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 thought , until recently, that the radio 4 programme "Crossing Continents" was actually "Cross Incontinents"...... but WHY did I think that could be a possibility??

When I was a kid, if I came across the word moustache in a book I thought it said mouthache, and believed some poor bloke was in pain.

The first time I got into a black cab, at the age of 14, having just moved down from oop north, I piled into it after my 3 friends and sat on the floor, not realising there were pull-down seats. They teased me about it for years afterwards.
And when my sister was little we were emigrating to Australia, and she thought it was Our-stralia.

Oh and someone once told MiL that you should cut the crusty outside off brie and camembert so she did that for years.

"The thing is, whenever you see a picture of a mole, it's alone" :( :( :(

Mackerel - I used to work with a man who made documentaries (something where you use the word quite a lot) and pronounced "segue" like "seeeeg" every time. Everyone was too embarrassed or polite to ever tell him. For all I know he's doing it still.

"Any veh" as an instruction to German drivers is giving me hysterics. So thoughtful of the Highways Agency.

Well, I was feeling pretty smug and having a good ole chuckle at most of you, then I remembered that I only found out what the Elgin Marbles were, on the last one of these threads.

'any veh' an instruction for germans made me think of allo allo!

conveyor belts under the sea?? PMSL what, leading from major uk airports to all those different countries?? and yet we only very recently got the channel tunnel! LOL

"If it makes you feel any better I completely ignored the "Adult Fiction" section on MN for weeks. I thought it was Adult ie porn fiction grin"

That's not silly at all. You wouldn't know without clicking on it as both meanings make sense.

katie my dad worked in a bank. When I was little he told me they had to take it in turns to sit inside the cash machine and feed the notes through the slots. I believed that for ages. I also thought when someone "put money on a " in the betting shop that they had rows of plastic horses in there and people literally went in and put money on their backs. I never understood the point of doing that!

"put money on a horse" that should say!

"The first time I got into a black cab, at the age of 14, having just moved down from oop north, I piled into it after my 3 friends and sat on the floor, not realising there were pull-down seats. "

That's hilarious. I thought you were going to say you sat in the front seat or something normal like that.

The first time I went to Belgium I dragged my massive bag up the concrete stairs, thinking the escalators weren't working. I'd never before seen escalators that only work when someone steps on them.

I didn't know marzipan was made out of ground almonds. I used to love almond croissants but can't even think about eating it now because is actually marzipan

I thought that my DH was having me on when he started talking about fibre optic cables on the sea bed for communications.

We met someone at a party whose job involved them and I laughed thinking DH had put him up to it

I just never really thought about it. In my defence I have a history of being told tall tales by my DF so am overly suspicious now!

escalators that only work when someone steps on them

What? What???

I always thought our family dog had actually gone to live in a farm until about two years ago when my sister told me different. (I'm 28)

I thought that Nicola Sturgeon was Nicolas Turgeon for ages.

Also that Niagara Falls were in Africa.

Until I read this thread I also thought that Gibraltar was an island....what is terrible about that is that I have been to Gibraltar, and we went by coach from Spain...

Not me but DH. Listening to Christmas songs last week and you know the song that goes "Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree for me" etc ? DH admitted that he thought it was "slip a TABLE under the tree" !! Was actually crying with laughter ......

janknitti I always thought it was 'slip a sleigh bell' until now [santa]

I have only just realised from another thread that real-life people carry guns around in real life. For real.

I mean, it's something I vaguely knew from stereotypes and movies but to actually feel like it's real is different, and I feel a bit stupid for not properly "realising" it before!

(Am I the only one who finds that proper weird?)

Enid Blyton was pronounced G-nid - just look at the front of one of her old books and tell me if you didn't think the same!

Thought you were serious there for a second Plummy and I'd got it wrong all these years!

Plummy I used to think it said Guid (pronounced Guide, in my head) even though I knew her name was Enid!