We’ve all blanked on words every once and a while. If we’re lucky, we’re around nice people when we do it. If we’re not lucky, we’re around people like my family, who still won’t let my sister live down celebrating the “Year of the Mockey” when she was five.
In a recent Reddit thread, people shared the funny word mistakes they’ve made while trying to remember the names of things.
The weird, creative word choices people come up with will make you laugh, or at least make you feel a little better the next time you can’t remember a simple word!
“I once had to listen to my mother tell a 10-minute story about all the honkers she saw at the park. Geese. She meant geese.” (Knerdian)
“I once forgot the word for “letters” and asked my coworker how many alphabet numbers a word had.” (allibys)
“So, my dad was making a shopping list a few years ago and needed to get some cat litter. Thing is, he could not remember the name of it for the life of him, so he just describes it to the best of his ability. Now, this story doesn’t end here; my mom also needed him to pick up some ingredient he didn’t know how to pronounce.
So my dad heads to the grocery store and shows the list to an employee so they could tell him where to find the ingredient.
My dad got confused when the employee laughingly told him where to find it. He walked around the store and saw the same employee laughing with a couple of coworkers, so dear old dad looks at his list to see what was so funny. He forgot he wrote “cat sh*t rocks” instead of “cat litter.” That was ten years ago and he still calls it “sh*t rocks.”‘(The_Pantless_Wonder)
“My boyfriend thought it was clever when I asked what the right word was for “an angry parade”. Yeah, it’s a protest.” (BeastModePwn)
“I forgot the name of a peeler and tried “vegetable sharpener”. (Prolixo)
My little brother who was around 6 at the time really wanted popcorn, and he asked if he could have some of the “boom puffs.” (Trason8)
“At Target, I asked for “a can of bug-murder”. I forgot “insecticide” or even “bug spray”. The dude took it in stride, didn’t flinch.” (Pepsistopheles)
“My mom referred to Guitar Hero as “Carpet Banjo” one time. I and my friends still call it that.” (Shell058)
“Couldn’t remember groomsmen, went with dudesmaids instead.”(SuperBrentendo64)
“I once worked with a German guy who asked me what the English word for ‘a snail without a house on his back’. Took me a while to work out he meant a slug. German for slug translates to a naked snail.” (Cheapdime) creative word choices
“I forgot the word for ‘exterminator’ so I used ‘ant exorcist’ instead” (kaijucutie) Funny word
“At one point, I started googling “map of the year” because my brain short-circuited and I couldn’t recall the word “calendar.’” (goatywizard)
“My friend couldn’t remember the word “cow” for some reason, so she googled “moo beast” to remember.” (HungryParr0t)
“Hush puppies were once called “shut up dogs” by my cousin when she couldn’t think of the name.” (Protein8256) Funny word mistakes
“Back in the 90’s, I was 14 and begging my mom to let me go to a Guns n’ Roses concert. I kept nagging until she got frustrated but couldn’t remember the band name and said: “I’M NOT LETTING YOU GO TO ANY DAMN DEATH AND FLOWERS CONCERT!” I couldn’t stop laughing.” (MetalHead310) creative word choices
“I recently struggled to think of the word ‘Oval’, so instead landed on “the circle rectangle”.” (nitnitwickywicky)
“To this day most of my family refers to a strainer/colander as a “noodle stay, water go” because my older brother called it that once when he couldn’t find it and needed to ask where it was.” (starshock990)
“I once worked with a German guy who asked me what the English word for ‘a snail without a house on his back’. Took me a while to work out he meant a slug. German for slug translates to a naked snail.” (Cheapdime) creative word choices
“I forgot the word for ‘exterminator’ so I used ‘ant exorcist’ instead” (kaijucutie) Funny word
“At one point, I started googling “map of the year” because my brain short-circuited and I couldn’t recall the word “calendar.’” (goatywizard)
“My friend couldn’t remember the word “cow” for some reason, so she googled “moo beast” to remember.” (HungryParr0t)
“Hush puppies were once called “shut up dogs” by my cousin when she couldn’t think of the name.” (Protein8256) Funny word mistakes
