France is Bacon
One of the funniest Reddit posts I've ever read
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
As a little Christmas bonus, I’d like to share one of my all-time favorite Reddit posts. It’s Redditor Lard_Baron’s response to a question posed on AskReddit: “What is a word or phrase that you totally misunderstood as a child?” Here’s what he wrote…
When I was young my father said to me: “Knowledge is power, Francis Bacon.” I understood it as “Knowledge is power, France is bacon.”
For more than a decade I wondered over the meaning of the second part and what was the surreal linkage between the two. If I said the quote to someone, “Knowledge is power, France is Bacon,” they nodded knowingly. Or someone might say, “Knowledge is power” and I’d finish the quote “France is bacon,” and they wouldn’t look at me like I’d said something very odd, but thoughtfully agree. I did ask a teacher what did “Knowledge is power, France is bacon” mean and got a full 10-minute explanation of the “knowledge is power” bit but nothing on “France is bacon.” When I prompted further explanation by saying “France is bacon?” in a questioning tone, I just got a “yes.” At 12 I didn’t have the confidence to press it further. I just accepted it as something I’d never understand.
It wasn’t until years later I saw it written down that the penny dropped.
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Lol. I have many of these.
I confused the word “autistic” for “artistic.” I didn’t understand why autistic people were described using the same word we used to describe painters and sculptors (I grew up in NY where some people pronounce these words the same way.)
I thought the words “for which it stands” in the Pledge of Allegiance, was “for Richard stands.” I was always looked over at this boy Richard in my kindergarten class when we spoke those words and wondered why he was being mentioned.
VG. Merry Christmas!