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!

So disappointed too when Mum wanted to watch The Budget & there were NO budgies on there. Not a single one.

That reminds me of a time when my mum told us one morning we had to be extra quiet, because dad had been watching television all night. I simply couldn't imagine why he would do this; my parents didn't approve of too much television. It could only have been because of a general election; and if they had told me that, I would have been none the wiser.

I also thought that Mrs Thatcher was the Queen, because she appeared on the telly so much, and had similar hair. (Should I have had the privilege of meeting Mrs Thatcher, and I had repeated that to her, she might have replied "no, dear: we are not merely the Queen: we are God!") I also remember my parents' excitement about her resignation, which I didn't really understand.

Oh, and I thought that the savoury French tart was spelled "keesh". My brother still teases me about that, when I put it in a story we were writing.

Hymn lyrics:

"Onward Christian soldiers marching up the wall... "

"...My hope to follow duly... " ( whispered in assembly: "Who's Julie?") 😂😂😂

Recently my mother was in hospital. A young nurse came round with a menu, and offered her "kwitch".

I still have a little smirk to myself in that verse (guess what my name is...)

These have been very entertaining I have book marked the thread to come back to and read through more.

I always thought things literally “fell off the back of a lorry” and was always on the look out for goods left abandoned in the road and watching lorry’s carefully when in the car.

Also thought a bottle of milk contained milk from one singular cow and so didn’t like mixing milk from different bottles. Was horrified when I learnt it’s all mixed in together.

There are places where you are not allowed to carry anything with you. Last place I worked you weren't even allowed your phone on you, you could carry a handkerchief or tissues if you had a cold.
So you would wait til break, go to your locker to get sanpro and then go sort yourself, taking up a lot of your 20 minute break/half hour lunch. Or use the machine in a 3 minute loo break.

Horrible place to work.

My dad had been buying things from his brother that “fell off the back of a lorry” and one day said to my mum that he didn’t know what was wrong with these lorries that stuff kept falling out of them…she had to explain. He was in his 30s…

When I was a little girl, I thought that when women got old, besides their hair going grey, it became short and curly. Sort of the female equivalent to male pattern baldness.

I also got the wrong end of the stick when my teacher in grade 2 - so we were about 7 years old, talked to our class about racism. What I understood was that black people were embarrassed about being black, so we shouldn't mention it. I'm sure she didn't say that of course, and the school was about 1/3 black so I knew lots of black kids in school and in my neighborhood. But it was a few years before I figured out that was wrong - until then I was really worried I would inadvertently hurt someone;s feelings.

That's really upset me. 😩

I think of you as a little girl in the playgroup trying to make sense of the world, and not understanding what an awful woman she was.

Bless your little heart.

My infant school was separated from the junior school by playgrounds and a fence (infant backed onto junior)
I could hear junior kids saying bad words (swearing) and in my 5 year old head I thought that meant I could swear when I went to junior school.
How wrong I was.......

I thought that the song head, shoulders, knees and toes was about chese on toast.

Another one who thought it was al-bite!

I always wondered why older women tended to have short styles and wondered at what age you were expected to chop it off.

When my father in law died my daughter then 2 heard us say it was because he drank. She was terrified the next time we gave her a drink. Silly adults, we had to explain we meany alcohol...

GUESS what I just realised… (I’m 54!) 😂😂😂😂

I thought that in the UK, “twat” used to be a mild insult on a par with “twit”, but in the 21st century, the American English meaning of “twat” superseded the British English one.

At school, people would say that a twat was a pregnant goldfish. That clearly wasn’t entirely accurate, but I wonder if it did have a meaning along those lines.

@Cattenberg as far as I know there is a regional difference in the U.K. — I grew up in the north, and “twat” was used as a version of “twit” all the time, and with the same kind of level of informality.

Moved to the south as a student and here it means female genitalia — very rude indeed, very different from how it’s used in the north, and I quickly learned not to say it any more!

I used to think that, at the end of programmes like 'Dad's Army' or 'Allo, Allo', when it said on-screen "You have been watching", I thought that was just a statement. Not linked to the names of the actors afterwards. 😕

@heyheymamaway In the end credits of "Keeping Up Appearances", Hyacinth puts a name plate saying "Harold Snoad" on the table. It was a long time before I noticed that above it were the words "produced and directed by".

And with "twat", there's also the question of what does it rhyme with. Is it "pot", or "sat"? In Little Britain, there's a sketch where somebody places a big sign saying "twat" pointing at the door of 10 Downing Street, but the policeman on duty can't leave his post to do anything about it.

Maybe it was, then.

Now you mention it, I remember the old Not The Nine O'clock News sketch parodying The Two Ronnies, which included the line "We're marching up and down on the spot, spot, spot; 'cause the sodding choreographer's a twot, twot, twot" - obviously a variation on the vowel sound! Were they maybe capitalising on the confusion and two meanings at the time - like with Mrs Slocombe's pussy?!

Incidentally, re the NTNOCN sketch, I remember reading that Ronnie Barker was horrendously offended by it and took it as a gross insult and slur on their characters and reputation; whilst Ronnie Corbett (probably secretly) found it absolutely hilarious!!

I remember genuinely believing that the reason the song, 'Come on Eileen' got faster at the end was because they were running out of tape when they recorded it!

I'm a second generation late parent.

My father was one of the first people to have to pass a driving test, if he had been a bit quicker off the mark he could have just sent off 10 shillings and got one without a test.

A friend of my younger brothers when he was at school though hadn't had to take a test and you were strongly advised NOT to accept a lift!