“Back in the 90’s, I was 14 and begging my mom to let me go to a Guns n’ Roses concert. I kept nagging until she got frustrated but couldn’t remember the band name and said: “I’M NOT LETTING YOU GO TO ANY DAMN DEATH AND FLOWERS CONCERT!” I couldn’t stop laughing.” (MetalHead310) creative word choices
“I recently struggled to think of the word ‘Oval’, so instead landed on “the circle rectangle”.” (nitnitwickywicky)
“To this day most of my family refers to a strainer/colander as a “noodle stay, water go” because my older brother called it that once when he couldn’t find it and needed to ask where it was.” (starshock990)
“We were planning to go watch fireworks while the sun was going down, but I couldn’t for the life of me think what the word was, so I ended up going with “Last call for the Sun” as me and my friends have all worked in clubs and bars, still can’t live that down.” (the8roundshock)
“My ex called an animal shelter a ‘cat refugee camp’, I couldn’t breathe.” (Drivenhydra)
“Fruit Fly = Sky Raisin.” (Gene_Simmons_Taint) Funny word mistakes
“My friend is Norwegian. She couldn’t remember the English word for “monkey.” Apparently, the direct translation of monkey in Norwegian is “ape-cat.” Another favorite is “Grass Dude,” or pineapple.” (sharmalarm)
“My ex and I were hanging out one day trying to figure out what we wanted to do. I suggested maybe a walk in the park, a trip to the zoo, etc. when all of a sudden his face lit up and he gleefully asked: “WHAT ABOUT THE AQUA MUSEUM?!” It took me a good few seconds to realize he meant the “aquarium”. (wtfhannahey) Funny word mistakes
“When my sister was young, she didn’t know the word “cemetery” so she just called it a “dead-people field.”‘ (Arie008)
“Boyfriend’s mother once referred to a peacock as a disco chicken.” (MushyLump)
My buddy once referred to an air horn as ‘spray scream.’” (KittyZombie)
“Called a fan the air blender.” (Superbobski)
“One time, when I was talking to one of the kids I worked with at the time, I couldn’t remember what oranges were called, or anything they went into. Instead, I remembered that they came in slices and triumphantly yelled, “CAKE FRUIT!” The kid was not impressed.” (Avocado_Toast)
“I was playing Taboo with the family a while ago, and the goal is to try to get your partner to guess a specific word without describing it in obvious ways. The word I was trying to get my partner to guess was “Peach” – I screamed “PRINCESS MARIO’S GIRLFRIEND!” My brother still hasn’t let me live this down. To be fair, my partner DID guess Peach.” (CheeringCharlie) Funny word mistakes
“I work with a Spaniard who was NOT familiar with some or local fauna. That’s OK if you’re in the city, bad if you are living at a children’s camp. Someone dropped a toad down his back. Once he extracted himself from the visitor, he asked: “What do you call this thing? This jumping pile of sh*t!”‘ (r3jjs)
“Couple weeks ago I was getting a pack of cigarettes, and I needed some change for the parking meter. As the girl was getting my change out, I panicked. My mind blank, all I could get out of my dumb maw was “Can I have my change in metal money?”. I’m in my 30’s.” (jhra)
“A friend of mine basically said, “I need one of those bowls you put on your head”. Confused as hell, I asked him to point to it at the store we were at. It was a hat…” (TrippleAAA)
“Yesterday, I forgot what the shade is, and it was really hot outside so I told my friend “Let’s chill at the dark place.”‘ (pleasestoproyalgiant)
“She said “Baba Sugar”. She meant Sugar Daddy.” (randomly_responds)
“When hungry, a friend once asked if we had any of “those eat things,” i.e., food.” (jackmon)
“What is it that Jewish people wear on their heads…. Hmm … Oh, Yamahas.” Bob at work last week. He also streams Neckflick for movies and TV shows (Bob just turned 60).” (deleted)
My wife frequently forgets the words for things and I asked where she was and she said, “I’m across the street from the… the… children zoo…?” She was trying to say pre-school.” (iSquanch) Funny Alternative Words
“I was drunkenly trying to explain what I thought the tree out front was, so I called it a “sad b*tchy crybaby tree,” otherwise known as a weeping willow.” (Sunnyshine0609)
“I forgot “The Beatles” and referred to them as “George and the Homies” once,” (janet_weiss_majors)
“My boyfriend was writing a paper on World War I in French class and couldn’t remember the name for a grenade, so he wrote “pomme de guerre.” For the non-French speakers: Potato = “Pomme de terre” (or “earth apple”) War = guerre.” (nerdyberdy)
