What do you remember from your childhood that you now realise you really misunderstood?

When I used to hear on the news that someone had been taken into custody I used to wonder why someone would be punished by putting them into a bath of custard.

@Katiesaidthat You need to see "The play that goes wrong". One character in it pronounces lots of words as they are spelled (as he reads his lines from the back of his hand), including "façade".

I thought when people broke a bone it meant a bit of their arm or leg had literally fallen off and had to be glued back on. I remember my friend at primary school breaking her arm and having it in a sling and I really wanted to have a peek to see how they’d managed to reattach half of it - did they perhaps use Velcro? 😁

I thought when I ran ahead of my parents up a hill that I startled a couple who were lying in the grass kissing. I actually startled them because they were having sex.

I thought there were thousands of roads called 'Give Way'

I thought buggery was a type of burglary and loudly asked my mum in front of loads of relatives if this was the case

Suh ra mic, surely?

In the few months between the day we were taught about periods at school, and whether I actually started my periods, I believed that the time you are menstruating was like going to the toilet.

What I mean is you know like every few hours you have to go to the toilet to urinate? Well I believed that for the five days you're on your period every few hours you would go to the toilet and expel some blood then just pull up your pants and walk away until the next time.

when my period actually started and I discovered that the blood came out constantly for that five days, I was absolutely horrified and I could not work out how women dealt with this in their everyday busy lives.

perhaps I was not listening in class when they talked about sanitary protection?

I was born in the 1950s.

When I was growing up I noticed that the only women who got pregnant were those who wore a gold ring on the third finger of their left hand.

I deduced that there must have been something about the ring that made women get pregnant, but I couldn't decide whether it was the pressure of the ring on the finger, or some sort of chemical reaction from having something gold wrapped around the finger.

My late mother couldn't understand why the horse Bar ran in every race she watched on TV, when the betting odds were shown Bar was always at the end but it never won anything.

Something I have said before, the hymn, There is a green hill far away without a city wall puzzled me, I couldn't think why a green hill would need a city wall. Later I realised that 'without' meant outside the city walls.

i loved my dog so much i assumed i would marry him when i grew up. i was crushed when my parents eventually explained that wasn’t possible.

Jewel carriageways!

I thought they were called that because the different coloured cat's eyes always looked like pretty jewels on the road.

When I found out it was actually a dual carriageway (might have been 17 reading the Highway Code) I was kind of gutted.

When I was 11 years old, I overheard a conversation between my mum and a neighbour. The neighbour was telling my mum that her (the neighbour's mum) had cancer and that this had begun with a lump on her chest (the neighbour and my mum were too prudish to use the word 'breast'). A few months later, I was having a bath and noticed two lumps on my chest, one on either side. I panicked in silence for weeks, convinced I had cancer and checking the lumps from time to time.

Then, at school, we started what is now called sex education (then, in the '60s, it was coyly called the facts of life). We girls were taught about periods by a female teacher, Mrs Guinn. After the lesson, I went up and asked her whether the lumps on my chest were cancer. She reassured instantly me but I remember with embarrassment 50+ years later her suppressing her amusement at my musunderstanding. It never occurred to me to ask my mum, unlike my daughter, who when hers started to grow, asked: 'Mum, how big are my breasts going to be? Will they be the same size as yours?'

I used to think there was an actual choir singing every time my parents put a record on - waiting somewhere ready to sing

Also used to think runners (people running) ran everywhere all the time

My 5 year old thinks that when her clothes get too small they keep shrinking and eventually will fit her teddies

That the song 'daddys home' by Cliff Richards, was about a home for daddy's, not that it meant daddy was coming home to stay.

I love this so much! Alice the Camel - excellent

I still think of custard when I hear it now 😆

My DS2 (aged 21) got a car (bit of a banger) a couple of years ago and when the power steering went on it, he said to me, "but surely that's what I pay the insurance for, so they will fix it for free?" bless him, he's the smartest one in the family tbh as well.

<no hope for the rest of us lol>

Same here!!

I don't get this?

You’re welcome! Exactly I was picturing a talking a camel with 3 humps. Think there was a cartoon video to help the visual.

even know when he’s occasionally interviewed I still think he’s called Alice the Camel

I can remember my dad saying something about his birthday suit once and wondering what he was on about because he hadn't had a suit for his birthday that year.

David Cameron had that exact same misconception - which he demonstrated with TV cameras on him... as an adult... as Prime Minister!

Thinking Broadmoor was full of comedians. I could see the lights of the hospital from my bedroom window and my mum would tell me it was a place for "funny people" (early 70s).

When I started uni, I had no concept of what an overdraft was.

I saw the numbers of my balance going up on the screen, even though I was regularly withdrawing money, and bizarrely didn't twig what the minus sign meant.

I just assumed that my Dad had been putting money in my account for me; he did do that when he could, but not quite as regimented as that: i.e. that I'd withdraw £20 and Dad would pay in exactly £40 at that exact same time, so the balance was thus £20 higher and I also had £20 in my hand.

I was an adult, for goodness' sake!!!