Things you have misheard or misread

[Chris S]

My form teacher read out a list of pupils who would be starting in the new academic year. When he said 'Charlie Farley' everybody burst out laughing. He had actually said 'Sharif Ali'.

 

[bruce1530]

I read a lot when I was a kid and often got pronunciation wrong for words I'd never heard before.

I like Chic Murray's story about his childhood pal, "Gooey".

Apparently the chap's name was "Guy", his parents had seen the name in a magazine or book and liked it, but had never heard it spoken....

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Being a young rail enthusiast, there were a few I'd misread.

1. I would read of accidents and there was one in 1975 at a place with a very odd name indeed!

'Nunerton'... 'Nuneton'... 'Nuneantion'?

Turns out it was Nuneaton.*

2. In the magazines, they used to use the word

'Adjacent'

A lot for a while when describing things in photo captions.
I always read it as

'Adjanct'

I'd never seen nor (knowingly) heard the word before.

3. Then there was the class 86 that was named after the founder of Wolverhampton

'Woofla'

Turns out is was

'Wulfruna'.

The word was obviously so alien to me that I just made up my own 'Woofla' name instead, a bit like Adjacent and Nuneaton. 😆

4. The biggest rival for a while to Hornby was Lima and the models were made in

'Vaysenza, Italy'

With the 'ay' sounding like 'eye'

It was 'Vicenza'.



* - One of the locos involved at Nuneaton was 86242, named 'James Kennedy G.C.'.
I thought it was named after JFK!

There was a class 25 named 'Mercury' and I thought it was named after Freddie. There was also one called Sybilla, which I naturally assumed was Cybil Fawlty.

Oh and there was also D827, 'Kelly'. I thought it was the girlfriend/wife of the person in over all charge and not HMS Kelly, named after Admiral Kelly.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I heard the word "canoes" before i heard "volcanoes".

Yup. Still do in my head.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I heard the word "canoes" before i heard "volcanoes".

Yup. Still do in my head.

Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by a Canoe?

Sounds plausible! 😆

 

[Drago]

My Grandad was a bit hard of hearing and ended up fighting in WW2 quite by accident after hearing "we're off to give the nun a good licking."

 

[roley poley]

i can remember an announcer on radio 4 announcing the disaster on the zebrugger ferry with the spoonerism of cross flannel cherry

 

[Rusty Nails]

Years ago my wife was very ill during her treatment for leukaemia and spent some time in a coma. When she came around she couldn't speak very clearly because she had been on a ventilator and I thought she was saying "I want a comb". I thought it a bit strange and asked her was she sure and, to placate her, said I would bring one in next visit. She kept saying it, getting more forceful so I asked her nurse could she help...she listened and said that my wife was saying "I want to go home". As a result of the chemo she had lost her hair.

We can laugh about it now, but she has never let me forget it.

 

[oldwheels]

I like Chic Murray's story about his childhood pal, "Gooey".

Apparently the chap's name was "Guy", his parents had seen the name in a magazine or book and liked it, but had never heard it spoken....

When my wife was a teacher she claimed that happened to the infant teacher on enrolment in her school in Clydebank in about 1960 or thereabouts.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I used to read the "funnies" in the newspaper with my grandad. One cartoon had us both puzzled about what "car eight" was. It was obviously some kind of fighting.

I mean, how would you pronounce karate if not "car eight"

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

i can remember an announcer on radio 4 announcing the disaster on the zebrugger ferry with the spoonerism of cross flannel cherry

For years I thought it was the

'Heralda Free Enterprise'

When my wife was a teacher she claimed that happened to the infant teacher on enrolment in her school in Clydebank in about 1960 or thereabouts.

I'd want to get out if I was in Clydebank too!

I used to read the "funnies" in the newspaper with my grandad. One cartoon had us both puzzled about what "car eight" was. It was obviously some kind of fighting.

I mean, how would you pronounce karate if not "car eight"

That is like in Bill And Ted where they meet 'So Crates'

 

[FishFright]

Golden Brown and the

'Manshirons'

Still no idea what they are saying. 🤔

I used to hear that too but I believe " mind she runs "

 

[Drago]

The song I Don't Like Mondays.

I was only ten, and what with the accent I thought Bob Geldof was singing about, "the silicon chips in cider heads." I spent most of my teens wondering what a cider head was.

 

[DRM]

The song I Don't Like Mondays.

I was only ten, and what with the accent I thought Bob Geldof was singing about, "the silicon chips in cider heads." I spent most of my teens wondering what a cider head was.

Aren’t they usually found on a park bench?
The Kenny Roger’s one always got me thinking “ You picked a fine time to to leave me Lucille, four hundred children had a cr#p in the field”

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

The song I Don't Like Mondays.

I was only ten, and what with the accent I thought Bob Geldof was singing about, "the silicon chips in cider heads." I spent most of my teens wondering what a cider head was.

Go down the nearest pub, you'll find loads!