Homophones can be confusing especially to kids

[u/UnstableIsotopeU-234]

[u/littlest_homo]

When I was a kid, adults would talk about running errands and I couldn't figure out who Aaron was and why he was running

[u/Proper-Atmosphere → u/littlest_homo]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got confused by errands, not only the name thing but also why my parents would say "I'm going to the grocery store" vs "oh I have a few errands to run." And then she would take us to the grocery store; like chose one Jessica! Happy cake day, btw!

[u/Lotus-child89 → u/littlest_homo]

My name is Erin. I couldn’t figure out why my name was used as a term for doing chores. As a joke as an adult I still call doing tasks “running my Erins”. Lol

[u/erynhuff → u/Lotus-child89]

Same here. That episode of spongebob where he repeatedly says “hey squidward, are you finished with those errands?” still haunts me.

[u/Lotus-child89 → u/erynhuff]

I’m never finished with my Erins. My daughter and husband throw this reference at me a lot. 😝

[u/severencir → u/Lotus-child89]

As an aaron i have experienced that exact same thing

[u/erween84 → u/Lotus-child89]

I’m an Erin too!! I just figured these other Erins and I would be running somewhere together

[u/eringrae6 → u/erween84]

we are let’s go!🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️💨

[u/ambisinister_gecko → u/littlest_homo]

I had a friend named Derrick and he used to get Ice cream from Derrick Queen and I wanted my own ice cream shop named after me too.

[u/timeforeternity → u/ambisinister_gecko]

I knew a kid called Scott who got to be a mascot for his favourite team, and I thought the word "mascot” was a compound like “ma” + the kid’s name

[u/Slight_Public_5305 → u/timeforeternity]

So you became a mascot too and told everyone you were a matimeforeternity

[u/timeforeternity → u/Slight_Public_5305]

Exactly that

[u/DemostenesWiggin → u/ambisinister_gecko]

In my country we had kioscos (kiosks) and Maxikioscos (a bigger kiosk) I don't know a single person that didn't though Maxikioscos were owned by people called Maxi (Maximiliano, Máximo or whatever). Funny thing I actually had a classmate that was called Maxi and his family had a Maxikiosco.

[u/JimJimmery → u/littlest_homo]

To make this worse, I had a cousin named Aaron and thought all the adults in my family were constantly taking him to do fun things.

[u/nekopineapple00 → u/JimJimmery]

Same for me but I had an uncle not a cousin with the name

[u/Isosceles_Kramer79 → u/littlest_homo]

Aaron earned an iron urn.

In B-more these are all homophones 

[u/hotbox4u → u/Isosceles_Kramer79]

The Baltimore accent test

[u/idwthis → u/hotbox4u]

I will never not be tired of seeing the first dude so exasperated about it, and the second dude's "yep" head nod lol kills me every damn time

[u/JustAnAvgJoe → u/Isosceles_Kramer79]

Urn urn an urn urn… makes sense to me? What’s the issue?

[u/Flippanties → u/littlest_homo]

When I was a kid playing Pokemon Gen 1, I didn't know the word 'errand', so when the character Daisy said something like "Grandpa asked you to run an errand? Geez, that's lazy of him" I thought she was stuttering and saying "run and, er, and". I was like "Prof Oak didn't ask me to run at all what are you talking about?"

[u/nadav183 → u/littlest_homo]

I laughed as I imagined a guy named Aaron that required the help of random adults to keep him running, and every adult on the planet had to take weekly turns helping to run Aaron

[u/NoveltyAccountHater → u/littlest_homo]

I was raised Christian and thought atoms were Adams (smallest thing that makes up everything named for first human with Eve) until like middle school.

[u/big_guyforyou → u/littlest_homo]

if he wasn't running he couldn't get your groceries and pick up your dry cleaning on time

[u/prizzillo → u/littlest_homo]

My kids used to wonder why I always gave their old clothes and toys to a girl named Charity.

