(i.e. it's a pun on "I am from the town of Fife, my good fellow" in broad scots)
How shockingly old are you when you now learn that Fife isn't a town?
On the subject of pun-based singer names, Manda Rin dawned on me about six years after I first heard of her. I just thought it was a couple of words, it never occurred to me to say it out loud, or look at the actual two words written down in close proximity.
― ailsa, Thursday, 13 November 2008 00:33 (fifteen years ago) link
what about ari up?
― i am... sasha obama (get bent), Thursday, 13 November 2008 00:45 (fifteen years ago) link
^^ could not make sense of that one until JUST RIGHT NOW
― nabisco, Thursday, 13 November 2008 00:50 (fifteen years ago) link
Wait, what is the Ari Up pun?
― Sundar, Thursday, 13 November 2008 01:14 (fifteen years ago) link
hurry up?
― Jaq, Thursday, 13 November 2008 01:26 (fifteen years ago) link
Aye, in Cockney/estuary English. That's how I've always read it anyway.
― ailsa, Thursday, 13 November 2008 01:29 (fifteen years ago) link
I was about 30 before I realised Adam Ant was a pun, and about 36 before I realised Perry Farrell was also a pun.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:09 (fifteen years ago) link
Adam Ant I realised earlier this year, aged 23. Perry Farrell, I got... right now.
I've known about three of the things mentioned so far. I'm especially clueless when it comes to food. I learned what fondue was a couple of months ago when I didn't know how to draw it in a game of Cranium, which resulted in a lot of disbelieving laughter heading my way.
― Merdeyeux, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:30 (fifteen years ago) link
Perry Farrell ... holee shit. How did that ever escape my notice!?
― Trayce, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:33 (fifteen years ago) link
I remember reading Liz Fraser of the Cocteaus saying she used to believe that goosebump/shiver sensation was her blood changing direction cause that's what someone told her as a kid. I think she believed it right into her teens.
― Trayce, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:34 (fifteen years ago) link
Driving on the I-90 west near Albany a few years ago, I read one of the big green signs over the highway. I turned to my wife and said, "I love the name of that town: 'Sheh-neck-ta-dee'...."
She promptly clued me in to the correct pronunciation.
― collardio gelatinous, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:39 (fifteen years ago) link
Shit, never realised about Perry Farrell. Or the fiance/fiancee thing---I thought they were jsut different attempts to Englishise the same French word without having to use an accent mark. I'm an editor, and have a sinking feeling I may have "corrected" this in other people's work more than once. Fuck.
― James Morrison, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:44 (fifteen years ago) link
It was only last year that I realised Iggy Pop was a pun! For someone who likes to make a lot of lame puns myself, it's pretty shameful.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Iggy Pop? I don't get it!
― Merdeyeux, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:49 (fifteen years ago) link
I was just kidding.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Sorry.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:53 (fifteen years ago) link
That Dr Dean Edell is a man...somehow I heard "Dina Dell" and pictured a woman.
That "La Cucaracha" is about cockroaches.
― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, 13 November 2008 02:54 (fifteen years ago) link
that you can just lift the silverware thing right out of the dishwasher and carry it over to the silverware drawer
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:58 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark
lol, this was such a moment of truth for me.
― Matt P, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:07 (fifteen years ago) link
I used to think that the "people who live in glass houses" expression meant that people who are in the public eye or who are easily seen shouldn't do disgraceful things. I had a big ah-ha moment when it dawned on me.
― Maria :D, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:12 (fifteen years ago) link
I mispronounced segue as "seeg" until about a year ago :/
In my defense, it *is* pronounced that way as a musical term (well, so I've heard anyway) but yeah. Whoops.
Oh also, I thought samhain was said how it's spelt. I dont actually know how it *is* said, I just recently read some ppl scoffing online "omg they said it wrong!" and I was all "errr... oh dear".
― Trayce, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:23 (fifteen years ago) link
I thought Samhain was said how it's spelt too!
I looked it up, apparently it's 'sow-en'? That's the trouble with Gaelic, you just never know...
― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:28 (fifteen years ago) link
Until a couple of years ago I thought 'obtuse' meant abstruse or odd, and that 'fulsome praise' was enthusiastic praise.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:28 (fifteen years ago) link
i used to pronounce hyperbole as "hyper bowl" :( :( until i was in my 20s :( :( :( :(
― thereminimum chips (electricsound), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:29 (fifteen years ago) link
I've heard misusing obtuse is a common one.
I got called obtuse by a very charming anonymous person on this very forum once (via livejournal), and I had to wonder wether they were trying to suggest that I was difficult, or stupid.
I'd much rather the former, obviously.
― Trayce, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Apparently the correct pronunciation of syndrome is so that it rhymes with 'sing to me' - but you'd be a wanker if you pronounced it that way.
