What were your childhood misconceptions?

[Splodgerbodgerbadger]

I always used to think if a pub said free house it meant you got free beer.

There was this lorry place we used to drive past that always had a sign saying pallets wanted, I always used to think ‘why do they want paint pallets’.

There was a coal fire at my Granny’s house and one day my Dad touched it and I realised it was fake and it never felt as warm after that.

I thought 99’s were so called because they cost 99p if only!

Oh God, I was around 11 before I twigged that women who were pregnant/giving birth on TV were actually only acting! I thought they had to get pregnant specially for the role and then were actually filmed in genuine labour!!

We used to save the foil milk bottle tops for the blind. For years I thought they made eyes out of the foil circles!

Always thought Disney was spelt Disnep, with a silent p.

Curlyshabtree · Today 19:13

We used to save the foil milk bottle tops for the blind. For years I thought they made eyes out of the foil circles!

Oh, that's excellent!

When the first IVF baby Louise Brown was conceived, and the papers were full of the "test tube baby"

I couldn't for the life of me work out how a baby could grow in a teeny test tube 😂

I didn't know what "Plant Hire" was. Why would plants be hired?!

YY to the "man helping with enquiries"! I thought they were being kind and helpful too! I'd forgotten that.

I can't remember exactly how old I was when I realised that other people kept on existing when I wasn't there, but it was much older than normal and my ghast was well and truly flabbered.

I was diagnosed as autistic in my 30s and then learned about 'theory of mind', so that explains that.

And yes, I also thought the Wombles were either a bit uncouth or not rare, as opposed to living in a large green space in south west London. In my defence, I'm from Glasgow and knew as much about SW London as I did about the moon at that age.

@AffIt ha, ha. I never dreamt I'd marry a womble and live near the Windmill when I was a young un.

DH supported Wimbledon FC and for a time we lived very close to the Common. You can get the underground and the overground from Wimbledon

An elderly neighbour died when I was four, I asked my mum where he had gone. She said "to heaven". I asked where heaven was and she pointed at the sky. I asked how you got there, she said you just went. I distinctly remember trying to picture the neighbour driving his car (a Ford Cortina) vertically up to the sky, like a rocket, and thinking it seemed very awkward. My mum shut the conversation down after that, it wasn't "nice" to talk about it apparently.

I've since always been quite open with my own DCs about the practicalities after death (when they've asked, and age appropriate).