Ridiculous things you've only recently realised you've been wrong about your entire life

[Seasidedolly]

I genuinely thought if you pulled the reverse cord on ceiling fans, it would circulate warm air.

My friend thought the yellow average speed cameras on motorways were there to look for missing children.

I had another recent revelation but I can't remember it now

I'm from Co. Durham and have been amazed at how many people darn sarf comment that I don't sound Irish.

My latest misconception - my Mother is an avid gardener and for the last couple of years has been talking about gardening by the moon and traditional moon planting. I only just found out that doesn't mean gardening at night time. I've been envisaging some sort of Morticia Addams shenanigans for ages.

My mum told me if you messed with your belly button it would come undone and your insides would fall out.... I'm still wary of touching it to this day lolol

Hah, I knew I wasn't totally misremembering that one:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding

Still no idea why I thought cauliflower was created by that. (Though of course, it is a natural mutation, which probably means its genes were somehow affected by something that caused them to mutate.)

@Garlick: You are right about angler fish. At least according to wikipedia, which is good enough for me. There IS one species of anglerfish that's tiny, but there also are some that grow to 33 centimetres.

zebra - I appreciate that is a doctrine believed by Roman Catholics, but as far as the Bible is concerned (and the Bible is pretty much the only authority common to all Christians) I'm not aware of any verses that imply that Mary remained a virgin. In fact, the New Testament mentions Jesus's brothers so Mary must have conceived the normal way later.

Ok I have just been educated about hang gliding, I too thought it was hand gliding.

at baby horse.

Chickens have a cloaca - one hole for everything (pee/poo/eggs)....If you see chicken poo, the white stuff on top is pee - it's just solid.

Also, they are like humans in that they only have a finite number of eggs - once these are used up, that's it...

I thought Transylvania was a fictional place until my late 20s.

Until,a week ago I thought Ripon was in Japan, not Yorkshire

thank you mermaid
Ok so chickens do lay eggs out of their bums really

I also thought it was hand gliding.

I thought that Moldova was a fictional place in the trashy novel I read many years ago.

I wonder how many people are reading, and going

DD1 reasoned that if polo is played on horseback, water polo must utilise sea horses.

crazycatguy not to freak you out but not all male lions have manes, if they live in an area with dense shrubs and bushes they don't grow manes as it gets caught

here

The Mary thing is correct. Catholics believe that she was the IC. This is why she did not die (because she was born without (original) sin) Instead she ascended into heaven. Catholics believe She was conceived in the normal way but was born without sin.

Isn't artic lorry short for articulated lorry?

Not only did I not know Gibraltar wasn't an island, I only discovered a month ago that Portsmouth IS technically an island! And I've lived 30mins from it for years!

I thought hares were male rabbits, I didn't realise they are different animals.

Clara, I think technically, Portsea is the island. Portsmouth is situated mainly on the island of Portsea but some of the northern suburbs are not. Slightly bizarre.

I thought it was hand gliding!!!!!

I always thought the "New Your, New York, so good they named it twice" was a reference to it starting out being called New Amsterdam, then it was renamed New York. I stand corrected!

Another one here who thought (and strongly asserted to a bemused gentleman from the North East ) that County Durham is in Northern Ireland.

I recently discovered that Uppsala is in Sweden. I thought it was in Africa. TBH I still think it sounds like it ought to be.

I was also astounded to find out not so long ago that Silicon and Silicone are two completely different substances. I had believed they were more or less the same thing, but their slightly different spellings and thus pronunciations denoted a small nuance of difference between them - like shit and shite basically. Oh dear.

Back to New York, New York, so good they named it twice. I always thought this referred to the fact that the settlement was originally named New Amsterdam, and was later re-named New York.

I also thought Gibraltar was an island, until very recently when a friend visited there.

While we're on geographical ones, did you know Edinburgh is further east than Cardiff?

me too balloon regarding silicon!
I thought one version was UK spelling , one was USA- off to google this now ...
Ha who needs an encyclopaedia , the trivia facts I am picking up on here this evening are great .

Snap, Balloon.

Yes - how could Edinburgh not be further east than Cardiff?

Is it a trick question?

further east Well, you couldn't know that because I confused myself!

Edinburgh is further west than Cardiff.