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

I always thought it was "Life is but a dream" !!

And Skegness is not in Scotland. What's with the nessing then?

They are not off the coast of Scotland, that makes it sound like the isle of Arran or Bute. They are 440 miles away from the coast of Scotland.

Polo “ponies” are a type of equine (often small Thoroughbreds) that are fast and agile and good for playing Polo. So not a breed, and always called ponies even though they are usually taller than the official definition.

(The official definition of a pony (British Horse Society) is an Equus ferus caballus that is less than 14.2 hands (148cm) at the withers - basically the shoulders).

Whereas the Icelandic breed are always called horses, even though they are smaller.

Horsey lingo is a minefield - forgive me for being nerdy. Maybe that’s part of the fascination?

Close but no cigar. It’s life’s a buttered dream. I think in my 4 year old head it was a kind of buttery crumpet which made perfect sense at the time, and somehow still does 50 odd years later.

Ha ha, if it were they were probably the ones to introduce the criminal justice act banning raves and 'repetitive beats' ,( but classical and jazz are ok)

No it's not - it's life is but a dream!

Another Irish person here wondering how anyone could think Billericay sounds even remotely like an Irish place name?

I think you may have misunderstood the point of this thread.

I only found out Soft Cell's single 'Tainted Love' was a cover version a year or so ago.

And I had thought the Elgin Marbles were spheres carved from marble!

AgnessVanRhijn

It’s actually fascinating how many of these misconceptions are so common and to think how they might have come about, especially when you are learning by making connections and associations as a child.

My DH and I came across Scotch Corner while driving north, and shared that as children we had each thought that the way to enter Scotland was by turning a sharp right at Scotch Corner. We both got the idea from hearing it mentioned on traffic news on Radio 1.

My Mother was supposed to go on a cruise from Eastern Russia to Japan which was cancelled because of Covid. While looking at her route I realised that Russia wasn't as far north as I had thought. I had always thought that Japan was entirely off the coast of China, then Korea, then China again before Russia started, but actually Russia joins North Korea at the coastline so only the very bottom of Japan and the southern islands are close to China in the sense of having just a body of water between them. I was talking about it with my Japanese friend and she told me that right up north there are some blond Japanese people because Japan and Russia are only about 40km apart at that point and there has been some mixing of populations.

I think it stems from my childhood when there was an ad (I think for central heating) that referenced cold places and one of the places was Vladivostok, which led me to assume that it was far north, probably at least as far north as Stockholm or similar. In fact it's the same latitude as Florence.

Ah, two more on this thread who've never got anything wrong in their lives.

Before I saw it written I had heard it as Elgin Marvels!

Greenland being in North America and Cyprus in Asia had me boggling a bit.

I can get that

I'm not Irish but it's very close sounding to Limerick?

I hope so

On the subject of telling funny lies to gullible trusting little children, I think mine would still believe that although bees make honey, wasps make mustard - if I hadn't felt guilty and admitted I was just joking.

Billericay/Limerick - nah, totally different.

I mean - I can sort of see how foreign invaders (used to alien names like Billericay) mangled Luimneach into Limerick, but I can't think of any Irish toponymics that sound anything like that alien name.

I was sure of this too, but I'm wondering if I'm thinking of Golden Wonder, were they a more prevalent brand in the 1980s?
(And then walkers became the leading brand....?)

I think this is the explanation. Walkers crisps weren't a thing when I was a kid. They might have been a local thing around Leicester, but not anywhere else. Golden Wonder and Smiths were the big brands, and they both had blue salt & vinegar and green cheese & onion. I knew Tudor crisps because I had extended family in the north-east, but they only later and briefly became a national brand, and they had weird flavours like pickled onion.

So far as I can remember, when they did appear, Walkers always had blue cheese & onion and green salt & vinegar.

If Maggie herself posted here, she would say “actually, my dear, we are God.”

Johnson and Blair would say this is well. It seems to be a symptom of being Prime Minister for too long.

Anyway, as we were…

Snap! I realised that when I saw that same episode too

Ah OK, maybe it was just from Trainspotting and interviews then! The memory of 12 year old me isn't always the most reliable 😅