang out with kids. lol
Click to expand...

Kids can be hilarious. One of my daughters decided to make horse doovers for me one afternoon. She meant hors d'oeuvres, which we call horse doovers to this day. My son named his male anatomy his "little man" when he was about 3 years old. We have no idea where he got that idea, husband says he didn't teach him that. This is the son who tried to make cheese toast on his bedside lamp light bulb one night while I was cooking dinner and wouldn't let him have a snack. We're lucky the house didn't burn down from the melted American cheese slices running down the lamp bulb. Burnt cheese smoke throughout the house! :rolleyes:
 
Pats said:
Is it bad that I understood everything you said? lol
Click to expand...
Nope.
Unless you've lived in the sections that use these pronunciations though, a lot of people don't
understand what's being said.
I"ve seen tourist stands sell the little "Hillbilly Dictionary."
One I never knew where the term came from was Quiltin' B.
If you know the origin, I'm curious.

A common word I use is "Ducky." Don't know where I picked that one up.
No one I grew up with used it. Isn't that just Ducky? :confused:

I love maters and I'll trade ya some taters!
 
Bean.
That reminds me of a friend that says "Cool Beans" everytime he has something good happen or
I speak of something good happening that he likes. He is British.
Never ask where that term comes from either. Maybe the bean you spoke of.
A good accomplishment? Interesting.
 
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I have always had issues with the meaning of Yes and No.
I have always seen them as more of a agreement or disagreement, witch have caused problems where I use the wrong word in responses.

Another small one would be commas in written text.
 
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