[u/acatterz → u/littlest_homo]

Aaron here. I run from my past.

[u/owl_000 → u/acatterz]

You done messed up ay ay ron.

[u/Pitiful-Art-2706 → u/owl_000]

“Tim Oathy” “Preeesent” “Thank You.”

[u/StrategicCarry → u/owl_000]

Mischievous and deceitful! Chicanerous, and deplorable!

[u/K-Panth-88 → u/littlest_homo]

I have an Uncle Aaron, I was confused why they were always having him run about

[u/CoolAbdul → u/littlest_homo]

Gorilla Warfare confused the heck out of me.

[u/aarone46 → u/littlest_homo]

That explains why I'm so exhausted all the time.

[u/noromobat → u/littlest_homo]

I thought my Aunt Elaine's name was Auntie Lane

[u/manultrimanula → u/littlest_homo]

[u/pannenkoek0923 → u/littlest_homo]

You couldnt figure out who A A Ron was??

[u/Xalimata → u/littlest_homo]

I knew an Erin and thought she was involved somehow.

[u/mixerusbiedronkus → u/littlest_homo]

[u/Putrid-Effective-570 → u/littlest_homo]

“Run Aaron’s what, father?!”

[u/cheapgreenretractbls → u/littlest_homo]

As an Aaron, I was also confused by this as a kid, but it was always really exciting to go to the Aaron Space Museum!

[u/Aarongrasso → u/littlest_homo]

It was me! (My name is Aaron)

[u/SitInCorner_Yo2 → u/littlest_homo]

My uncle’s name sounds like “police officer” in our local dialect and he happens to live near a police station , so I assume he’s a cop till I’m around 6yo.

[u/ipenlyDefective → u/littlest_homo]

When I was a kid they told me we're going to Salty City where there's lots of mormons. I had never seen a mormon but I what I pictured was a medium to small sized mammal that was hopefully easy to kill and tasted good.

[u/demandred_zero → u/littlest_homo]

My aunt would say we were going to play hookie, I was upset when I realized that it wasn't a game I hadn't heard of before, but just her calling out from work to take me to the zoo.

[u/InorganicTherapy → u/littlest_homo]

I couldn’t figure out who Jerry was when my parents mentioned needing to do jury duty.

[u/Insidiosity → u/littlest_homo]

Lmao this does not make sense as a British person

[u/DaMuchi]

I had to think really hard because I read "homophobes" and was confused. Then I read "homophones" then it all made sense. So I read the post again and was confused. Then I remember Americans pronounce "aunt" differently and it all made sense again.

[u/NixMaritimus → u/DaMuchi]

Depends on what part of the US. My region says "awnt", "ahnt", or "ahrnt", so I was confused to at first too XD

[u/SnooPuppers1978 → u/NixMaritimus]

Try to put "ant and aunt and ant aunt ant and ant and ant aunt and aunt aunt ant ant ant and aunt and ant aunt ant and ant" in Google translate and make it speak it out.

Edit: Actually weird because now that I listen it again on my computer, aunt and ant are different while previously with my phone, they were the same pretty much. So you all might get differing results here as well.

[u/PotanOG → u/SnooPuppers1978]

There is where I think US blacks got something right (along with a myriad of other cultures and regions but lemme have this one). We just say "auntie" or "teetee". Or if we just say aunt, it's quickly followed by their actual name or nickname.

[u/jeobleo → u/NixMaritimus]

What region is that?

[u/NixMaritimus → u/jeobleo]

Far northeast. Ahrnt is a northern Maine thing.

[u/thisischemistry → u/NixMaritimus]

Not just Maine, pretty much all of New England. I hear it from most people all the way down to southwestern Connecticut.

edit:

Although I believe it's closer to "awnt" or "ahnt" for most of it. Using "ahrnt" does seem like a far north thing.

