I've been a native speaker my whole life, but I'm still finding myself misunderstanding others from time to time. It's true that a lot of our words sound similar, but some of these words have meanings that are almost as different as can be. Here's a list of a few words that you should watch out for.
*Warning: Freeway Parade is not responsible for anyone who reads these out loud under their breath to test them out resulting in freaking out bystanders who think you just talk to nobody.
1. Come in/Coming
When someone knocks on your door you have two response options: "Come in" and "Coming". The former means "open the door" and the latter means "wait for me to open the door".
2. That's Too Bad/ That's Stupid
I hear this one all the time. Someone's telling a story about something that bothers them and you comfort them saying "that's too bad" which tells them you care about their story. Unfortunately it sounds like "that's stupid" which can be taken as "that story is dumb and I don't care about it."
3. Sorry/That's Alright
This happens to me way more than you would think. I'm walking in a crowded area and bump into someone. Of course I quickly say "sorry," but in a crowded (often noisy) room, "sorry" can sound like "that's alright," which is usually casually said like " 's-alright." This is pretty much the difference between "that was my bad" and "that was your bad."
4. I'm Alright/MRI
I once was playing around at a park when one of my friends fell and when I asked if he was ok he said "I'm alright." For a split second I heard "MRI." If you mixed these words up like I did, chances are, you wouldn't have time to scan their internal organs before they corrected you, but it's still very different from saying you're alright and that's all I'm looking for.
5. Out Of Tune/Autotuned
For those of you unfamiliar, autotune is a device or software that tunes a persons vocals automatically. This means that the voice will sound in tune even if it wasn't recorded in tune to begin with. This makes the word "Autotune" pretty much the opposite of "out of tune" yet they sound extremely similar even in good listening conditions.
6. #% Off / #% Of
I recently saw a sign in a store window that said, "30% off price on tag" Luckily I read it twice because I first read it as "30% OF price on tag." As similar as these sentences sound they are very different. Pretend you are looking to buy something that was 10 dollars. 30% OFF would make it down to 7 dollars, but 30% OF would be 3 dollars. So next time you are looking at sales, remember to count the F's.
Do you agree with this list? Can you think of any similar sounding opposites? Leave a comment below or on Twitter @freewayparade. And like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/freewayparade
