Things you assumed and were astonished to find out you were completely wrong

[Cattery]

For example: The Elgin Marbles. Heard these mentioned from time to time over the years. Always pictured marbles; kids’ marbles. Then I heard they were something to do with Greece and I’ve always thought Elgin was there. Got it all completely wrong

@YellowphantGrey @NeuroKorma . See my previous post. Before Walkers came along there were other manufacturers of crisps cheese and onion was green and yellow, and blue was standard salt and vinegar !!!

Because freddie flintoff is both a cricketer and a celebrity, not some obscure academic

I dont believe a lot of them unless all the posters are new as this thread with exactly the same misconceptions is posted about once a fortnight or maybe some kind of bot that likes to repeat the same things over and over

I know I was demonstrating the pronunciation

Golden Wonder were better crisps and yes I think the confusion comes from their colours.

No, no no….surely it’s ‘life is but a dream?!! 😳😂

There’s been a lot of mention of Brunei on this thread and I just wanted to make everyone feel less bad - I lived in Brunei from ages 5-7 and for years afterwards I told people I’d lived “in the Middle East”. I knew it was on Borneo and near Malaysia but didn’t know where they were 😬

I think I just thought - oil, Sultan, Islam, mosques - must be Middle East! I genuinely only realised where it was when I was in my late twenties and went to Thailand on honeymoon. Realised Brunei was in SE Asia 🥴

As a child I thought God was a surname and that his first name was Peter.

I was dragged to a catholic church on Sundays and always heard the refrain "Thanks Be To God" as "Thanks Peter God"

I stopped going at about 11, then only realised at an aunt's funeral about 20 years later when I saw it written down 😳

That the euro tunnel isn't glass and I can't see fishies 🤣🤣

True!

As a child I was writing “point of you”, which makes a kind of sense

Walkers wasn't a dominant brand, Smith's and Golden Wonder were far more popular in the 70s and 80s, and KP's.

Walkers (local company to the Midlands) were bought by Pepsi in the 90s and had a big advertising budget (hello, Gary Lineker!). They became market leaders by the 2000s.

NB v0 Hula Hoops are KP, so salt and vinegar is blue for them (I had a packet last night) and not green like Walkers.

So people who think the colour changed are right, but for the wrong reason. The dominant colour of salt and vinegar went from blue to green because the dominant brands went from Golden Wonder and KP to Walkers.

This is so cutting and I love it.

The french also have them - called a dahu

That’s a shame you feel like that. I’ve found the responses interesting and amusing

And I thought the Average white band were black, until TOTP last week.

I didn't really know who she was tbh, just assumed from hearing her mentioned the odd time on the radio rather than listening to her songs!

Penrith isn’t in Wales. No idea why I thought it was, it just sounds to me like it should be.

This thread has made me chuckle on a grey day! I loved the doomsday book one and the person who heard the shipping forecast and thought she'd intercepted secret military messages.

Until I was about 25 I thought that hornets were a kind of musical instrument (I think a mixture of cornets and horns must have been in my mind). I'd hear the phrase "hornets' nest" and think what a weird phrase it was, why would there be a nest of instruments, and then shrug and move on with my life.

Also on the musical theme, in the 90s my sister's friend thought the Ministry of Sound was a ministerial government department.

When Dunelm opened in our town my relative was going around telling everyone how good Dune lmmmm was. Took us ages to work out what on earth they were on about.

I never realised until I was an adult that it wasn't really Father Christmas the mum was kissing in 'I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus'. I always thought it was a bit mean on the dad 🙈

The Young Ones did a great spoof on that!

I thought Andorra was part of Portugal. My 8yr old corrected me.

I thought until I was about 18 that when they said "deuce" in a tennis match it was "juice", meaning it was time for a break to get a drink!