• Forums Software Updates

    The forums will be undergoing updates on Sunday 10th November 2024.
    Little to no downtime is expected.
  • We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

What Were YOUR Erroneous Childhood Beliefs?

merricat said:
I believed that trains used to hover/glide over the tracks and was shocked to discover they had wheels.
Possibly influenced by train sets?
Click to expand...
Possibly you had this sort of train?!

tumblr_mhv9ik134F1s50j4bo1_400.gif
 
Reverend D said:
When i was around 5 years old, I believed I had invented the word "burp".
Click to expand...
My eldest daughter when a tot used to make up words for things when she wasn’t sure of their real name. The three I remember clearly were
Swatnoff = Mop
Piblets = Grapes
Perfect = Cucumber

When you looked perplexed at what she was trying to say she would get increasingly frustrated and stare at you as if you had three heads.
 
Tempest63 said:
My eldest daughter when a tot used to make up words for things when she wasn’t sure of their real name. The three I remember clearly were
Swatnoff = Mop
Piblets = Grapes
Perfect = Cucumber

When you looked perplexed at what she was trying to say she would get increasingly frustrated and stare at you as if you had three heads.
Click to expand...
My two lads when they were tots had some made up words that stuck.

One used to call helicopters 'habilyoes' and the other used to say 'waddelade' for marmalade.

But funniest to me was a nephew who used to refer to Aladdin as 'A Lad in a Cave'.
 
Ascalon said:
'waddelade' for marmalade.
Click to expand...
Talking of marmalade ... when I was little and knew the word for having a good idea was 'a brain wave' I imagined that inside our skulls was like said citrus preserve and the waves were the bits of peel that did a little wriggle and waved to each other. I've never got over the shock of discovering it's just a lump of grey stuff. :)
 
A friend told me that when he was little he had a favorite type of toy guitar - the kind made out of plastic, with nylon strings, that made some semblance of music - which he called a "dungaloo". He would wear them out, necessitating a replacement every couple of years. Didn't cause any problems until his dad went into the toy shop and said "May I have one of those dungaloos, please?"
 
Tempest63 said:
My eldest daughter when a tot used to make up words for things when she wasn’t sure of their real name. The three I remember clearly were
Swatnoff = Mop
Piblets = Grapes
Perfect = Cucumber

When you looked perplexed at what she was trying to say she would get increasingly frustrated and stare at you as if you had three heads.
Click to expand...

When I was very young I named my nan's snake shaped draft excluder 'soppy ippy'. They were from then on known as soppy ippies in our house. Not having remembered naming it that I genuinely thought that was the proper name for them until I was in secondary school.
 
Ascalon said:
My two lads when they were tots had some made up words that stuck.

One used to call helicopters 'habilyoes' and the other used to say 'waddelade' for marmalade.

But funniest to me was a nephew who used to refer to Aladdin as 'A Lad in a Cave'.
Click to expand...

I was the originator of the alternative name for Orangutans, "Tang-orangs" as a 3 year old :)

As to other things I firmly believed as a very small child - I had no conception that rail bridges or undepasses existed.
When faced with a very occasional railway trip as a 5/6 year old, the platforms seemed very high and the tracks very deep and threatening. How would we get to the other side to get on a train if we ever needed to? I really didn't think I could jump down that far and then climb up the other side. It worried me intensely.
 
Last edited:
When I was very young the railway stations used to have large picture advertisements
One I remember was of a woman about to take a drink of tea. I asked when she was actually going to drink it and as the train pulled out I was told that she had just started to drink it although I could never catch her doing it.
The whole carriage used to be in stitches although I didn't know why.
 
This may have been mentioned by someone else along the way- but I was convinced that mirrors in TV programmes, films, and probably photographs as well all acted like mirrors in real life- and you could see yourself in them if you looked at them from the right angle.

To be honest, I think I still believe that in some small way and have to consciously remind myself it isn't true.

Steev
 
Jepra Peld said:
When I was very young I named my nan's snake shaped draft excluder 'soppy ippy'. They were from then on known as soppy ippies in our house. Not having remembered naming it that I genuinely thought that was the proper name for them until I was in secondary school.
Click to expand...
My middle daughter misheard 'pigeons' as 'pims'. They were (and are still) known as 'Pims' in the family.
 
Have re read this thread from the beginning and had a good chuckle!

A few more from me:
When I was around 2/3 yrs old I used to think that chairs had feelings and were hurt when people sat on them. The careless manner in which people ignored this information really upset me. At one point I felt so much empathy for those poor sofa cushions that I tried to pull them away to rescue them.
I also believed that we hurt grass when we walked on it.

I secretly used to eat pages from the new shopping catalogue because the smell fascinated me, then became upset when it didn't taste the same way.

I used to believe that our horses had magic doorways in their hooves. When I was old enough to 'pick' a horses hooves myself I thought the doorways had been sealed off by a devious blacksmith.

I was very young at that time but thought Michael Foot was Margaret Thatcher's husband.

And I truly believed you could dig a hole to get to Australia.
 
Last edited:
merricat said:
Have re read this thread from the beginning and had a good chuckle!

