Do words confuse you?

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The Internet solved a lot of it for me, since I can easily google words when I realize I'm using one because it "fits" but I don't actually know what it means.

Some words evade me no matter how many times I look them up, hear them, even use them. I cant even remember what they are.
I am certain my head just cant comprehend certain concepts, (especially certain emotions) and without that emotion to associate with, the word just never really means anything and is lost on me.

Why would a male have "girl" in their username? And what am I doing with "proud mamma" as my custom title under my username? Shouldn't it be "Proud Pappa?"


Also I read responses first to understand what the OP meant if I didn't understand it.

I don't know if this counts but I remember using the word cheap to my aunt. (anyone remember that incident?) because my husband says it to me and my family and my mother called herself cheap because they stay at inexpensive hotels, buy things on clearance, buy what's on sale. I just thought cheap and expensive were the same thing except they were different wording. Plus I also thought cheap meant not spending lot of money and my dad said my aunt and uncle were cheap because they don't travel outside their home state for vacations.

I tend to use words how they are used and I can figure out how to use them. Like I figured out "Get off your high horse" is something you say when someone says something you don't like so you say it to them. My husband told me that isn't correct and I am just misinterpreting it. He told me what it meant. But the way it was being used at Babycenter made it sound like women were using that phrase when they don't like something.

But people can say things to me and I would have no idea I am being insulted or because they are misusing the words so I end up saying it to someone else like the time I told a mother on Yahoo Answers it was a good thing she checked the daycare out first before dumping her kids off there. Then I thought the mother was just over sensitive and stupid. That is how my dad talks to me and I never took offense to it.


I even learned to use the words no offense or go figure or I should add. The last two got me into trouble on I2 one time by another user I said about him when I used them. Apparently using certain words or phrases can change the whole meaning of what you say.

I was confused too, and now I'm really confused. This thread doesn't make any sense at all to me.



Thank you. I understood that. I've found myself using words like that. I don't really know what they mean, so I'll Google them. What's funny is that I actually do use them in the right context though.

Sometimes people's usage of words confuses me, but linguistics is one of my interests, so that helps.
I also visit urbandictionary.com when I have no idea what someone has just said.

There's a propensity for sesquipedalian and arcane linguistic usage to discombobulate me.

Verandi,

I mispronounce words that I know from reading, too!

Here's an example:

this was just posted at Babycenter in a thread.

Okay really, why did that user mention the word "snark?" Why did that user say "No snark?"

How is telling someone about how they post being snarky so they must say "no snark" before saying what they want to say?

This is why I get confused. This is how it gets confusing when people say certain words, because then they don't make any sense such as when they use the word snark in this context.

This is what I meant by do words confuse you. Hope this thread now makes sense to everyone now.

English, native is different to me, as usual. I always look up words when I read or write. I use thefreedictionary.com, urbandictionary.com, englishforum.com, and a bilingual dictionary szotar.sztaki.hu the most. When I don't understand something, I try to google for context, or to look for examples in the posts. The posts give me ideas that I try to mimic, but with some understanding first.

I think you'd like:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSYiT2iG08&feature=fvwrel[/youtube]

Sometimes people take criticism as insulting or sarcastic, so she was probably trying to defuse that interpretation by saying "no snark."

As far as it goes, I get confused often by snarky comments that look insulting but are not meant to be.

You know what's funny? I understand that type of language better than most colloquial use of language.

Yay for search engines! I do that too. On the whole, it helps--although sometimes I just don't understand the definitions/info I find.



I do the similar things with words. For example:

I used to think that "baffled" meant the same thing as "upset/hurt" because people would tell me they were "baffled" (or that something/someone was "baffling") when they were upset with/hurt by me, or someone else. In my late teens I learned that "baffled" means "confused" (dictionary.com has a definition of "baffle" that is "To frustrate or confound; thwart by creating confusion or bewilderment".....despite the word "frustrate" being in there, I think that definition mostly means "to confuse"--not "to cause emotional distress")

I thought "monstrous" and "very large" meant exactly the same thing until a few years ago--I was maybe 22 when some serious misunderstandings helped me to figure out the difference.

I used to think that to say, "I am humbled" meant the same thing as "I am honored".....

It makes a lot of sense to me that you thought "cheap" and "expensive" were different words for the same thing--because they're both used in situations where people talk about buying things/spending money. (I don't know if that's why you confused the words "cheap" and "expensive".... but I can imagine it as a possibility because it's the same sort of reason that I confused "humbled" and "honored")



I’ve gotten myself in trouble for trying to use “go figure” too.... I don’t understand what it’s supposed to mean.

”Fair enough” is another phrase I've had trouble using, although I think I've finally figured out what it means; I think it’s a way of saying “I see what you mean” or "your point is reasonable." But I used to use it as a response whenever I had absolutely no idea what someone was saying to me--because I'd noticed that when other people said, "fair enough," it was often the only thing they'd say before they stopped talking....I had no idea what it meant, it was just something to say when I couldn't respond.

Sorry--my eyes skipped over what you wrote there. You're welcome. I think that I use words in the right context more often than not, too....it's something that improves with age, for me--maybe for most people?

I think I experience the same thing, too, in real life. When people talk in metaphor and go beyond the colloquial complexity of the slang word "sh!t" in real life, I'm lost, except when I have time to process it like online. When people talk directly/literally using academic words, I get it right away most of the time.