What's a phrase you misinterpreted the meaning of for the longest time?

“That’s what she said” is way older than The Office.

"That's what she said" long predates the office. I feel like it was used in SNL in the 80's.

That’s what she said appears in print as early as Edmond Addeo and Robert Burger’s 1973 book EgoSpeak: Why No One Listens to You: “The cheapest shot of all, of course, is the ancient one-liner, ‘That’s what she said.’ This reply can be used after virtually any remark, however innocent, and the speaker can summon up some hint of double-entendre.”
- As the actress said to the Bishop.

Case and point.

I thought it was like "I made my case, and my point".

But it's case in point

Holy crap! I thought that until I just read your comment. Thank you!

I learnt the German word "geil" from context to mean something like "awesome" or " really good".

At some point I went to some mega fancy restaurant, like dressed up fancy and everything. The waiter asks how the entrees were, and I respond "geil". My wife burst out laughing and later explains to me that while "geil" is used to mean "awesome", it's very much slang and actually means "horny".

I bet the waiter told the cook and it made both their days, though.
for what its worth, you can answer „how was the food“ with geil, just not in a fancy restaurant.
Huh I dunno, I feel like its usually used as "awesome", its just rather colloquial

For the longest time I thought “limp wristed” meant ineffective, like if you were to hold something with a limp wrist you were more liable to drop it.

That was a fun day at work when I found out what it actually meant… after using the term in the middle of a meeting to describe a vendor’s poor performance.

Same with using the phrase "raw-dogging" (I think there was a cartoon about it.)

Growing up I always wrote off “it’s always in the last place you look” as just another random thing adults loved to just say all the time.

It's meant to be humorous or ironic, or to express frustration.

Of course it's in the last place you look, because once you find it you stop looking.
- My interpretation of it wasn't meaningless.
  
  Like my search for object algorithm goes like:
  
  First look where I expect it to be. It's not really missing at this point.
  
  Then I think of whether I can remember putting it somewhere different and check there. If it doesn't turn up at this point, I now consider it missing.
  
  At this point, I'll make a mental list of all of the places it makes sense to be and search down that list.
  
  If it's still not found, then I'll start just looking everywhere until either I find it, get distracted by something else, or give up on finding it.
  
  I always thought of "it's in the last place you look" in terms of the list in #3. You think of 5 places it might be, and whatever the order you check them in, it will be in the 5th location you check.
  
  Your interpretation sounds more like it's in terms of #4. Or maybe #3 but checking each place as you think of it instead of building up a backlog.
This used to piss me off as a child. Parents would say this when I'd ask them where stuff was and I'd retort "not if I never find it!"
So is that phrase a joke? I see people talk about how dumb/obvious it is, but I always thought it meant "it's always in the last place you [would have thought to] look", as in a ridiculous place you'd never consider.

However my whole family is ADHD and used to setting things in dumb spots you'd never check.
- I never really got it for the same reason. Not sure if my parents misworded it, or if I misinterpreted.
Protipp: Once you did find it, and are done with it, don't put it back where it was. Put it where you first looked for it.
Well damn, that just clicked for me.

As an ESL: "IKR" aka "I know, right?". I thought it has kind of passive-aggressive/sarcastic undertext, meaning something more of a "bro cmon this is obvious/trivial", while it's actually seems to be quite the opposite - emphatic affirmation of someones excitement about something. Keep in mind, I've never heard it IRL as I rarely talk to native speakers IRL, it was just a wrong impression from chats and online discussions.

In my language I though it was "bære den af" litrally translation, to carry it off. Turns out its "bære nag", carry a bunch of straws. The saying means to hold a grudge. They do sound super close to each other when spoken

I grew up thinking "sympathy" meant the ability to feel sorry for someone while "empathy" meant relatably feeling sorry for everyone, as in you could flashback to the experience someone was going through.

This is not a default attribute of mine, so when people would ask me about having empathy, I'd say "no, I don't have that". This grew into a misunderstanding which grew into a bad aspect of my reputation.