A few more from me:
When I was around 2/3 yrs old I used to think that chairs had feelings and were hurt when people sat on them. The careless manner in which people ignored this information really upset me. At one point I felt so much empathy for those poor sofa cushions that I tried to pull them away to rescue them.
I also believed that we hurt grass when we walked on it.

I secretly used to eat pages from the new shopping catalogue because the smell fascinated me, then became upset when it didn't taste the same way.

I used to believe that our horses had magic doorways in their hooves. When I was old enough to 'pick' a horses hooves myself I thought the doorways had been sealed off by a devious blacksmith.

I was very young at that time but thought Michael Foot was Margaret Thatcher's husband.

And I truly believed you could dig a hole to get to Australia.
Click to expand...
you are clearly a very empathic sort , with a fertile imagination .
 
When I was a child in the late 70s and early 80s, I was convinced of our sci-fi future. Living on the moon and going to Mars.

I was sure we would have flying cars and reusable space ships. I thought that there would be supersonic transport going wherever we wanted and that computers would be everywhere, but not like smart phones.

I thought that by 2024, we would at least have fusion energy.

I believed a lot of things.
 
Does anyone on here from the UK remember the travel sweets in a round flat tin, that had loads of white powder with them?

I was a very travel sick child in the 70s/early 80s.

I believed they were supposed to stop you being ill. My mother probably told me this to try to convince me not to be sick in the car.

I was sick so often, there was a yellow potty under the car's front seat from my baby days, conveniently placed in case I had any medical emergencies when we couldn't stop driving.

I always believed the sweets were supposed to stop sickness. I even thought the white powder was medicinal and probably ate as much of that out of the tin as possible in order to try to avoid being sick. They didn't work.

In recent years I mentioned this to my mother who seemed to have no idea why I thought they were medicinal sweets. I suspect my mother has conveniently forgotten making up this lie since she presumably believed my travel sickness was all in my mind, and making up this lie would cure it.

Did anyone else have this belief in their younger years?
 
Earthly oddity said:
Does anyone on here from the UK remember the travel sweets in a round flat tin, that had loads of white powder with them?

I was a very travel sick child in the 70s/early 80s.

I believed they were supposed to stop you being ill. My mother probably told me this to try to convince me not to be sick in the car.

I was sick so often, there was a yellow potty under the car's front seat from my baby days, conveniently placed in case I had any medical emergencies when we couldn't stop driving.

I always believed the sweets were supposed to stop sickness. I even thought the white powder was medicinal and probably ate as much of that out of the tin as possible in order to try to avoid being sick. They didn't work.

In recent years I mentioned this to my mother who seemed to have no idea why I thought they were medicinal sweets. I suspect my mother has conveniently forgotten making up this lie since she presumably believed my travel sickness was all in my mind, and making up this lie would cure it.

Did anyone else have this belief in their younger years?
Click to expand...
I remember 'travel sweets' but not 'anti sickness' sweets. I think many were those little round tins of toffees covered with a sugary dusting that are still available in more traditional sweetshops and at tourist destinations such as Keswick, etc. And motorway services, maybe?
Perhaps they were meant to distract your senses.....a single half pint of lager once cured a terrible bout of sea sickness that I thought nothing could possibly shift.

HORROR OF HORRORS..
Which reminds me, whilst travelling - As a very young child I was terrified of those enormous furry beasts which brought on a full scale panic whenever I saw the sign 'CAR WASH". I would actually scream in terror as they came undulating towards me, convinced that they were a portal to some other, freakily disturbing dimension that was about to swallow me whole. As I grew a bit older I might certainly have calmed down somewhat, but never, ever trusted those dreadful, dreadful things. It wasn't so much the size as the way they wiggled and moved in such a suspiciously sensual, almost sentient way...ugggh.

Looking back, it was a complete physical revulsion, which seemed to turn me inside-out with terror. Like being tickled too much, just absolutely unbearable.
 
merricat said:
I remember 'travel sweets' but not 'anti sickness' sweets. I think many were those little round tins of toffees covered with a sugary dusting that are still available in more traditional sweetshops and at tourist destinations such as Keswick, etc. And motorway services, maybe?
Perhaps they were meant to distract your senses.....a single half pint of lager once cured a terrible bout of sea sickness that I thought nothing could possibly shift.

HORROR OF HORRORS..
Which reminds me, whilst travelling - As a very young child I was terrified of those enormous furry beasts which brought on a full scale panic whenever I saw the sign 'CAR WASH". I would actually scream in terror as they came undulating towards me, convinced that they were a portal to some other, freakily disturbing dimension that was about to swallow me whole. As I grew a bit older I might certainly have calmed down somewhat, but never, ever trusted those dreadful, dreadful things. It wasn't so much the size as the way they wiggled and moved in such a suspiciously sensual, almost sentient way...ugggh.

Looking back, it was a complete physical revulsion, which seemed to turn me inside-out with terror. Like being tickled too much, just absolutely unbearable.
Click to expand...
There’s a great video on here somewhere of a dog thoroughly enjoying a wash & massage from a carwash machine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top