What were your misconceptions as a child?

[Geekster1963]

I always used to think when a pub said 'free house' it meant you got free drinks. I also thought a '99' was so called because it cost 99p. (Was a lot less when I was a child).

I should add the first time I got the bus was around the same time I thought people disappeared after getting on one!

I live close to the sea and whenever I saw people out on speedboats, I thought they had won them on Bullseye

That the Catholic Church was a good institution that tried to do good in the world, and that priests and nuns were good people who told you the truth and should be respected.

The the radio ads for the ‘sweet’ store were for a gigantic warehouse with sweets for £1.99 not sofas of £199!

Also that you had to wear glasses to see your dreams at night. Wore mine at night until I was about 7!

That the sign saying 'Heavy plant crossing' near roadworks meant that the nearby trees would haul up their roots and walk about

I thought Rentokil was a hitman service 🙈

That the hymn Lord of the Dance was about a sofa....my young ears heard "I am the lord of the dance setee!"!!!

In hindsight, I am very glad I thought this when I was a child...

When Jimmy Savile read out the "please can you fix it for me" letters, they were always on yellow paper. As an adult, I'm guessing the text was printed on yellow paper to avoid glare from studio lights (maybe? I'm just guessing).

Anyway, I remember getting upset that I couldn't write to Jim'll Fix It as "we don't have any yellow paper".

@Violetroselily

My mum used to pay for the weekly shop with a cheque in the mid 90s (lol imagine that now) and I would ask why we didnt pay for everything by cheque?!

This is too cute!!! God I feel old now I'm only 32 but remember being trained to take cheques in my first weekend job in a shop - sort of rolled something over them to ink stamp. Good times.

I thought it was 'dance settee' too.

Glad I'm not alone, Charley50! I had visions of kids jumping all over sofas, because they were "dance setees" you were allowed to!!!!

@Yerroblemom1923

That the hymn Lord of the Dance was about a sofa....my young ears heard "I am the lord of the dance setee!"!!!

My poor mum was mortified when I sang along (LOUDLY) at my cousins wedding "I am the lord of the downstairs loo"

I remember her apologising to some family with "i don't know where she got it from, we don't even have one a toilet downstairs!"

😂😂😂

We lived in the Midlands but my parents were from London.

I thought my Dad's Dad died during The Great Plague and my Mum's Dad died during The Great Fire.

No concept of time.

And me @Yerroblemom1923 - I also thought the hymn was strangely linked to Hong Kong Phooey, and he would jump out of the filing cabinet and onto the Dance Settee!! 😂😂

I thought that banks kept everyone's money in a box with their name on and when you went to get money they went and found your personal box.

If there was a bank robbery they would have to check whose money had been stolen by the empty boxes.

I thought that the stalls in the theatre were actually stalls that sold sweets, whenever we went to the panto at Christmas I looked in vain for the sweets, but could only find rows of seats.

I used to think that there were tiny bands playing in the radio. I didn't realise that records were being played!

I thought Sinn Fein was a person, not a political party.
I thought "free house" meant anyone could go and live there for free, and wondered why more people didn't do that!

I thought "no return two hours" meant we couldn't return to my parents parked car for two hours.

Am I the only one who is learning loads of things I thought to be true are in fact totally wrong thanks to this thread?!

When I was little I didn’t understand veins etc and thought our skin was basically a bag of blood

Also when my DM paid for then weekly shop and the cashier would offer cash back, I’d wonder why my mum would also say no thanks. I thought they would just give you cash!

thought when you deposited money in the bank it was kept in a box with your name on it

A worrying number of the population still think is how National Insurance payments work ...

My Granny had a fake coal fire that I always thought was real, until one day my Dad put his hand on it. It never felt as warm again.

I thought foxes were big, fierce creatures that would eat you all up, like in the gingerbread man. I was quite disappointed when I saw one, and saw they were small, and ran away.

I was also confused by pin the tail, or in this case, pin the nose on the clown. At the start of the party, I saw it prominently displayed on an easel, and I asked what it was for: I was told "you'll be sticking the nose on, whoever gets it closest wins". I thought, what an easy game, I'm certain to win! My excitement was overflowing when I was chosen to go first, but it faded when I found I couldn't see. Not fair, I didn't know I'd have a blindfold on!