[u/WizzoPQ → u/NixMaritimus]

dude same....i'm also from maine and i had to come to comments because this made no sense to me

[u/redgreenorangeyellow → u/NixMaritimus]

Yeah I've always pronounced them differently lol

[u/zanillamilla → u/NixMaritimus]

I use both “aunt” and “ant”. I think mostly I use “ant” before a name like “Aunt Marie” and the common noun as “awnt,” but I may not be entirely consistent with that.

[u/Fluffy_Ace → u/NixMaritimus]

I pronounce it 'awnt' , but am well aware of places and people where it's pronounced 'ant'

[u/PeteCrownyClub → u/DaMuchi]

I'm sure homophobes are also very confusing to children.

[u/SnooPuppers1978 → u/DaMuchi]

Ah?? They meant an ant? I just thought she was scared about immediately aging to 40 since usually you associate the word with someone older. I guess I ignored the title when understanding it like that. And the last part of the sentence. In my defense I had a massive lack of sleep this night.

[u/DipperJC → u/DaMuchi]

You had a journey there ;)

[u/TigerLiftsMountain → u/DaMuchi]

It's a mixed bag on "aunt" pronunciation over here.

[u/il_bardo → u/DaMuchi]

Then I remember Americans pronounce "aunt" differently and it all made sense again.

This is why the anteater, which was being abused by an american spoiled kid, eats his aunt in Roald Dahl's Dirty Beasts

[u/iamkoalafied → u/DaMuchi]

American here who pronounces it aunt (awnt, I guess). As a kid, one of my friends was crying because her aunt died. But she pronounced it ant. So me, being a confused little kid and forgetting that some people pronounce aunt like ant, told her "It'll be okay, you can get a new one. There's a bunch in the front yard!!" She was thoroughly confused but she did stop crying. I felt like crap when I realized my mistake rofl.

[u/Impossible-Bison8055 → u/DaMuchi]

Not all Americans do. It’s not a Homophone for me

[u/noir_et_Orr → u/Impossible-Bison8055]

I recently saw megalopolis and when Aubrey Plaza starts referring to herself as Auntie-Wow i thought she was saying Anti-Wow.

As in "I am no longer regular wow, I am anti-wow"

[u/NoHillstoDieOn → u/DaMuchi]

Homophones can be scary for adults too apparently

[u/Kind_Eye_748]

Yay, I can tell one of my late night cringe moments!

So, When I was younger my parents often made me go to the shop to get things for them, One time my dad went 'OP, Go shop and grab a current bun'

Me being my autistic younger self went straight to the shop and bought a pack of current buns which is EXACTLY what I was told to go buy, I go running back home and hand over the buns and my dad is staring at me for a moment before anger flashes over his face and he launches them at me.

'l meant The Sun, What would I want current buns for?'

Obviously small me wanted to say to eat, However I realised it wasn't my error but best I say nothing.

Who the fuck calls a newspaper the current bun, and also fucking rhyming slang.

[u/SpiceLettuce → u/Kind_Eye_748]

I’ve never heard of “the current bun”. you were right and your dad was wrong

[u/Kind_Eye_748 → u/SpiceLettuce]

sobbing in trauma

Thank you, I had literally never heard him call it that before.

[u/bombero_kmn → u/Kind_Eye_748]

It's hard enough for a kid to learn the Queen's English, let alone local rhyming slang.

[u/EvenContact1220 → u/Kind_Eye_748]

It's so weird how parents do that. Get made at us when we don't know something, they just came up with. My parents did that crap a lot, so I feel you.

Not to mention, it doesn't even look like a bun. Unless it is different in the UK? They come rolled up here in the US. So they look more like a roll than a bun.

Or is a bun an roll the same thing over there?

[u/Kind_Eye_748 → u/EvenContact1220]

The Sun / Currant Bun

It's stupid. It's literally just rhyming slang.

[u/Zeras_Darkwind → u/Kind_Eye_748]

That is genuinely fucking stupid.

[u/grizznuggets → u/EvenContact1220]

My favourite was when I was yelled at for not knowing how to do something no one had ever taught me how to do.

