What do you remember from your childhood that you now realise you really misunderstood?

[Carryonrunning]

Was just chatting to a friend about this:

1. Hearing all the boys in class talking about how a girl’s tampon fell out in the classroom. Lived in fear of this for many years before I realised they meant it fell out of her bag, not her body!

2. Opening the door of a sauna with my cousin (which was right in the middle of the spa area, so not private) on holiday in a nice hotel and my uncle inside shouting at us to close the door. I cried for weeks thinking I’d inadvertently seen him naked (although I didn’t actually see anything). Couldn’t look at him for years without feeling sick before I was old enough to realise we were just letting the heat out and annoying the other people in there! No one was naked in mixed sauna in the very public pool area of a nice spa hotel full of people!

Love this thread!
I had a fear of wolves and my Mum told me that I didn’t need to worry as there were none in this country. I miunderstood and took it to mean they weren’t real. I spent far too many years thinking wolves were a work of fiction!

My grandmother lived with another women when I was growing up. Not once did it occur to me that they might be in a relationship- that had to be explained to me as an adult!

I used to think my dad waved at strangers in the car. I used to say "who was that" and he'd say he didn't know. Took me a while to realise he was saying thanks to other drivers etc 😂 I thought he was insane!

Like a unicorn! 😆

@Whoyoutakingto

i thought the same thing as you when i was about 7 - especially once my cousin told me about sex - how could anyone want to do that?? Must happen in your sleep 🤣🤣🤣

My mum’s a German teacher and I thought all mums spoke German

I've seen a parent make this mistake!

My mum told me this (I was younger than 5 as it was before we moved house) but I thought she said the COWS were banging together.

For years I thought thunder was cows bumping into each other 😂

My daughter's does! 😄

I am about to blow your mind about ells who all migrate to the Sargasso Seavto breed
https://www.gwct.org.uk/wildlife/species-of-the-month/2015/may/#:~:text=Once%20the%20mature%20adult%20eels,thought%20to%20die%20after%20spawning.

Some of these are brilliantly funny thank you to @CynicalSunni for this:

I used to think the the song 'i got my my set on you' by george harrison was about adoption.

and @Bloodybrambles for this which really made me laugh!

Why we didn’t just photocopy money. I thought I’d be sorted as an adult as I’d just buy a photo copier and print myself money. I remember my mum telling me that it was illegal and would go to prison. I was convinced that I could get away with it as i’d do my copying when nobody was home. When I saw my teacher using a guillotine I thought I’d be able to mass produce my fake notes.
Even when I saw the UV light to check notes I’d think of all the places I could use fake notes without the checker.
I was basically a criminal in the maker. I spent years thinking of how I’d live my life as a millionaire with my unlimited money.

When I was younger I was sometimes dropped off at my grandad’s house so he could look after me. Much to my dissatisfaction he always watched snooker on the TV (with the volume off). I used to wonder why no one wanted to pot the white ball. When it was accidently potted I couldn’t understand why no one got excited about it, as potting a white ball seemed to be a rarity.

When younger I thought that Ireland was Germany.

In the 80s/90s when we went to the video shop I always wanted to rent the fudge-it-if with Harrison Ford (The Fugitive).

When I was a teenager there was a dance song which had the lyrics “If your name’s not down you’re not coming in…” I thought this was “If your name’s not Dan you’re not coming in…”. I had envisioned a nightclub full of Dans and pondered how boring that would be!

I thought frostbite was when Jack Frost would appear in winter and come and bite your fingers and toes off. Thought others were either very brave or stupid to be out building snowmen and throwing snowballs!

@DuesToTheDirt I think they did. That's why I have such a clear picture in my mind of it!

As a teen I also recall asking my A-level history teacher who General Will was (we were studying the French Revolution)…🙄 I didn’t get a very good grade as you can imagine…

Thank you! It was over forty years ago and it still stays with me! I was brought up in a staunch Catholic family and I really thought that Jesus was coming to judge us all! 😂

I remember hearing some adults talking about a big plantation style mansion/ house that was "a station on the underground railroad". I can't remember whether it was on TV or in a picture book but I must have seen a picture because I have an image of the house in my head - it was beautiful southern style house surrounded by a wide green lawn and weeping willow style trees with no sign of a railway station.

I was completely fascinated by the absence of any train station so assumed it must be under the house. I thought how magical this totally secret underground railway that stopped at people's houses must be and how amazing to have a secret train that stopped at your house.

I was too old before I realised that this was what they were talking about. Not magical in any way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad

That's so funny! My Mum's name is Jill. The only other child whose Mum's name I knew also happened to be Jill. I thought all Mums were called Jill. I was so shocked when my Mum stopped to talk to another Mum in the street and called her Pauline.😂

I thought the name Stephen was pronounced like step hen. I remember telling someone that Step hen was my favourite in Boyzone 😂

Oh gosh, yes! I remember a girl at primary school telling me that when you got your period, you had to sit on the toilet for five days!

Oh that is just superb! I love that! Step Hen. I can imagine a hen stepping around very carefully!

Two things
I went a friend's house and wondered why all their clothes were in suitcases.
I realised later on they were poor and couldn't afford wardrobes. There were a few other examples too.

Another one a neighbours child asked me why my mum had to go to work.
Her family was richer and her mum stayed at home.
This has always stayed with me. What a stuck up little madam.
I think it was good my mum went to work.
Can't remember what I said, but I'd certainly know what to say today.

Older and wiser.

In the 70’s there was a soap (lifebuoy I think) that had the ad strap line ‘brings you back to life’. I remember feeling very smug knowing that when I aged all I had to do was carry a bar of said soap on my person and immortality would be mine!

Same here! I thought that once a man and a woman got married, the baby would magically appear in the woman's tummy. I remember asking my Mum why cats and dogs didn't get married and how they had babies if they weren't married. Also brought up with the Virgin Mary at every turn!

@LeaDond @wholettheturnipsburn

That I wasn't allowed to stay/visit one of my primary school friend’s house because I wasn't ‘allowed to cross the main road’ - yet went to school across the same main road every day.
My dad ‘knew’ my friend’s mum, nicknamed locally as ‘Slack Alice’.

You do know that 'Slack Alice' was an imaginary character that was created by Larry Grayson. It's not a made up nickname; it's very of its time!