That said, even with the misunderstanding in mine, I still think our worth comes from our character and that alone. Whether someone mentally is actually in-tune to how everyone else thinks is irrelevant.

The sad thing for myself, a Brit that enjoyed the British version ( the original ) and can't watch more than a minute of that other load of crap, is that this saying is attributed to that shit show when it's been around for so much longer. It used to carry some weight when used sparingly and in the right context. Now it is so much more cheapened.
Well anyway OP, I hope you've learned a thing.

Edit. Gee I have only just joined this place and I had hoped it wasn't going to be like Reddit where silly fucks downvote simply because you state an opinion. Hmmmmm, should I have known better ? To the downvoters, get a life.

If you go into the US office expecting more of the UK office, you will be disappointed.
The first season is the closest to the original, but not great.
Then it found it's own flavour from season 2 onwards.

Might be worth dipping your toes into a random episode in season 2 or 3. If you go in without prejudice or expectations, you might discover it's charm.

I find that a lot with US series. Season 1 is "see what sticks" and the rest of the seasons get their groove.
- Thanks but I doubt that I'll ever dip my toe in again. Due to Reddit consistently praising "Threat Level Midnight", a few years ago I gave it a shot. It left me wondering just what the hell the attraction is. I just can't stand it, and I can't stand Carrel's character, or maybe him in general. Having said that I have seen him in a couple of movies where he wasn't playing the goof and it was fine. Each to their own, and there's plenty to keep us all entertained out there these days. Peace and love.

As a non native English speaker it took me some time to fully grasp the meaning of "i couldn't care less" it's quite tricky

Don't worry, plenty of people in the US get it wrong.
- "I could care less"

I thought kid gloves were for dealing with kids but actually they’re made from the skin of kids.

Also of note, I thought the kids were children.

I’ve seen people using “that’s what she said” in a very serious setting, as a way to say “good point/touché”.

As in there was a literal she who literally said that? Otherwise I can’t understand this.

There is, indirectly.

"That's what she said," is a descendant of a line that began with "said the actress to the bishop". And that is, according to folklore, a real event in which a named actress (I forget her name) asked a real bishop (again, don't know the name anymore) about his "prick" to which the bishop responded that it was "throbbing". (And according to that same folklore the butler, having overheard that upon entering the room, dropped his tray.)

The backstory being that the bishop had been gardening and injured his thumb on a rose. She was asking about the injury.

But that is supposedly the beginning of the expression "said the actress to the bishop" which is the phrase used in writing for "that's what she said" as far back as the old Charteris "The Saint" novels at least.
- I mean in the context of a serious setting where it’s not being used as a joke.

All but impossible and next to impossible.

how were you misusing them?
- Fortunately, didn’t get to misuse them. Just took a while to figure out what they really meant. When something is “all but impossible” it shouldn’t be taken literally. Actually just invert the apparent meaning and you get the actual one.

Indefinite leave to remain.

English is a very weird language.

What did you think it meant?
- I didn't know what to make of it. I had to read and double that it means what it is used for.

I never knew it was from the office but I wouldn’t know how to use it beyond s contextual reference to sex. A serious setting including sex jokes is either a niche industry or a red flag.

I don't think it's from The Office. OP must have heard it there first and assumed.

But yeah, agreed. Had a coworker who was a little too comfortable making those jokes, including constant "that's what she said" jokes. He turned out to be an entitled, abusive creep the first time a woman shut down one of those jokes. Now I see what a big red flag it is.

'You only use 10% of your brain' is only referring to the physical areas of your brain. Which is not true, because we have scans that can show that we use all areas of the brain.

I always thought that saying was referring to how we only use 10% of our brains potential.

That's how it's been used a lot. By people who want to sell you something promising to increase your potential.

But in reality, we only use 10% of our brain in the same way a traffic light only uses 1/3 of its lamps.