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).

Gaah sorry, I didn't spot that this was a five page thread and the dance settee had already been extensively discussed. Oops!

Interesting that so many people made the same mistake as me though.

I couldn't understand how people would go abroad for holidays when there was no food or water

Sorry @DixieLandReject - I don't get it how could 7ever be spelled patin?

*pronounced not spelled, sorry.

I don’t get it either I just had it in my head

I too thought Sinn Fein was a person - Gerry Adams to be exact

@KipperTheFrog I only realised that Sinn Fein wasn't a person about 4 years ago (I'm almost 35) 🙈 my equally as clueless friend referred to Shane Finn when we were in Dublin and laughed at her and said, 'It's Sinn Fein and I think he's dead' 😂

I did only realise about Sinn Fein a couple of years ago, I'm 32...

I only realised swans actually fly about 10 years ago. I'm 50.......

I thought the same about Sinn Fein too!!

So I used to be scared of thunder and my dad told me it was God moving the furniture to help me sleep. Everytime theres a thunderstorm I still hope its God moving the furniture

I used to pretend I could speak in French or German, when I made up words and talked utter gobbledygook...

@joyfullittlehippo
@Disco3000

I thought 99's were called that because the flake is 99mm. I'm sure it's a useless bit of trivia I've read somewhere!

An early memory:

I was washing my teddy in a basin and upon submerging him I noticed a few air bubbles rising to the surface. I immediately realised that teddy was actually (secretly) alive!

I took teddy out the water and inspected him closely but there were no signs of life. So I dunked him back in the water looking for more bubbles. But there was nothing to be seen! Again and again I tried. Still nothing.

Oh no! I had held teddy underwater for too long the first time and had in fact murdered him!

I still feel a bit guilty thinking about it now.

I used to think cars knew which turn you were going to take and would indicate automatically! Not helped by my dad deliberately not telling me about the "indicator"!!!

My mum told me if you fiddled with your belly button, it unscrewed and your legs fell off.
I didn't reeeeeaaallly believe it but was too scared it might be true to try it!

That if you swallowed chewing gum it stayed inside your body FOREVER!

I thought the fire brigade brought fire (in the hoses) to people who wanted a fire in their fireplace.

I'm from up north and children were always referred to as 'the Bens' when I was growing up.

I thought it was just a name for children when you didn't know their real name, so it was pretty weird when my own grandparents referred to me, their granddaughter, as 'the Ben' which was clearly not my name.

It clicked into place when I raid a sign in a pub loo asking customers to 'keep your bairn's close by so they don't disturb other people'...

I used to think to let signs were people letting you use their toilets

My Mum used to tell me that I would get piles if I sat on a cold floor, although she was too embarrassed to talk about bums or what piles actually are so I just assumed that my bum cheeks would fold up in a strange sheet of fleshy skin and flap around my legs like a skirt.

Logic isn't really my strong point.

Not mine but my DS....

We were out in the car and DH was directing me to a shop he needed to get some items from.

He said "it's just 100m up the road, where that UPS van is".

DS pipes up from the back "what do you mean U.P.S. van? It's "ups" isn't it!!!"

I can't help smiling every time I've passed an "ups" van since (and technically he's right as they don't have the full stops on their logo).

@DaphneFanshaw - I think that's perfectly logical.

I used to think if you broke a limb it didn’t actually hurt. You just had the cast put on to fix it but there was no pain.

When I first found out what sex was, I thought it was something that just happened when both parties were asleep

Later in life (about a year ago!) a florist opened on our town called Bo-k. I couldn’t understand why it was called Bok, rhyming with clock.