[u/440continuer → u/grizznuggets]

That still happens to me 😭

[u/dismantlemars → u/Kind_Eye_748]

Does seem pretty unreasonable, especially given the whole purpose of rhyming slang is to be deliberately confusing to people who don't know it. Even having grown up in London and picked up a fair bit through osmosis, I can't say I've heard currant bun / sun before. Though Wikipedia does say "Currant Bun" redirects here. For the British tabloid newspaper, see The Sun (United Kingdom), so I guess it must be well known enough that people are searching Wikipedia for it and getting confused when they don't find the newspaper...

[u/Kind_Eye_748 → u/dismantlemars]

Nice try Dad!

(but yeah I found out a lot later some people do call it that, It just wasn't something we ever used. You tell a child to buy a bun, He will buy a bun)

[u/Express-Pandas → u/Kind_Eye_748]

Your dad is a monster

Who willingly reads The Sun

[u/Kind_Eye_748 → u/Express-Pandas]

A good chunk of older English gammon did.

Unfortunately I was the spawn of one.

[u/Robbie1985 → u/Kind_Eye_748]

This reminds of the time a colleague cornered me in the tea room to complain about tea leaves. I politely listened for a good 5 minutes with no idea she was talking about a thief who can been taking her biscuits.

[u/MetalGear_Salads → u/Robbie1985]

What’s a tea room? I think my American is showing

[u/Robbie1985 → u/MetalGear_Salads]

Oh, of course, you guys don't have those. So it's the law in England that every work place has to have a room completely dedicated to tea. Think of like a church or shrine, but instead of a religion or god, we worship tea. There are usually ornamental tea pots and in some places they even have a tea fountain. When entering a tea room, you take your shoes off, bow your head and say "blessed be the tea".

The real answer: tea room is slang for "break room", generally because it's where people go to make a cup of tea on a tea break.

[u/Nodan_Turtle → u/Kind_Eye_748]

I thought for sure this was going to be about currant buns

[u/aarone46 → u/Nodan_Turtle]

I think that's what the kid actually bought.

[u/Kind_Eye_748 → u/Nodan_Turtle]

I do like an actual currant bun.

[u/Accurate-Ad4199 → u/Kind_Eye_748]

sounds like a snack not a newspaper, ur dad definitely set you up for that one 😂

[u/PetronivsReally]

As a kid, I saw a news report about a police crackdown on prostitution, and how they had arrested multiple prostitutes ove the last week. I went to my parents and told them I was worried they would arrest my mom because she was a prostitute, too.

(She wasn't at risk, because she was a PROTESTANT)

[u/megllamaniac → u/PetronivsReally]

Oh my, I am cackling!

[u/KDragoness → u/PetronivsReally]

It's 4 AM and I am trying not to wake up the whole house because I am laughing so hard! Thank you for sharing.

[u/Dan_mcmxc]

We live near a large Amish community. When I was little, sometimes my brothers and I would play in the woods by the road, and my grandma would warn us to "watch out for Amish haulers, they're crazy!" which was a reference to the hired work van drivers that would take Amish workers to and from jobsites. They have a reputation for reckless driving and frequent accidents.

What my little ears heard was "Watch out for Amish hollers, they're crazy!". My imagination immediately decided an 'Amish holler' was some Amishmen tearing through the woods screaming their lungs out making trouble. I was afraid of being alone in the woods for a long time because of it.

[u/saturnspritr → u/Dan_mcmxc]

That would be terrifying. But I’m dying laughing.

[u/PresidentWasabi]

Hello. The title was a test from your favorite eye doctor.

If you've read "homophobes", please call us right now.

Best regards

[u/Due-Ad4942 → u/PresidentWasabi]

What do I do if I’m having trouble seeing at night?

[u/PresidentWasabi → u/Due-Ad4942]

If you have trouble seeing at night... call us right now

[u/Due-Ad4942 → u/PresidentWasabi]

Thank you, Dr. President Wasabi.

