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

Bwennoss Aye-res.

I didn't know Connecticut had the second c in it and smugly assumed someone had made a spelling mistake. Luckily I didn't say anything. [phew emoticon]

As a child I thought that the Moody Blues song 'Nights in White Satin' was actually about knights. Only recently (when I saw the song title written down) did I realise my mistake.

oo oo I thought the expression 'the whole kit and caboodle' was 'kitten caboodle' until I saw it written down recently...why would it be kitten??? Also my Ex DP thought unicorns existed in forests in Germany. I had to go on wikipedia go convince him otherwise

Cornish I did the same with Arkansas, I'd seen Arkansas and heard Arkensaw - but didn't connect them at all.

Though I don't think thst's so silly, given that Arkansas shouldn't sound like Arkensaw.

I know that Buenos Aires is pronounced "Boyners Ar-rees" but I am terrified to try to say, because in my head I always pronounce it "Bew-nos Airs" and I think it'll come out like the latter.

floss I thought that too! Right up until I read this thread Can someone explain what 'on aggregate' does mean then please?

And re. the elephants ride - a few months ago I took dd on some dodgems and wondered why ours wasn't moving - the attendant had to tell me to push the pedal

I thought until my mid-30s that Yosemite national park in the States was pronounced with two syllables, ie rhyming with 'hose might'. My bag. I had heard Yosemite spoken aloud but never linked it with the written word.

Youngish Bag

We must have had the same dream

I thought the wheels on vehicles moved backwards and pushed the car forwards . A few years later I went on to receive a MSc in physics

We have been to Chessington world of adventures today, and it reminded me of one of DH's corkers.

The first time we went there, he went on the flying elephants with one of the DCs. Throughout the ride, DH was gesticulating to the person supervising, as his elephant was stubbornly refusing to get airborne.

When the ride ended, DH announced mournfully: "Our one didn't go up in the air."

I said "Did you press the button? I didn't see you pressing the button."

[There is a big button with a sign saying Press this button to make me fly. ]

DH said "No. I didn't bother. I thought that was just for show."

WTF

I mean, you'd think he'd have pushed it once just to SEE WHAT HAPPENED, wouldn't you?

NB This is a true story and DH is considered an intelligent man.

Until very recently (I am 32) I thought that when the sports news person announced a football score as being 'on aggregate' I thought that meant the score had been adjusted in some way because of the surface they had played on. When I told my friend he said, " you mean, you thought they played on gravel?!" well yes I suppose somehow I did!

Until yesterday I thought water polo involved horses.

My dh was hysterical.

I still think I've seen a match where people were on horseback in a big pool throwing a ball on the end of a stick through rings

It must have been a dream

i also remember when i was a child asking my big sister what "quoi-stereotion" was (another song line). she had to break it to me that it was "crossed every ocean".

i think i should avoid pop music

i once asked a young hip colleague what a "trombelise" was. she looked at me funny and i said it was from a pop song and i was confused. i sang the line and she wet herself laughing as the line ACTUALLy went "my love has got no money, he's got his STRONG BELIEFS"

Tripoli is a bastardisation of tres poleis, which is Greek for 'three cities'. There were lots of thriving Greek colonies in North Africa, and Libya then became a part of the Roman empire, so lots of Mediterranean influence!

I mean I realised when I had sons that they are just like us.

Well, when I was younger, I thought that men didn't have feelings, and if they did, it wasn't manly to express them.

Then I had sons.

You might need to be welsh to understand this one but until fairly recently my uncle, who is astoundingly clever but lacking in common sense, thought all hospitals in Wales were called Ysbyty Hospital. The curse of the bilingual street sign!

For non-welsh people, Ysbyty is the welsh word for hospital, and all street signs in Wales are bilingual.

I was the same NanBullen. I had even heard of the rhythm technique and everything but hadn't added it all together in my mind.

until trying to conceive ds I didn't know that women were only fertile for a few days each month I was 32

Well I only clicked that it wasn't Italy when there were rebels and what have you on the news - they seemed awfully calm about there being all that bother in Italy...rofl

I thought a Star Wars light sabre was a light saver until I tried to order one for ds for Christmas on Amazon last year (I am 39).

I also thought that halfcaste was an acceptable term for mixed race and used in infront of friends, one of whom is mixed race. This was years ago and I am still so about it.