As I drove to Brookings this week I heard MPR play a recording by Van Cliburn. I remembered my confusion, as a child, regarding his name. I could never figure out why no one ever mentioned his first name. My confusion stemmed from growing up in an area heavily populated by Dutch immigrants. There were Vanden Hoeks, Van Neuenhuizens, Van Roekels, etc, so I thought Van Cliburn was his full last name. Imagine my surprise when I realized Van was his first name and he wasn’t Dutch!
This memory triggered another language based misunderstanding regarding Offenbach. In one of my first piano books I had a very simple piece written by Offenbach, but I didn’t know that was a formal name. I thought it was a German word that meant that you had to stand up when you played the piece, getting “Off the bench or off your backside”. I remember my piano teacher trying not to laugh when I explained my reasoning for why I stood up to play the piece.
A few weeks ago I was complaining to my daughter in law about my dislike for my exercise class, but how it was helping me improve my strength and stamina. Grandson was eying the Tylenol bottle at the time, and asked why, if I took Tylenol and it said “extra strength” did I even go to my class, since the Tylenol would give me extra strength. We explained it was the Tylenol that was strong, but it didn’t make me strong.
I think my favorite childhood misunderstanding was that held by a good friend from college. He was an accomplished oboe player from a small town in Eastern ND. The summer after he graduated from high school he travelled to Europe with a concert band from the International Music Camp (located on the ND/Canadian border). They played a concert in Washington, DC before heading overseas. He told me his confusion hearing the length of time the flight to Europe would take from DC, because it seemed so short, and his embarrassment realizing that his entire life he thought Washington, DC was in Washington State, hence the shorter travel time!
Any memorable childhood misunderstandings?
Trail Baboon 
Because I married a woman from West Michigan (I’m from Los Angeles), when retirement drew near, we landed in Holland, MI. During our first year here, I was getting used to various “Dutch-inflected” surnames. Sometimes there was confusion. Like at a restaurant popular with older folks that had a sign near some parking places that read “Van Accessible”, and a furniture store named after the owner, “Art Van Furniture”. Eventually I sorted that out.
LikeLiked by 5 people
I’m sure there were many but the one that stands out in my mind is kleig (sp?) lights. When I was growing up, every now and then someone would have kleig lights going either the opening of a new movie or a big sale on their car lot where they wanted to attract attention at night. I was not a big UFO gal or into aliens or spaceships when I was a kid, but for some reason, I absolutely thought when I saw kleig lights in the sky that it was alien spaceships coming to land. And it wasn’t a frightful thing, it seemed like an ordinary occurrence to me. Very weird looking back on it. And of course I haven’t seen kleig lights for decades now. Do people even do these anymore? Maybe in Hollywood?
LikeLiked by 3 people
I hadn’t thought about it but you’re right. You never see those searchlights any more. Also sky writers. When I was young we frequently would see planes writing messages. Here in the Twin Cities it was often SKOL written in four sides of a square for SKOL liquor store (I assume).
The other day I was driving and wondered what the outside temperature was. That’s when I realized that most of the bank and insurance company signs that displayed time and temperature have disappeared. I wonder why? They used to be commonplace.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The Mdewaketon Dakota community still has the light tepee that they project into the sky with similar lights that that shoot upward. We can see it from our house. I think the disappearance of klieg lights has something to do with light pollution.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I agree. That kind of lighting is very confusing to birds migrating by night, and many other nocturnal animals.
LikeLike
Oh, I love the Extra Strength Tylenol one, Renee! Would that you could just take a pill…
I hope other comments here will remind me of some specifics. What I can recall right now is more of a mondogreen (Barb in Blackhoof did a guest post on these WAY back) – mis-heard lyrics.
At Sunday School a song we sang: instead of “God is love”, I was singing “got his glove”…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Rise and Shine, Baboons,
My dad had a form of very disabling MS that left his right side weak and unusable. He had always preferred using the right hand so this was a terrible loss. He was also sly about politics, refusing to argue with Republicans, especially my uncle and my grandfather. But he would always refer to “my Republican right hand.” In other words his right hand was useless and he considered Republicans to be the same. It was a signal to these politics-obsessed guys to not cross a line.
As a kid, I did not get his insult….but now I love it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not my own misunderstanding, but in my first year of teaching Kindergarten, Philip asked me one day “Where do you sleep?” He apparently thought I lived there! I was there when he arrived, when he left… where else would I go??
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was, and I still am, confused about the pronunciation of some words at times. I become confused about which syllable should be given emphasis in some words. I guess it’s because I read more than I hear those words pronounced. I always love it when I hear someone pronounce a word that I was never certain about. (Oh, that’s how that’s pronounced!) I guess I should just go grab the dictionary more often. I have used the online dictionaries, some of which have a sound link so that you can hear the word pronounced.
I’ve tried to learn a little Dakota and Ojibwe. Many Ojibwe words are long and can mean slightly different things with the addition or subtraction of just one letter. They don’t place emphasis on any syllable – I don’t know if they even use that form. They just pronounce one long word with no emphasis. That one long word can mean a whole sentence.
I know I have been confused about many things, but right now nothing is coming to me.
LikeLike