[BITList] Knowledge

[John Feltham]

G'day Hugh,

On 27/10/2011, at 5:40 PM, HUGH wrote:

> I don't recall my father ever confusing me in that way, though after he came home from Burma/India he was apt to address us in Hindi when provoked.  I was quite able to confuse myself.  For some years, aged 9 onwards, addicted to Astounding Science Fiction, I was convinced "infrare" was a verb.  Light became infrared in certain circumstances, eg, in space.  Since my addiction to SF wasn't shared by anyone else near me, the misconception was allowed to stay. Another was "oppontent", ie, the other person in a fight.  This lasted a long time, until I uttered it in the hearing of someone who could spell long words.  Had I looked at the back (long word section) of our spelling book, I might have checked it there, but I was convinced it was correct, so the idea never entered my head.



Your story reminded me of my wife in the early years. Being Dutch her English was not the best.

One Sunday morning when we living in Swindon, she shouted up the stairs, "I can't remeber the word, do want want some burnt bread for your breakfast?

In the early days I used to tell correct her until I realised that I was losing a good laugh every time. So I stopped telling her.

For quite a while we had smashed potatoes for dinner!


ooroo


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