Things you used to think and now can't quite believe you did

[treaclesoda]

I saw a seagull flying and it suddenly occurred to me that when I was little, I thought there were two different types of seagulls. Ones with legs, and ones without. Naturally the ones with legs had no choice but to fly all the time

I was a pretty bright child, I can't imagine why I thought that.

Please tell me someone else out there thought the same?

[SnuffleGruntSnorter]

I had family living in the USA, the flight would usually connect in Miami. Whenever I heard them talking about changing flights in "My Ami" I thought everyone had an Ami somewhere - a friendly person (we are French speakers) who would take you in and give you somewhere comfortable to rest until your next flight, maybe even feed you something nice. I used to ask my parents when I would get an Ami and what they would be like, if I could visit them etc.

[Solina]

I used to think that if my toes werent under the duvet something could come and eat them (no idea what). Silly but I must have been about 18 when I was brave enough to not have my feet under the duvet. Also, I was so scared of it that even when it was so hot I couldn't use duvet I still had my feet under it whilst rest of my body was out.

To be honest even now I feel more comfortable when my feet are securely under a blanket or a duvet even though I no longer believe this to be something that could possibly happen

[WiddlinDiddlin]

I thought cigarettes were only for women, men smoked pipes.

I also thought all men had beards... because up until about the age of 12, all the men in my life DID have beards...

I didn't realise adults had pubic hair... I was fortunately only about 8 when I realised this wasn't true as I think it would have been a bigger shock later on!

Who mentioned cats - ginger cats are almost always male for complicated genetic reasons but females do occur - usually you will find they do have a tiny bit of another colour on them though.

Calico/tortoiseshell cats however are always female, genetically - though occasionally you get cats with an extra chromosome or are hermaphrodites and so the cat may look male..

All cats are tabby though, just some have a variety of genes that mask it in some way, or are a solid colour so it doesn't really show (look at a black cat in strong sunlight and you will see the stripes!).

[startingtolooklikemother]

I used to think that if you broke your leg then your leg fell off and grew back
I also used to think that towns that were twinned meant that the other town was exactly the same, buildings, people, the lot. I think I was well into my teens before I realised this wasn't the case

[Woodenmouse]

When I was little I had those little plastic bears (I think they were called teddy in my pocket). They came with little name cards, I opened one and said to DM "mummy thus one has a funny name, his name is Gee-oh-fray". DM was trying not to cry with laughter as she explained his name was Geoffrey.
I still have Geo-oh-Frey now as he still makes me smile.

ExDP thought women reached a certain age and just started producing milk. He asked me once about my milk and I had to explain what really happened he was a thick shit

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

When I was very small we had a big old fashioned radio (aka wireless then). I managed to squeeze behind it one day, to look inside at the little people who were talking. Crushing disappointment to see only wires and a little light bulb or two.

[JemmaPell]

Yes to gorillas, free house, kerb crawling etc..starting to feel very average now!
I believed that men's willies were like dogs ones and had were hairy all over with a lipstick that came out when they needed a wee
I also thought the Seychelles was an island just covered in sea shells

[calpolsyringes]

Middlesex?

[OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias]

I thought all news footage of unexpected events like fires, riots, rescues etc were re-enactments. I just didn't believe it was possible for camera crews to show up at the actual events while they were happening. Clearly they must have been recreated in the studio afterwards.

I still believed this for a while even after my mum told me I was wrong. I just thought it was a shame she hadn't realised it was all fake.

[Chaseywraith]

I used to think on Take your Mama out all night, instead of "and your Continental's just been towed" it was " and your cotton tail has just been sewed"

[isithotinhereorisitjustme]

I used to think that when there were roadworks signs on the motorway that said things like 'delays possible until August 2016' that if there was a traffic jam we would be stuck there until the August.

[Samwelly]

Yes indeed Gerund! The squirrels in our garden are at least as big as rabbits, and bigger than dwarf rabbits.

[GerundTheBehemoth]

There are about 55 types of gulls, and they all have legs :)

And there are some species of squirrels that are as heavy as rabbits.

[Samwelly]

Pineapples don't grow on trees! Who knew!

[allegretto]

I used to think for an embarrassingly long time that when people worked for satellite tv (e.g. Sky) they had to actually be taken up to the satellite in a rocket and broadcast from there.

[Greatsowhatnow]

Ok, so i may have learnt a lot a little from this thread center parcs, sinn fein (I actually googled that one to make sure it was the truth, because I was so sure it was a person) , Arkansaw is another revelation....

Some of my own:

In Primary school, and my friends were playing kiss chase. I was running around screaming "no no! I'll get AIDS!". Freddie Mercury had just died, I'd been watching the news and asked my mum what aids was and how you got it. She'd said by kissing: y'know, toning it down somewhat for an inquisitive 7 or so year old. I got a right bollocking from the dinner lady over that one Thanks mum....

I thought that black people had black babies, white people had white babies etc and everytime I saw a mixed race child with one of their parents, assumed they were adopted My friends mum came to pick her up from school, I excitedly asked her what it was like to be adopted, did she know her real parents etc etc. She had some explaining to do and I was gutted when I found out that the lady was her ACTUAL mum. I always wondered what it would be like to have been secretly adopted, having famous parents who gave me up so I could have a normal life, away from the limelight

[Fixitwithwine]

I genuinely believed that all the animals could talk at midnight on Christmas eve and even went downstairs to attempt a conversation with our family dog one year! I was about 7 I think

[lilyb84]

I grew up until an embarrassingly advanced age (like, teenage) thinking that Madonna was a different person every few years. My mum had obviously made some comment when I was a young child about her 'reinventing' herself again, and I took it very literally indeed! It wasn't until I mentioned in passing one day that the current Madonna had been around for a long time that my error was discovered...

[mummytime]

Middlesex - is a county that started to the east of present London (I think Chingford ish, certainly Hackney) and went around the City of London, so Islington etc., and then poked out to the West as far as Heathrow ish. But its now all been swallowed by London, but some people still use it in their postal address. Its useful for Geneology.
Most of London south of the river was Surrey.

[MerryInthechelseahotel]

I've said this on here before For most of my life I thought it was Knights in White Satin

[Mrsderekshepard]

I always thought you gave a blow job by blowing

[MrsBattersby]

I used to think the Channel Tunnel was just a massive concrete tube that laid at the bottom of the sea. It used to worry me that it might crack and get completely flooded. Someone enlightened me about 2 years ago. I was 25

[Wordsaremything]

That portakabin was prounounced pour-TAKE- a bin

[makeminea6x]

Is Middlesex London then?

I remember it took me about two years to work out that when a patient's mum sadly said she was sending their dog, who had bitten her little boy, to live on a farm, she actually meant PTS. I must have been in my late 20s when she said it and I said something really stupid about what a lovely time he'd have there.

[bluedecember]

As a child, I thought bar codes on products were somehow linked to the shop's alarm system, and when they were scanned at the till that told the alarms you were allowed to take it out of the shop. I thought shoplifters would get caught because the bar codes hadn't been scanned and alarms would sound as they walked out the door!
I remember my younger brother once eating one of the pick n mix sweets in Woolworths, and thought 'Oh no, now the alarms will go off when we leave!'