You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

This weekend I was inspired by Christopher McDougall's "Born to Run"" and made up a lovely display of running books, and thought I would, creatively, make an accompanying sign encouraging customers to "run amok." I then thought, hmmm, my recollection of the use of "amok" is the movie Hocus Pocus from the late '90s.  And I decided to make sure "amok" meant what I thought it meant.  It didn't.

Rather than encouraging customers to run about freely and without care, perhaps with a little wildness, I was actually inciting a murderous rampage.  Because that's what amok means, according to multiple dictionaries:  "in a frenzy to do violence or kill" (The American Heritage Dictionary).  Its secondary definition ("in a jumbled or confused state") is not much better. 

Now my lovely and very creative sign encourages customers to "run wild." 

Is there a word whose meaning has taken you totally off guard?  (It happens more than I like to admit.) 

Happy Reading,

--Mica

p.s. Bonus points if you can name the quote in the title!