I often tell you about words that my children mistakenly misinterpret. Today I'm going to tell you about two phrases that I misunderstood for a surprisingly long time:
1. Birthday suit - Every year for my birthday, my mom would get me a new dress. We would call this my birthday dress. As in, "What are you going to wear to church today?" "I think I'll wear my birthday dress or maybe my Easter dress. What do you think?" I assumed that a suit was the male equivalent of a dress and that someone's birthday suit was the suit that their mom had gotten them most recently for their birthday, not the "suit" that they were born in.
2. Little black book - My dad had a book that was little and black. He wrote down recipes in it (stuffed cabbage, meatballs, pumpkin soup cooked in a pumpkin, etc.).
I think the misinterpretation of words has the potential make an excellent (element of a) story.