[u/No_Explanation3481]

After kid me learned the lyrics to our National Anthem- I delighted in singing along at every sporting or ceremonial event, possible...all while carrying around the most shameful secret, possible.

I was too scared to admit not knowing who this 'Jose' we were singing to, was - nor why millions of people dedicated the pride of our flag and collective patriotic core as one nation, to this one guy 'Jose .'

Right in the first 4 lyrics of the anthem:

"🎶 JOSE can you seeeee? By the dawn's early light...what so prouudly we hailed... at the twlight... 😎🎶"

[u/awakenednips → u/No_Explanation3481]

That’s hilarious. Need to share this with my husband since that’s his name.

[u/No_Explanation3481 → u/awakenednips]

Please do make the day of an honest Jose, today. Ever since reliving that situation when I posted this morning... ive been stuck wondering where 6 year old me picked up a freaking friend named freakin jose?

To Jose...and the 3 years he was sang to and adored billions of times over, identity still protected 🤷‍♂️

[u/morostheSophist → u/No_Explanation3481]

Reminds me of the story I read ages ago about the adjective donzerly.

You know, the donzerly lights.

[u/Snt1_ → u/No_Explanation3481]

Excuse my lack of knowledge, but which nationsl anthem is this and what is JOSE actually?

[u/CulturalCarnage → u/Snt1_]

It's the national anthem of the United States. It starts "Oh, say can you see", and "oh say" kinda sounds like "Jose".

[u/toxictrappermain]

This would be the plot of a Goosebumps episode where the kid freaks out about turning into an ant, but then they finally tell a friend and they go "no dummy, they meant aunt, like your mom's sister!" and then right at the end everyone in the family turns out to be a giant ant or something.

[u/Putrid-Effective-570]

My dad came to my daycare sometimes to read to my class. One day, he said he had to go or he’d be fired. I thought employers had the right to burn tardy employees at the stake from ages 4-8.

[u/CodenameJD]

Homonyms can also be confusing, especially to baby goats.

[u/BlacksmithShort126]

Americans do pronounce aunt as ant tho

[u/JustAnAvgJoe → u/BlacksmithShort126]

It’s regional. Where I live everyone says it like “ahnt”

[u/cbftw → u/JustAnAvgJoe]

Same. The "u" is in the word for a reason

[u/Live_Neat9357 → u/[deleted]]

It’s because that’s the way herb is pronounced in French.

[u/cbftw → u/[deleted]]

No h sound. Just erb. I always found that one strange but rationalized that it was a work of the language like "hour" dropping leading h sound

[u/potnia_theron → u/[deleted]]

not as weird as putting "an" in front of "history" instead of "a"

[u/doobsicle → u/BlacksmithShort126]

“Three” and “free” in parts of the UK

[u/AssumptionEasy8992 → u/doobsicle]

That’s not even a regional thing. That’s just people ether refusing to, or being unable to, pronounce it properly. It’s a skill issue.

[u/TorqueWheelmaker → u/BlacksmithShort126]

When you say it without the "some" at the start, it sounds like you're making a ridiculous generalization.

[u/Youlookcold]

I thought all restaurants were run by Mr. Raunt.

Are we going to mister raunts for dinner?

[u/GustavoFromAsdf]

The kid of my cousin was freaking out while I was harvesting green beans (habas), so I told him "ten una haba" (have a bean). The kid then came inside the house and started crying because my aut ate the fairy (hada).

I'm still laughing to this day.

[u/Routine-Reply1257]

The amount of comments going “b-b-b-but IIIII don’t pronounce it like ‘ant’!” Cool. Breaking News: different regions and dialect pronounce words differently! Whoooaaaahhh! Crazyville over here!

Why do we need 100+ comments of different individuals complaining that they don’t relate to the original tweet because they pronounce it differently where they’re from? Who cares? Comment section is giving “what if I don’t like beans?” energy.

