Spendthrift: not what I thought it was

A confession: until very recently I thought a spendthrift was someone who was careful (thrifty) with money.

In reality, as I'm sure you know, a spendthrift is the very opposite - "one who spends money profusely or wastefully; one who wastes his patrimony by foolish or lavish expenditure; an improvident or extravagantly wasteful person" (OED Online).

World Wide Words: Spendthrift

What words have you misunderstood (or if you prefer, reinterpreted)?

One quote, two opposing interpretations

A Daily Mail article from last year (click for a larger image):


I am intrigued by the quote from Ann Robinson at the top of the second column: "We cannot under-estimate the impact higher household energy prices will have on customers."

Presumably Robinson means that the impact of higher energy prices shouldn't be underestimated; that to do so would be unwise. However when I first read the article I took her to be saying that it was impossible to underestimate the impact of higher prices; in other words, that the impact would be so small as to be negligible. This, obviously, conflicts with what Robinson says next.

One quote, two opposing interpretations. Context indicates which one is correct.

Online version of the story from This is Money


Happy new year, by the way, and I hope your energy bills aren't too high in 2009...