Misconceptions as a Child

[The Friendly Sharptooth]

Who didn’t have them? Surely everyone at some point perceived something as a child that upon getting older or advice proved to be wrong. This could prove to be a rather humorous thread.

When I heard, very young, that diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin, I had the crazy idea that if I took insulin every time I had a sugary food, I could never diabetes, as the extra dosage would always see to it I had enough when needed. (Yeah, I was even complicated as a child. )

My parents always told me that fresh food tastes the best. Now, being Italian, my father is a big pasta preparer. We have it numerous times a week. Anyway, my father prepares it two ways without using sauce: butter or chicken broth. Now as a child, I did not notice a visual difference between the two, and I loved the chicken broth kind but not the butter kind. Therefore, I thought every time he used chicken broth, it was fresh, and every time he used butter, it was not fresh. (In other words, I thought it was made with the same stuff each time, just mixed up freshness with a differing of ingredients.) I would always say, “Hey, this isn’t fresh,” when he made it with butter when my father would insist it was. Years passed before I learned the difference.

You know how people say, “What’s the magic word?” when they want you to say please? As a child, I didn’t know that. I don’t recall it well, but my mother told me that, when I would be asked, I would say, “Abrakadabra,” and the people would laugh until they got me whatever anyway.

Anyone else have things they saw differently or didn't understand as a child he or she would like to share?

[Mumbling]

I remember that as a child I thought whether you were right or left handed was decided by your gender. This is because I was righthanded and my younger brother was left handed, so was my best (male) friend. Only when my 2nd brother was born and turned out to be right-handed, I got confused. My parents happily told me that mom was left-handed and dad right-handed... So my mind was at peace with that :

Can't think of anything else right now.

[pokeplayer984]

I once thought cartoons were real.  You have NO idea how crazy that mindset made me look.

[MC CJ'S REVENGE]

I use to think New York City had everything like Publix stores, and almost every type of bus ever made in service. Apparently that's not the case there. There are no Publix stores in New York City or the whole state for that matter. And New York City didn't have every type of bus in service. Oh well you learn something new everyday.

[bushwacked]

I used to think that when my parents took me to Chinatown in London, we actually were in China.

[LBTFan13]

As a kid, I always thought if somebody died in a movie, they died in real life. Man did that mess me up a bunch of times. :blink:

[The Chronicler]

One thing from when I was a kid that I'll never live down is that I never understood that Uranus joke. <_<  Occasionally, some kid in my class would ask me, "How big is Uranus?" and I would answer with the diameter of that planet. For a long time, I never understood why people laughed at me every time I gave them the same "correct" answer.    <_<

[MC CJ'S REVENGE]

One thing from when I was a kid that I'll never live down is that I never understood that Uranus joke. <_<  Occasionally, some kid in my class would ask me, "How big is Uranus?" and I would answer with the diameter of that planet. For a long time, I never understood why people laughed at me every time I gave them the same "correct" answer.    <_<

You have to see people when they use "That's What She Said"

[Cancerian Tiger]

Believe me, I had quite a few .  At one time or another I actually believed the following:

*Sucking the blood from a lost tooth, cut, etc. would "recycle" me blood and prevent blood loss.

*The sky was purple.

*I could outrun my short-term childhood crush, Sonic the Hedgehog .

*If I ate Atomic Fireball candies, I became a firebreather.

*I could change into a cheetah when pissed off (in my dreams at least ).

*I had an evil twin who looked like a female Satan .

*I believed in EVERY superstition that came my way 'cuz someone said it was true .

*Corned beef was really dog meat.

*If someone had a "frog in their throat", they really did .

*Eating dinosaur gummies, dinosaur egg oatmeal, etc. was the same as eating real dinosaurs.

By the time I was a tween, I had this all figured out  .

[Mumbling]

Oh, another one is that I thought I had zoom in vision... Yes! Until it didn't work anymore. But hey, the thought must've come from somewhere

(I still pick up tiny details though )

[jansenov]

*Sucking the blood from a lost tooth, cut, etc. would "recycle" me blood and prevent blood loss.

Me too.

As a kid I believed in some nonsense as well.

When I was a kid, I thought that the root of a number was a real root, like the root of a tree, so when somebody asked me "How big is the root of five?", I would try to show the size of the root with my hands.

I thought that Turkey was the country where tourists live. Somehow I mixed up "Turska", which is Croatian for Turkey, and the adjective "turisticka", which means "pertaining to tourists".

I could not fathom the concept of the existence of any language other than Croatian. I was shocked when I heard English on Cartoon Network for the first time. What makes this ironic is the fact that when I lived in Hamburg in Germany as a two-year old I could speak German almost as well as Croatian (so my mother says), but I forgot German when I returned to Croatia.

I thought that a sentence must fit into a single line in a notebook. So, when I had to write a long sentence, I tried to squeeze the letters as much as possible so the sentence can fit into a single line. Fortunately, my father noticed this and he told me I can start writing the remaining words into new line. It was an epochal discovery for me, like the wheel had been invented anew.

I once tried to draw the map of the world when I was 7. I made a map with only a handful of countries, such as America, Australia, England, Austria, Germany, Croatia and some invented ones, like Adria. I ddin't know how the countries looked like, so I just placed their names where they I thought they were located relative to each other and draw their flags beneath their names. I drew Austria and Germany north of Croatia, England and America west of it, and I drew Adria and Australia somewhere to the Croatian south. I got every flag wrong except for the Croatian one. The flag of Austria I drew looked like the flag of Britain with inverted colours.