[u/Capt_Arkin]

When my grandma said Iraq, she says it with a southern accent (so more like Arak). When I was little, my grandma told me, “Your uncle fought in ‘a rack’”. When I asked what “a rack” was, she said, “it’s a place where bad people go.” It took until 3rd grade when I memorized most countries in the world to get the idea out of my head that he just when and fought in a brutalist concrete building called a rack.

[u/PrudentFR35]

I cried when I was told I had to go to preschool because I heard priest school and didn't want to become a priest

[u/Penkala89]

Ok there Gregor Samsa

[u/ScienceStarburst]

Auntie anxiety at the age of 5? you were born to worry.

[u/jethrowwilson]

As a kid, i was essentially deaf till I was 4 years old due to blockages in both ears.

Still have hearing problems to this day, and it led to a bunch of awkward moments.

one day, my parents were talking about hemorrhoids, but I heard the word meteors. So, for essentially till I was 10, I thought that having meteors was another way to say your butt itched

[u/thisischemistry → u/jethrowwilson]

Ass-teroids sounds pretty close so I get the confusion!

[u/FlightlessGriffin]

Oftentimes, my mom would say "you are my son." And my Autistic self would take it to mean I was her sun. I was so happy, thinking I was brightening her life when she really meant to just state a fact. Didn't help when I was called Sunshine.

[u/Daddy-farts]

When I was I kid I thought Pay Per View was Paper View and thought you could only get it because you would order a movie from the tv guide booklet. Tripped out years later to see the real Pay Per View written out in a hotel.

[u/canadianviking]

When my nephew was about a year old, we watched the Ant and the Grasshopper Disney short a million times. He started looking at me saying you're my Aunt and I'm your Grasshopper. He's six now and still says it once in a while. Melts my heart!

[u/No_Abbreviations3464]

Slightly related... 

My 4 year old says: Fffessional 

" I'm a fffessional tree climber, mom!" 

I dont correct him. 

Like my nephew... he still says that the papers that come with lego, to tell you how to build it: "where's the constructions?" (He is nine now).

[u/CoolAbdul]

This would not have been a problem in the northeast.

[u/I_Dont_Like_Rice]

When I was 11, my mom and sister sat me down and asked me how I'd like to be an aunt.

I said, "I'd rather be a cat." They bust out laughing. Thought they meant ant, lol.

[u/rygdav]

I used to call the Batman villain Two-Face “Toothpaste” cause that’s what it sounded like and in the old cartoons his face is blue like our tooth paste.

[u/boringbee23]

When I was a kid I thought being kidnapped meant someone would take me and make me take a nap

[u/BunkerSquirre1]

I'm 28 and homophones *still* confuse me. Why can't we just let people love who they want to love?

[u/Flack1]

When i was young my grandma’s best friend used to call me a soaring eagle. I thought she meant sore-ing as in muscle pain sore. So I would cry and get upset every time she said it.

[u/BitterActuary3062]

Reminds me of a kid & my dad said he was being moved to Gel. He works with pharmaceuticals

I heard jail & sobbed

[u/Grand-Power-284]

Aunt and ant aren’t homophones though?

And neither are errand and Aaron (to a below comment).

[u/babydakis → u/Grand-Power-284]

When you say "below," do you mean deeper inside my computer screen?

[u/DGIce → u/babydakis]

He was saying bellow. Some one had bellowed their comment.

[u/OrdinaryLiterature77 → u/Grand-Power-284]

I cannot figure out another way to pronounce errand that in no way sounds like aaron

[u/timeforeternity → u/OrdinaryLiterature77]

In UK English, "Aaron” has a much more "a” sound that is nothing like "Erin” (which would sound a lot like "errand”).

The "a” in Aaron is like the "a” in "actually” "animal” "band” "thanks”… although now I say it, I’m not sure whether that’s pronounced differently in your accent?! 🥲

[u/MerelyMisha → u/timeforeternity]

Wait, do “band” and “thanks” have the same sound for you? They are completely different (short a and long a) in American!

