We’ve all had those moments as a child when we misunderstood a word or a phrase. Some of us had to find out the hard way what those things meant.
As it happens, Pakistani Twitter came together to tell all about their confusing exchanges and embarrassing memories with these misunderstood words.
While we’re not brave enough to share the embarrassing stories, we did share the words that changed our lives.
A Funny Twitter Trend
It all started with this tweet:
As a child when I first heard the word propaganda I pictured a rhino in a three piece suit. As in a proper gainda.
— Zarrar Khuhro (@ZarrarKhuhro) July 11, 2019
To be honest, I thought getting some ‘health insurance’ meant that you’re always healthy and people without it can’t go to the doctor. Talk about getting the point minus the part where it doesn’t cover all health expenses.
And then we had this:
I used to think if you had life insurance you dont die.
— Taimoor Virk (@TaimoorVirk5) July 11, 2019
Imagine trying to meet this ‘Bhai jan‘ in question. Chances of meeting someone that goes by ‘Azer Bhai jan‘ are not that slim.
I used to think Azerbaijan was someone’s extremely revered elder brother https://t.co/fq7ij2uLqv
— Ziad Zafar (@ziadzafar) July 11, 2019
Around year 2000 we used to say as a joke that Azarbaijan is brother of Anwar Bhai jan (Balouch leader from Lyari karachi killed in 2005)
— Insomniac (@MeBoromir) July 11, 2019
My first interaction with this exotic name and beverage was as a teenager:
As a child, I thought Tukh-Malanga was the name of a famous Pashtu dancer. https://t.co/37oCDEgGYL
— Baji Please (@BajiPlease) July 11, 2019
School is confusing in general. We feel you bro:
For me ‘Urdu ki Pehli Kitaab’ was a book by someone named Urdu who somehow managed to write and send that book in our class one. And our great teacher never explained it and I remained confused till 5th grade.
— Shazaed Ch (@ZainAlam21) July 11, 2019
Whoa, another Urdu related confusion:
As a child when my grandmother told me ' hum nay 65 kee jung mein India keh jahaz giraye thay' I for quite awhile believed 'hum' were my grandparents & did it with a shaft/pole by standing on our rooftop
— Syeda Habibah Hussain Rizvi (@HHussai92842027) July 11, 2019
As I child I thought maar was a food item like achaar whenever someone said "Tum ney maar khani hai".
— Chaand Khan Dhobi. (@Dho_A_K) July 11, 2019
Here’s another one:
And amli jama was considered a kind of pajama one has to wear to perform a kind of work more seriously…
— Faisal Khan (@FaisalNiazi) July 11, 2019
Remember those Tolet advertising boards? We’ve all thought this right? Right?
Tolet advertising boards. Used to think they misspelled toilet and the numbers given were so that you could use a toilet nearby in an emergency 😂
— Mr. Ex-Big4 (@Chinioti96) July 11, 2019
Alternative universes, or cow-verse?
I used to mistake "Gaye gi dunya geet mere" with "Gaye ki dunya geet mere" and thought it is talking about a separate world of cows.🐮
— Ushna (@thebossbaby0) July 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/DD31594587/status/1149290414349967360
Looks like more than one person got this idea:
When newspaper headline said 'police ne heroin pakdi'. And I was like bhai kya dushmani hai actresses se🤨
— Dhurandhar Bhatvadekar (@sjain_spn) July 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/Nadir77/status/1149380095364276224
Its good how these embarassing stories are bringing people together:
My sister used to think AINI SHAHID is a name of a girl who always reaches at the accident to witness and eldest bro took QURBANI KI KHALAIN as you can eat after the qurbani for many years.
— Sadia Shehzad (@sadiashazi007) July 11, 2019
lolz, this AINI SHAHID is a true story waisay. A routine evening of 2007, in a newsroom of an upcoming English news channel, suddenly a girl on assignment desk says “yey AINI SHAHID kitni competent reporter hai, she’s always at the spot on time.”
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) July 11, 2019
Even Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal brought people together:
As a Child i thought Quaid -e – Azam is still alive and running the country
🙊🙊🙊🙊🙊— Muhammad Ayaz (@m_ayaz23) July 11, 2019
As a child I used to think Quaid e Azam was some sort of a super mazdoor guy who single handedly built Pakistan (?!) 🙄
— Syed Sachal (@SyedSachal) July 11, 2019
So I was not alone.
And when I found out that Quaid did not make all these buildings, rather just won freedom then I thought what's the big deal in that?— آزاد (@stardustPKi) July 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/adeelshirazi/status/1149374320931721221
As a child i genuinely used to think Allama Iqbal went to sleep and saw a dream while asleep about a seperate homeland for muslims. Woke up the next day and discussed his dream with his friends and family.
— Habib (@habeebzz) July 11, 2019
Here we go again!
😂 Relative of mine went Qul, Qul, Qul and put up a pile of date seeds in front of her while we struggled to keep up.
— Chairman of the Board (@ChoriShuda) July 11, 2019
How many people thought ‘anonymous’ was some real writer going by this pen name? Or maybe it was just me?
Correction:
*Anonymous bohat naamwar aadmi tha* 😎— maliha mansoor (@malihamansoor1) July 11, 2019
😁 😁 if only he had said that… would have taken his statement a few levels up! 😁
— Ahmed Uzair FAROOQ (@AhmedUFarooq) July 11, 2019
The Magic School Bus television series made this particular dream come true.
When I was young and I was traveling via air for the first time my sibling told me the aircraft was an airbus. I thought it was a bus with wings. When we were in the shuttle to the plane I kept waiting for the wings to appear so we could fly.
— Essa Malik (@Yeezus_Chwist) July 11, 2019
Growing up with Winnie the Pooh, some of us wanted a pet grizzly:
as a kid, I was told makra (big black ant) is husband of normal cheynti (ant) ….. insane if you just imagine them as husband and wife now 🤦♂️
— Umair Azeem Ansari (@Umair_A_Ansari) July 11, 2019
Sawaab and Kabaab? We’ve been there:
As a child, I always thought sawaab means kabab and the one who does good deeds will get a lot of kebabs to eat the day of judgment 🙄
— Mariyaah (@mariyaah_blogs) July 11, 2019
Another food story.
https://twitter.com/AmberArif86/status/1149314764302159872
There it is, an embarrassing childhood story. Salute to these brave men!
https://twitter.com/JahanzebKBhatti/status/1149336783513108485
I used to think Krimlin as some influential personality in Russia, and the irony is that I was very preparing for competitive exam and thats why I failed.
— PSyCHo (@psychotweets69) July 11, 2019
Oh, and we’re learning new things as well.
Came to know very recently that “Pindi” meant Rawalpindi. In our community Pindi is a rice ball moulded by hand and offered to the departed soul by the kin in the post cremation rituals.
— Siddhartha Das (@sidharthone) July 11, 2019
Before a meeting asked a junior to write meeting minutes, afterwards when inquired the response was 34 minutes.
It was hard to conceal my smile.— spɛkˈteɪtə (@_Tuonela) July 11, 2019
Sometimes, Pakistani Twitter amazes you with great humor. This Twitter trend about misunderstood words definitely restored our faith in humanity’s ability to laugh at themselves. We should do it more often.
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