Something that gets my goat...

Here is something that, in the words of David Lo Pan, "really pisses me off to no end"...

When you are talking to someone, and you say, for example, "I used to think that John was from Canada," and they reply "No! He's from America!"

I KNOW HE'S FROM AMERICA! I DIDN'T SAY THAT I THINK HE'S FROM CANADA, I SAID I USED TO THINK! PAST TENSE! CHRIST!!!

Certain people pay no attention to what you are saying... and it's really annoying. The sentence "I used to think John was from Canada," clearly shows that the speaker ONCE thought that John was from Canada, but now knows that it's not correct.

Of course, a lazier way of saying this sentence would be "I thought that John was from Canada", which is grammatically correct, indicating the past tense, and subtley implying that the speaker now knows the truth. However, in everyday speech we use "I thought..." instead of "I think...", so this sentence is almost guaranteed to yield the annoying "No! He's..." response.

If we go to the trouble of making our sentences grammatically sound and unambiguous, is it to much to ask that the people to whom they are addressed actually pay attention to what is being said?

Try it out for yourselves... think of something that you used to think, but now know to be untrue... follow this sentence structure: "I used to think .... " and see how many times you are misunderstood. I dare you.