Do you ever have words that mean just opposite of what you think they should mean? Words that you may have either learned the definition wrong when you were a kid and it's still backwards in your mind? Or maybe they just sound like they should mean something else? I have a few of them, and here they are and what they mean.
Amateur - to me it should mean "expert". It sounds like something fancy, something good. And when you put the appropriate French accent on it, it sounds like something quite fabulous and amazing.
Benign/malignant - these are tricky for me. Benign sounds boring and mundane (which it is) but I've always been confused. To me, as a kid, malignant rhymed with stagnant, and so then I'd put them in the same category. I knew that benign was pretty much the opposite, so then thought that benign was the bad guy and malignant the good. (As a kid hearing adults discuss people's health issues). I still get them mixed up.
Literally - This word messes me up still also, due to a misinterpretation as a child. I always got it mixed up with "literary" so in my mind, it meant the same thing. Still today, when I hear someone say "literally", I think they are talking about a hypothetical situation, such as one might find in a book. I usually think that they are over-exaggerating whatever it is they are talking about, and that whatever it is they are telling me really never happened quite the way it's said. A sentence such as, "I literally ate the whole box of chocolates" would be interpreted in my mind to say "I felt like I ate the whole box of chocolates" rather than "I can't believe I really did eat the whole box of chocolates". It gives the benefit of the doubt in many cases, so actually improves some situations, but is a detriment in others!
Lucid - I don't think I knew what this word even meant until nursing school. To me it should mean "loopy" or "out there". Not what it does mean which is, "Showing ability to think clearly, esp. in the intervals between periods of confusion or insanity." Or maybe it's that most people who are described as lucid are generally confused; I didn't know which it was, the sane or insane part!
That's all I can think of for now. Do you have any words that you always get mixed up? Or don't mean what you think they should? Please share!
Lucid - I don't think I knew what this word even meant until nursing school. To me it should mean "loopy" or "out there". Not what it does mean which is, "Showing ability to think clearly, esp. in the intervals between periods of confusion or insanity." Or maybe it's that most people who are described as lucid are generally confused; I didn't know which it was, the sane or insane part!
That's all I can think of for now. Do you have any words that you always get mixed up? Or don't mean what you think they should? Please share!