I didn't know what fathers are for. I thought: "Mothers give birth to children, but what does a father do?" This bothered me until a saw a scene in Terminator, where a woman lies on a man and he firmly grips her stomch with his hands. I had it figured out! A baby is made when the father strongly presses the stomach of the mother with his hands! I believed in this until I was 9 or 10.

Now, please excuse me while I go hide under a rock.

 

[The Anonymous Person]

For quite some time, I believed I was an atheist simply because our family did not go to church. Only some months ago did I realize this was not true.

[Ptyra]

One thing from when I was a kid that I'll never live down is that I never understood that Uranus joke. <_<  Occasionally, some kid in my class would ask me, "How big is Uranus?" and I would answer with the diameter of that planet. For a long time, I never understood why people laughed at me every time I gave them the same "correct" answer.     <_<

And this is why we say it "yur-un-us" in the proper astronomical community. My solar system professor, who is part of The Planetary Society (headed by Bill Nye) and long time teacher of astronomy ensured we dropped that joke like a fig the very day we started class.

- It wasn't really a misconception, but I struggled with the concept of little kids dying. I don't know how I became cognizant of death, but it was just really unsettling. I remember talking to my mother about an earthquake in Turkey when she was young, and how a lot of people got killed. I said "But not the kids, right?"
"Yes, kids too." And yet when she had a miscarriage and was told that "Alice died" (Alice was the name pre-selected just because we liked it, and is a name I totally intend on bestowing upon my own daughter), I just...kinda left her to cry in the bathroom to do whatever. I knew what it meant, but for some reason it didn't bug me like the kids-dying-in-a-Turkish-earthquake did...
I have a feeling Turkey is going to show up a lot here...

- Oh, I thought my mother could speak Turkish simply because she spent a small portion of her childhood there. I don't even know if she still remembers how to count to ten in Turkish now...

- My mother referred the female bat at the end of Anastasia as "Natasha", even though she doesn't actually have a name. But I totally did. And still think of her as "Natasha" .

- I could only comprehend going to another state by flight. My grandparents in Ohio had an orange and white cat named Butterscotch. So when I was six, a kitten/year old cat was in our neighborhood, and I thought she looked like my grandparents' Butterscotch. Which transferred in my mind as having come from the sky =P . Turns out she was born in the neighborhood.

- When I was seven, I wrote a fan letter to Michael York, and we sent it to his agent's address. I like to think that he got it, but I really don't know. I spent a long time thinking he'd write me back.

@CancerianTiger Oooooh, dinosaur egg oatmeal *salivates frothily*

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

The first time I applied to a job, I put down "Michaels Customer Service department" in a desperate attempt to buff my flimsy resume. Thank god they didn't press me for details, because my Michaels career went thusly:

When I was seven my parents told me I'm supposed to answer the phone when it rings, so I thought they meant to answer any phone unless it appeared someone else was going to. Somehow this never got me in trouble.

One time my mom took me to Michaels, which is a Califorina-based fabric/arts-n-crafts department store. She left me alone to roam the store while she shopped, and somehow I found my way to the staff rooms in the back. Eventually I reached the customer service phone, which was currently unmanned. It kept ringing, so I kept answering, and giving what must have been great customer service.

Caller: "Hello, I was wondering if you sell earrings?"
Me: "I have no idea."
Caller: "…you know, those earrings that dangle?"
Me: "Like the ones my mom wears?"
Caller: "I guess so."
Me: "Nope, no clue. Sorry."

Next caller: "Hi, I bought a crate of balsa glue sticks, but none of them actually stick. Can I return the whole box even though I've used a few?"
Me: "I don't know. What's balsa?"

And on, like that. My favorite was the last one, after Mom had them say my name over the intercom to come to the front of the store.

Final caller: "Hi, I think I left my wedding ring at one of your fingernail-painting stations."
Me: "Sorry, I can't talk right now, I've got to go home. Bye!"

[Nahla]

When I was 6 I was told 'I could grow up and be anything I wanted if I set my mind to it' I thought that I could actually be anything. Until I was 8 I wanted to a wild unicorn when I grew up.

That money from an ATM just came from the wall and I could get as much as I want when ever I wanted to.

That the factories that had the white steam stuff coming from them were cloud factories..yes..cloud factories.

Cause I lived  and still do live in NEW South Wales,I asked people what happened to 'Old South Wales' never understood why they laughed at me..

That it was always the same time in every part of the world,then I discovered timezones...but then I couldn't figure out how the sky can be two different colours on each side of the world...oh silly 7 year old me.

That all my siblings would die before me because they are all older,spent years of my childhood before saying "I'm going to live longer then everyone else!" but I then learned thats not how life works.

Also I do remember asking 'Santa' for a pony for quite a few years,I was convinced I could keep it in the backyard and it could just eat grass for food,finally my parents got me riding lessons to shut me up

When I first went to Sydney harbor,I thought it was another country on the other side..much to my disappointment it is just another part of Sydney.

And one last thing,it took me years to figure out how faxing worked. I didn't understand how the paper went from me to the other person,now I know...the paper doesn't leave me at all..the other person gets the message on their own piece of paper.

[Compsognathus]

In my kindergarten days, I accidentally brought menu from a café with me to home, and I was very afraid, that I will go to jail. And few days after, my dad said something about jail, clearly irrelevant to this, and I was terrified again, that police will come and arrest me just for this.

[Mr. Clubtail]

A perfect example of a misconception until I was probably 6 is that I thought that whales, dolphins, octopodes, squid, and anything that ended with "fish" were a kind of fish.