The way people use 'obtuse' and 'fulsome' these days indicates that the word itself is changing meaning. Sitll, it's a shock when you find out how these words are defined, and realise you've been insulting people for years unintentionally.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:32 (fifteen years ago) link
*Slaps forehead*
― Z S on the internet (Z S), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:34 (fifteen years ago) link
That was news to me too - another useful tip from ILX, and a black eye to all who say this place is a waste of time.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:36 (fifteen years ago) link
I always thought 'enervated' meant excited...but it means tired. Which is not how it sounds...
― VegemiteGrrrl, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:36 (fifteen years ago) link
it took me a while to figure out "pneumonia" a) was not pronounced "puh-new-monia" and b) was the same illness as "new-monia"
― squeaky fromme where? (jessie monster), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:37 (fifteen years ago) link
I listened to Fishbone's "Party at Ground Zero" for almost 20 years before I learned they were saying "and the world will turn to glowing pink vapor stew" in the chorus.
― BODY PROP (nickalicious), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:45 (fifteen years ago) link
I just made hollandaise for the first time a few days ago does that count.
― BODY PROP (nickalicious), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:46 (fifteen years ago) link
someone explain the perry farrell pun to me please
― undiscovered cuntry (Rubyredd), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:47 (fifteen years ago) link
peripheral
― BODY PROP (nickalicious), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:49 (fifteen years ago) link
didn't know what a blt was until age 26
― jergins, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:51 (fifteen years ago) link
after reading that thread that day, every time i've lifted the silverware thing out of the dishwasher and carried it over to the drawer for emptying i have given full credit to tracer hand.
― estela, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:51 (fifteen years ago) link
well that does explains the handle. sheesh.
― andrew m., Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:53 (fifteen years ago) link
Step back for this one. Until this year - and for some 15-20 years prior to that - I believed that 'Hazmat' was the name of a company which specialised in the delivery of kosher goods to Islamic restaurants and delicatessens.
― moley, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:54 (fifteen years ago) link
I am smugly proud now of my years of avoiding back strain as I always knew about the basket.
― Trayce, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:55 (fifteen years ago) link
thanking u nick!
― undiscovered cuntry (Rubyredd), Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:56 (fifteen years ago) link
"I knew about the basket" should be a band name.
― Trayce, Thursday, 13 November 2008 03:56 (fifteen years ago) link
I was 14 when I learned to reply with , "What business is it of yours?" to comments about my clothes, my hair, the way I walked etc.
― 'Mabus' from the hilarious Nostradamus prophecies (Batty), Thursday, 13 November 2008 04:03 (fifteen years ago) link
that has left me with an unfortunate impression of your wardrobe, appearance and carriage.
― estela, Thursday, 13 November 2008 04:08 (fifteen years ago) link
interesting response to compliments
― thereminimum chips (electricsound), Thursday, 13 November 2008 04:09 (fifteen years ago) link
When you're 14, no personal comment, no matter how kindly intended, is a compliment:
"You look nice.""Oh, muu-uum!"
― James Morrison, Thursday, 13 November 2008 05:02 (fifteen years ago) link
I was about 35 when I figured out Open Sesame = Open Says Me.
― Rotgutt, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:44 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark<br><br>no, it's not a pun. It's a translation of the phrase khulja sim sim from Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves
― emily_s, Thursday, 13 November 2008 05:14 (fifteen years ago) link
i wasn't 25 until I learned to not use html breaks on ILE
― emily_s, Thursday, 13 November 2008 05:15 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm 34 and just now learned it's not pronounced "sam hane".
― a better command of the mummy language (joygoat), Thursday, 13 November 2008 06:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Half these rock star puns passed me by until my 20s (mostly until a previous ILX thread on the subject), along with Ed Rush and Pat Smear.
I pronounced something I'd only ever read wrong last week, so it's still happening! When I was corrected I had a feeling of "oh shit, I knew that," but I wondered how many more are out there that I don't know about.
(Also didn't know Schenectady had a hard "ch", but since I've never been within 2000 miles of it, maybe it's not so bad. Even though I've always liked the name too. I don't know how to pronounce "Stuyvesant" either, while we're mispronouncing our way round NY.)
― ..··¨ rush ~°~ push ~°~ ca$h ¨··.. (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 13 November 2008 10:25 (fifteen years ago) link
"that you can just lift the silverware thing right out of the dishwasher and carry it over to the silverware drawer"
I will do this every time from now on. You are changing lives for the better.
― Nate Carson, Thursday, 13 November 2008 11:36 (fifteen years ago) link
I was 14 when I learned to reply with , "What business is it of yours? FUCK YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!!!" to comments about my clothes, my hair, the way I walked etc.
― snoball, Thursday, 13 November 2008 11:38 (fifteen years ago) link