What stupid things have you believed/said/assumed before finding out to your embarrassment you were wrong?

DH once tried to get me into thinking there used to be coal ran washing machines. I believed him for a few weeks minutes.

These are fabulous!

Oh oh and my lovely DH, who os streeeeeeeeeeeeeeemly clever and well read, though there were 'Arcticulated' trucks....that were refrigerated for conveying perishables

Until a couple of years ago I thought scampi was an actual animal a bit like a prawn.

I also only recently found out that salad nicose is not pronounced ni-co-say.

.... and until about 5 mins ago I thought Arkansaw was an actual place :)

I'm probably about to out myself to my sister, but hey ho ....

My sister, aged about 4, asked my mum what a 'commonarwee' is. As in "the Wombles of Wimbledon commonarwee"

My confession is 'sumbarine'.

Oh thank God Blondie, not just me!!

It ends in Istanbul apparently! Which is the gateway to the Orient or somesuch?

At least that's what I learned on a recent R4 programme presented by Sandy Toksvig and she would never lie to us, right? Right?!

I remember seeing a demonstration many years ago - when I was about 18 - outside the Sri Lankan embassy, calling for freedom for the Tamils. Back in the Office, I mentioned it and said "What are Tamils? They're little furry animals, aren't they?"

Much hilarity ensued at my expense.

Maybe I was thinking of Lemurs.

Thank fuck I'd never heard of the Tamil Tigers then! Bollocks only knows what my imagination would have done with that one. I'd have probably announced to all and sundry that the Sri Lankan authorities were cruelly cross breeding little furry animals with large striped predators, so no wonder people were protesting. [lucky escape emoticon]

Jodie I thought the orient express went through china where does it go then? And why is it called orient?

I believed that battery hens were so named, because they were given electric shocks to make them lay eggs. To be fair, this is what my dad told me and I am was very gullible. I was put right when aged about 17 or 18 having an intelligent conversation with work colleagues about animal welfare. Very

Until the day before yesterday, I thought the Orient Express ended in China.

When I realised that the likelihood of a train running from Paris to Shanghai on a single track was fairly remote I laughed so hard I did a tiny tiny wee. DH very kindly says it's not that unlikely and couldn't understand why I was lying on the floor howling and thumping the carpet

While I don't doubt that your explanation is correct Naoko, all confusion could be avoided if the proper English term were to be used ie "the aggregated score is...." I might take myself off to pedant's corner with this one!

I thought that the lead singer with Duran Duran was simon the bomb. I was about 12 before I realised my horrible shameful mistake.

Friends dp thought that muslin squares were called Muslim cloths. We have had many an hour piss taking out of that.

I have numerous song lyric mistakes. One is the first line from the pulp song, 'common people'. She came from Greece she had a supermarket

When I went to uni and lived in a hall of residence the cleaners kept our communal toilets stocked with those paper bags you get in hotel bathrooms etc to put used sanitary towels in. My then boyfriend came to visit and after using the bathroom asked, "what are those paper bags for? I think I know but I'm not sure." I asked him what he thought they were for and he replied "for putting poo in." Ewwwwww! I'm not quite sure how he thought that would work. And why would that be a better system than a flushable toilet?!!

Thank goodness cornishmade ! ive been also calling it "yose might" two syllables all my life

I had a dear friend who discovered when we were 18yrs that ivanhoe is just that ans not "e van hoe hey"

noonar I thought (think) it's 'another thing coming' too!

My very clever DD2 (she's just got a lot of A*s and As in her GCSEs) thought until a few months ago that there were traffic lights in the middle of the channel tunnel, thus allowing the cars driving (yes driving) through, to swap sides in preparation for the other side. This is even more ridiculous given that we have been through the tunnel over 100 times.

She also asked whether our cat, who had only hours before had her kittens, was a girl or a boy.

How the fuck she managed to get so many top grades will defeat us all for ever and a day.

Another one here who thought for years that Yosemite was pronounced Yoh-se-mite. . I didn't even equate Yosemite Sam with it, finally got it when I was about 25. Oh dear.

I thought AWOL stood for "absent, wandering or lost". Until quite recently. I am 34.

Noonar when I was doing my PGDE I had a little boy in my class (must have been five or six) who was overheard singing "Gloria, hosannah headache Chelsea"

and that is the sort of 11yo I want my DS and DD to be - the sort I was infact. Not being given alcopops, as on that other thread

When I was learning to drive, my driving instructor told me not to let the car free wheel i.e. I think not to disengage clutch.

I thought he meant '3' wheel' so in my head I had visions of the car being on 3 wheels with one in the air if that makes sense like herbie films.

I told my DH this is what I thought instructor meant and he was in hysterics and explained that it was the clutch thing.

also in a girls school and didn't really understand sexual intercourse at 11 and have visions of the sperm swimming across the bed sheets to go into the vagina. Also I said to my mother who was with a good gf at the time. 'Why don't people wear pants in bed then they wouldn't get pregnant'. They both went into hysterics.

ok, here are a few more:

me as an adult: that chickens have 4 legs (til quite recently).
as a child:
i thought that a tv show called 'reilly ace of spies' was called 'relay of spices'

my 35yo ( v clever) brother: thinks its 'championCHIP'not 'ship'.

my friend grew up thinking the 'happy eater' restaurant chain was called 'happy easter'

dd singing xmas carols... "we wish you a merry xmas and a happy new EAR"

and like most of the population, i used to think the expression 'got another THINK coming' was 'another THING coming'

also, had idea that 'calling a spade a spade' had racial overtones

lady lions classic!

lady lions classic!

I thought (until recently) that the shoes you get at bowling were steel toe capped!

I bring this one out on every thread like this
But I used to think tigers were female lions - not in a "properly thought about it" way, just in a "never corrected a misconception I had when I was tiny" way. DH still calls them "lady lions" and laughs at me