Sentences that have the same words...

Post Reply New Topic

...but two different meanings. Two examples:

"Nothing's better than water"

Meaning 1: I don't like water so I'd rather drink nothing than drink water.
Meaning 2: I love water so much that I can't think of anything that is better.


"I didn't want to finish my meal"

Meaning 1: I was enjoying it so much that after I'd finished it I could have easily had more if it was available.
Meaning 2: I was so full that I had to leave some of it so couldn't finish it.


Ain't the English language so confusing sometimes? Can you think of any examples of sentences that can be said using the exact same words but can mean two (or more) different things?

Oh... I thought you meant like Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Meaning 3; My meal was so nasty that I had to force myself to eat the rest because I didn't want to upset the cook.

Get behind me, Satan.

1) The original meaning was akin to "I'm turning my back on you, want nothing to do with you, Satan. Be gone, I'm putting you behind me."

2) Nowadays, it sounds like the exact opposite, you want Satan to "back you up." "Get behind me, Satan, I need you, can't do it without you! Get in my corner."

“That’s fire.”

Meaning 1: That’s literally fire.
Meaning 2: That’s awesome.

Flying airplanes can be dangerous.

"She was mad about the flat."

In England that would be understood as "she was ecstatically happy about the apartment".

In the US it would be understood as "she was angry about the car getting a flat tire".

In Spanish:

"Ecspecta para un jua jua" (prounced something like 'wah wah').

In some Latin American countries it would mean "she is expecting a baby", and in other it would mean "she is waiting for a bus".

"That was so bad"

Older generation means that something was wrong.
Younger generation means that something was kewl or awesome.

"Those are some bad threads!"

Could mean that you are adorned in a cool stylish outfit of clothes.

Or it could me "I was just on a website that has unproductive conversations with bullying posters, and lack of moderators".

THIS is a good thread in my humble opinion btw.

old man: "that's SICK!"
young man: "THAT's sick!"

old man's sick is bad, but young man's sick is good.

I once was in a wierd conversation on the train with this young man. He said "What's happening?"
So I replied "We are on a train heading to Swansea. The next stop is Llanelli..."
He interupted me and said "Say what". So I said "What". He then again said "Say what". So again I said "What".

We both seemed to have different meanings or concepts of the words we were using.

Marge, when kids these days say "bad," they mean "good." And to "shake your booty" means to wiggle one's butt. Permit me to demonstrate...

Thats new to me. "Sick" as a compliment. The new "bad".

"Gay" originally meant "happy, carefree", then it meant "male homosexual", now young folks use it mean...I cant figure WHAT actually (silly, or dumb, or something).

I think the word Lame would be the closest one word definition based on the context of saying Gay on South Park.


I think these communication misunderstandings are a perfect example of why the older generation & younger generation can have very rocky relationships. It's like parents & teens are speaking two different languages.

This reminds me of an ep of Teen Titans Go where Robin went to an opposite universe & when he was saying positive things to the opposite Titans they took it as criticisms instead of complements & quickly got angry with him

Wow, nice going!

(can be either supportive or sarcastic)

New? It's at least 25 years old.