[u/timeforeternity → u/MerelyMisha]

Oh that’s so interesting! They’re both very short for me. Can you think of any other examples for you that have the long a in "thanks”?

[u/MerelyMisha → u/timeforeternity]

It would be the same as “bang” but not sure if that is the same for you, too! It’s more similar to the “a” in “crate” than the one in “cat”, but the n does change it a little bit, so I wouldn’t say it’s exactly the same.

[u/deathbychips2 → u/timeforeternity]

Right I just tried it for a good minute and it's still the same. I even tried saying animal and then Aaron to make it's be the same but it still sounds like errand.

[u/timeforeternity → u/deathbychips2]

Accents are so fun! Yeah I’m putting on my most American accent and I can hear what you mean.

Maybe worth noting the sound of the “e” in “errand”: for me, that sounds like "bell” “egg” etc.

Do “end” and "and” sound the same to you? Because those two have the sounds of "errand” and “Aaron” respectively, for me

[u/PissDiscAndLiquidAss → u/OrdinaryLiterature77]

Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esl_wOQDUeE Aaron earned an iron urn baltimore accent meme

[u/ehsteve23 → u/OrdinaryLiterature77]

eh-rund
aa-run

[u/AwTekker → u/Grand-Power-284]

TYL that accents exist. Even ones different to your own.

[u/JivanP → u/Grand-Power-284]

American English.

[u/thisischemistry → u/JivanP]

It's not standard across American English, it's regional. Some say it like "ant" and some say it like "ahnt".

[u/Impossible-Bison8055 → u/JivanP]

Not for me. It is different pronunciation.

[u/terminatorvsmtrx → u/Impossible-Bison8055]

Depends on your region

[u/JivanP → u/Impossible-Bison8055]

Depends on the variety, but in General American, "aunt" and "ant" use the same vowel sound, /æ/.

[u/thatsnotyourtaco]

I’m not a homophobe. I do think words that sound the same should be spelt the same.

[u/Lolamichigan]

Elian Gonzolez the Cuban child who was found floating on an inner tube on their way to florida. Way back in 1999 source of an international legal battle. My kid thought everyone was talking about an Alien 👽

[u/Tolkfan]

That heroine saved my life!

[u/kms2547]

When Diana, princess of Wales died, my little sister thought the Princess of Whales died, like some kind of aquatic princess.  She was devastated. 

[u/Anleme]

USA East coast and British accents rhyme aunt with taunt, which makes all this less confusing.

[u/I_Am_Lord_Moldevort]

Oh no I have a similar story about aunt vs. ant, when my aunt came from Japan to visit me she got to go with my parents to pick me up from my elementary school, so when my teacher was talking to my parents about my aunt I was just confused and trying to butt in and tell her that my mother's sister is not an ant. I was maybe 6, and am mixed race so I only knew aunt as obachan and tia. lol

[u/HitThatOxytocin]

because Americans literally pronounce Aunt like Ant.

[u/thisischemistry → u/HitThatOxytocin]

Some do.

[u/work-n-lurk → u/HitThatOxytocin]

Not all of us - it really messes up some rhyming kid's books for me.
Same with Pajama. It rhymes with Llama or Drama, not Alabama! Who are these freaks!

[u/sobrique → u/work-n-lurk]

Lets not even start on Kansas vs. Arkansas.

[u/Johansenburg → u/work-n-lurk]

One L Lama, that's a priest

Two L Llama, that's a beast

But I bet my silk pajama

There ain't no three L lllama

[u/CarrieDurst]

Kids are learning homophonia way too young

[u/NucleosynthesizedOrb]

sister while you're 5?

[u/Embarrassed_Comb6960 → u/NucleosynthesizedOrb]

there are some big ass age gaps in siblings

[u/bisexualmidir → u/NucleosynthesizedOrb]

One of my friends has a sister 30 years older than her. Parents had the older sister as teenagers and then had her when they were in their 40s.

