Silly Misconceptions

[scht101]

Did you ever think something silly was true but you didn't find out until later that it wasn't true?

For example, I used to think that all people were born right-handed, and people who broke their right arm became left handed from using their left hand.

[Tru]

I've had so many silly misconceptions over the years, but I remember one as a child.... my friends would try to scare me by saying there were snakes in an old building we used to walk pass on our way home from school. I was scared about this, thinking I might come across one sometime and not know what to do. One day I told my mom that I was scared, that's when she cleared up the matter for me by telling me that there are no snakes on this island province where I live.

[Carmelina]

I remember a misconseption I had many years ago.
I kept seeing advertised in our local newspapers events, this one was called a "FLEE MARKET"
One day whilst we were driving past a place and I saw a big banner advertising this event, I asked my husband
"Why on earth would anyone wants to sell flees or even anyone wanting to buy them"?
If you know what this event is you will apreciate the laughter that followed by my husband.

He later patiently explained to me the meaning.
I felt so silly, however in my defence I am not "thick"
but coming from another country I had not known about this expression/name and what it really was.

For the benefit of others who like me then, do not know what it is:
A flee market is a place where people sell all sorts of things which are of small value unwanted items
and people want to get rid of them and make some cash in the process.

[Kimberlee]

That was funny Carmelina! No, you are not THICK! We very often have strange names for things, don;t we?

I remember when my son was playing football in highschool. My husband and I went to one of the games and I saw one of the officials drop a little piece of cloth. I said "Oh, look, that man dropped his hankerchief!" Boy, did I get laughed at!
It's obvious that I knew nothing of football! My son went out and bought a book FOOTBALL FOR DUMMIES for me to read!

[Aude]

For the benefit of others who like me then, do not know what it is:
A flee market is a place where people sell all sorts of things which are of small value unwanted items
and people want to get rid of them and make some cash in the process.

Oohh... thanks. I've learnt something today haha.

Well I remembered a misconception on language. I've always thought a "cochon d'Inde" (guinea pig) was indeed a "cochon-dinde" (pig-turkey). I discovered the right way to write it (and so to think it) very late. I knew it didn't make any sense for this animal doesn't look like a turkey... but truly... does it honestly look like a pig anyway ?

With children you hear so many silly (and adorable) misconceptions. I remember a little girl who had eaten a grapefruit and her fingers were sticky so she was convinced there was glue in the fruit. My friend tried to explain to her that it was the sugar in a quite scientific and rationnal way. And the little girl said ok, turned back and we heard her mumble : "But there's glue in it". And another time we saw a little boy who had to color up in red what was created by men in a picture. When we asked if he could tell us the teacher's instructions he explained them very seriously and dutyfully (so he understood what he had to do very well)... and then he colored up in red the sea and the sky ! It was just too cute.

[cloidis]

I remember a misconception from a kid`s show. This girl ate so many noodles that she turned into one, so the kids thought that if they ate too much of one food and did not want other varieties they would turn into that food. That kinda goes along with the expression "you are what you eat" when I was little I laughed at kids who thought it was true xD

[gemeg_emo]

In school, we sometimes pretend that we're family members like me and another classmate, we pretended to be cousins and so as with the other two classmates of mine. While the whole thing was going on, we never thought that another classmate of mine really thought about the put up as true..We laughed at her when she asked about it and we told her that it wasn't true...

~AKIRE~

[remyboxoplenty]

thats so funny when i was little, about three or four, i thought that all the cartoons that I saw on the television actually lived in there, and i wanted to set them free so that they could all become my friends. so i went outside and found a rock, so i could break the television, and just as i was about to throw it, i thought, " what if they all run away, then i could never see them again" so i went back outside, and i placed the rock back on the floor. i miss childhood =D such simple times...

p.s I'm left handed lol

-- double-post merged Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:39 pm --

thats so funny when i was little, about three or four, i thought that all the cartoons that I saw on the television actually lived in there, and i wanted to set them free so that they could all become my friends. so i went outside and found a rock, so i could break the television, and just as i was about to throw it, i thought, " what if they all run away, then i could never see them again" so i went back outside, and i placed the rock back on the floor. i miss childhood =D such simple times...

p.s I'm left handed lol

[Carmelina]

I enjoyed reading your little account, remyboxoplenty
I am soo glad you didn't break the television
Imagine if you had

[m&m]

I remember when I was younger I thought that all cats were girls and all dogs were boys. So naturally when my cousins and I found a stray cat we named it Cinderella. One day Cinderella starting acting strange so we took her to the vet (we thought maybe she was pregnant). It turned out that Cinderella was actually a he I was very confused until my mother kindly explained to me that cats are just like people - they come in both male and female form

[kimmercat]

I remember one thing that I thought was real, my mom used to catch us doing something we shouldn't have been doing and we always wondered how she would catch us and she said he had eyes in the back of her head ( I believed her) Not until I was older did I realize when we were to quiet she knew we where up to something.