Fun with Spoken Language

I was having dinner with my family, and we were talking about blogging (yes, over a family dinner), and I said: “I guest-write on a blog…”

And two or three of them asked “What did you guess?”

“What?”

“You said you guessed right. Guessed what?”

“No, I guest-write. I am a guest-writer. I guest-write.”

“Oh!”

I had no clue I was saying something confusing.

4 comments

  1. Roberta Lipp says:

    All of us. It was all of us heard it the other way. I just figured it out before it actually hit the ground, because, in fact, I know that you guest-write.

  2. LP says:

    This reminds me when someone asked me my FULL job title… I said Administrative Library Assitant-Assistant Coordinator of Web Services…they almost fell asleep when I was done and were so disinterested by that point that I got to the hypenate that I just quickly drew out the card and said…”Here”

  3. Deborah Lipp says:

    I see words in my head. So I could see the “t” in “guest,” I could see the “w” in “write.” So it didn’t occur to me that it was confusing.

  4. Roberta says:

    Seriously? Assistant-Assistant?

    I just tell people ‘day job’.