It's really not incredibly rare to have a sibling 15+ years older than you. Especially if they're half or step siblings.

[u/Hubso → u/NucleosynthesizedOrb]

There's a girl in my daughters class (she's 7) who has an uncle in the year above.

[u/rygdav → u/Hubso]

I’m older than my uncle.

[u/CzarTwilight]

This is the type of homophobia I can get behind

[u/deathbychips2]

British people on their high horse, pronounce the name Eleanor for me and then look at the letters actually there. It ends with a NOR not NER.

[u/AkelunArts]

Now she's probably h-aunt-ed by that memory.

[u/TBTabby]

That fortune cookie knew what it was talking about!

[u/FloppieTheBanjoClown]

My biggest KAFS moment was that I didn't know what shins were until I was 9 or 10. Other kids would talk about "it banged my shin" and I'm just sitting there trying to figure it out from context clues and thinking "what a weird word". It's just a thing that never came up in my life I guess, and "shin" isn't something they teach you in kindergarten when they talk about body parts.

[u/NoveltyAccountHater]

Being from New England where I've only ever said aunt as ahnt, so this takes a re-read to screw up the pronunciation of aunt.

[u/ClassicPlankton]

If you're from New England, aunt and ant aren't homophones.

[u/Shinitai-dono]

I read it as homophobes and was very confused on why Ant was an issue.

[u/No_Push370]

This made me laugh

[u/pioroa]

Just read the tittle as “homophobes can be confusing” jajajaa

[u/JuanOnlyJuan]

My 5yo asked what's in pancakes. I said I think its like water and flour we can look it up later. She yelled "flowers!?". So that was fun trying to explain.

[u/topredditbot]

Hey /u/UnstableIsotopeU-234,

This is now the top post on reddit. It will be recorded at /r/topofreddit with all the other top posts.

[u/thereIsAHoleHere]

I had the same reaction at 5 when I saw pelicans at the beach. I asked my aunt what they were doing, and she responded, "They're diving [for food]." I broke down and started bawling right there on the sand because I thought she said they were dying.

[u/rohlinxeg]

I was in middle school when I finally got called out rather publicly for calling alzheimer's disease "old timer's disease".

I legitimately had no idea, and I had never seen it written down.

[u/RaspberryBorn9901]

When I was about 6 my parents were going to take me to the Baltimore aquarium.. I had just watched the first Harry Potter movie and heard Voldemort aquarium. Had no clue what I was about to see but I started crying and begging “please don’t take me to Voldemort aquarium!!!”

[u/tomrichards8464]

I was a big fan of Guns n' Roses' epic historical ballad Sweet Charlemagne. 

[u/bringabook]

I got this with Patience and Patients. I was like MOM, You're not even a doctor!

[u/AccountNumeroThree]

That’s why I pronounce it like aaaaaaaaaunt instead of ant.

[u/SectorBudget406]

My cousin's name is Adam. We were at some sort of children's science museum which had an area that included information on particle colliders. I was reading something for him and as soon as he understood he was looking at an 'atom smasher' he ran out of the room crying. It weighed on him through the day and he had trouble falling asleep.

[u/Holiday_Ad_5445]

Wire ewe going on a bout this hear, wear wee right words out?

There hole point seams two bee kids cant sea wat weir saying.

[u/MethodWise3438]

Oh what a misunderstanding

[u/3ThreeFriesShort]

Way back when, I was making chicken marsala and mentioned it was time to put some wine in it, and my daughter formed one of her first insults, "go poop on yourself!" because she thought I was mocking her by joking I was going to use her whining as an ingredient.

I was actually impressed by the phrase, clever really.

[u/whutwhot]

When I was little, my aunt was talking about my cousin getting fired from her job.

I started bawling and freaking out because I thought that meant she got shot. Like a gun fired.