I actually believed..........for way too long.

[steve(thelil)]

What things did you actually once believe? - either as a kid or for way too long (including things you believed beyond childhood).

Here's what comes to mind for me:

Until I was in my teens I though lightning and thunder were the result of clouds bumping together.(I think I "learned " this from cartoons.)

As a little kid I thought attending the circus meant you had to be shot out of a cannon.

For a while when I would hear about Viet Cong guerillas, I actually I thought the Viet Cong employed gorillas as soldiers.

[A. Kingstone]

I always thought quicksand was going to be more of a problem.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

When I was a kid I believed everything the government/authorities said. That all changed when Kennedy got whacked. I was 14 years old then.

[Jazzooo]

The first two posts in this thread made me laugh out loud, thanks.

I was with a new girlfriend, only the second sexual relationship of my life. She was 19 and drop dead gorgeous. We were making out and somehow she mentioned that she believed the moon was the other side of the sun. The combination of amazement, pity and "Who cares? Let's have sex!" that I felt was palpable.

Looking inward, I have probably believed that I am somehow special for too long now. It's a tough one to give up.

[A. Kingstone]

......................

Looking inward, I have probably believed that I am somehow special for too long now. It's a tough one to give up.

Touche

[BeBop]

I always thought quicksand was going to be more of a problem.

Yes indeed!

I clung to the thought that I would like to own a boat for a long time. I'm still hanging on to the idea of my own immortality.

[moldyfigg]

God, that politicians couldn't be bought and that Chef Boyardee was actually good food.

[pig pen]

I believed for way too long that I could eat and drink whatever I wanted and never gain any weight (it was true until I hit about 30, I didn't accept it as fact until well into my 40s).

Damn, I've been paying for that one for a while now...

[tippy]

When I was very young, my mother told me that a I could take a sand dollar to the grocery store and that it was worth a dollar (or more accurately, upon my first seeing and learning about sand dollars on a beach trip, I probably asked her if I could take it to the grocery store for purchases and she answered, "yes"). Anyway, I left this nugget of information unexamined for a long, long time, until sometime in my 20s it occurred to me that I definitely could NOT use a sand dollar like money. (Um, no, I didn't ever actually Try it.)

[BeBop]

My eyes were going to STAY crossed.

[steve(thelil)]

When I was very young, my mother told me that a I could take a sand dollar to the grocery store and that it was worth a dollar (or more accurately, upon my first seeing and learning about sand dollars on a beach trip, I probably asked her if I could take it to the grocery store for purchases and she answered, "yes"). Anyway, I left this nugget of information unexamined for a long, long time, until sometime in my 20s it occurred to me that I definitely could NOT use a sand dollar like money. (Um, no, I didn't ever actually Try it.)

I bet you could have talked your way into buying a dollar's worth of sand with it??????

[sozamora]

There are a lot of little English-as-a-second language errors I made well into adulthood. Until my 30s, I would say 'the theater is passing a movie', meaning it is showing or playing a movie. This is due to literal Spanish-to-English translation I made. I was surprised that error was not corrected for so long, and frankly it still sounds right to my ears.

[sozamora]

For a long time, I believed it was normal and accepted to eat hot dogs with mayonnaise. I still do eat them that way regardless of the consensus.

[stonemonkts]

Been wracking my brain to think of something and I finally did. For a long time I trusted and believed that the police were always there to help you, and were the opposite of criminals. I would say from age zero up to about age 15 or so.

[Ron Thorne]

For a long time, I believed it was normal and accepted to eat hot dogs with mayonnaise. I still do eat them that way regardless of the consensus.

Man, even though I'm a real fan of mayonnaise, I've never done that!

There are only two brands worth eating, Hellmann's/Best Foods & Kraft. No, I'll never substitute Miracle Whip Salad Dressing. That's definitely not normal.

[sozamora]

Man, even though I'm a real fan of mayonnaise, I've never done that!

See, I just don't see what's so strange about it, but I mention it to anyone - especially folks from the East Coast - and they look at me like I killed somebody.

There are only two brands worth eating, Hellmann's/Best Foods & Kraft. No, I'll never substitute Miracle Whip Salad Dressing. That's definitely not normal.

Same here. You know what else I don't put Miracle Whip Salad Dressing on? Salads.

[moldyfigg]

In the West Best Foods is than name for Hellman's - same stuff. Good stuff.

[uli]

For about 15 years I believed that I remembered the the store/atelier of a painter from my hometown because of the inscription which I thought wrongly was "Was riecht denn hier so angenehm nach Lack und Kleister, Friedrich Traffeler, Malermeister". today I saw a picture on the net and the inscription in reality is even better: "Hier herrschen Schönheit und Geschmack. Hier riecht es angenehm nach Lack. Hier wird gemalt mit Oel und Kleister: Friedrich Traffelet Malermeister



The correct inscription is a variation on a Whilhelm Busch verse from "Maler Klecksel" which I am now reading and is a hoot.

[hornplayer]

For about 15 years I believed that I remembered the the store/atelier of a painter from my hometown because of the inscription which I thought wrongly was "Was riecht denn hier so angenehm nach Lack und Kleister, Friedrich Traffeler, Malermeister". today I saw a picture on the net and the inscription in reality is even better: "Hier herrschen Schönheit und Geschmack. Hier riecht es angenehm nach Lack. Hier wird gemalt mit Oel und Kleister: Friedrich Traffelet Malermeister



The correct inscription is a variation on a Whilhelm Busch verse from "Maler Klecksel" which I am now reading and is a hoot.

Uli: traduisez en anglais, s'il vous plait! (My German is abysmal to non-existent.)

[Tom Storer]

For a long time I thought it was somehow important what position I took on a political or social issue. Similarly, I felt it was vital that I have a position on any political or social issue that came up. I gradually lost that conviction and can now be apathetic or cheerfully ignorant without feeling that this is wrong.

For a long time I thought I was doing a public service to humanity by correcting other people's spelling or grammatical errors. Now I understand that I do it to annoy. (Except when I am paid to do it.)

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I finally remembered something I actually believed for way too long.

When we were kids my siblings and I were terrified of dragonflies. We called them "sewingneedles" because our mother told us that they would sew our mouths shut if we talked too much or too loud and if we talked back to our parents or any other adult. Whenever we saw one of these "sewingneedles" we would either run away or keep our mouths tightly closed until it flew away. It wasn't easy for a blabbermouth like me to keep my mouth shut for a whole minute until the thing flew away. To this day I chuckle to myself whenever I see a dragonfly. And...I think fondly of my mother.

[steve(thelil)]

I finally remembered something I actually believed for way too long.

When we were kids my siblings and I were terrified of dragonflies. We called them "sewingneedles" because our mother told us that they would sew our mouths shut if we talked too much or too loud and if we talked back to our parents or any other adult. Whenever we saw one of these "sewingneedles" we would either run away or keep our mouths tightly closed until it flew away. It wasn't easy for a blabbermouth like me to keep my mouth shut for a whole minute until the thing flew away. To this day I chuckle to myself whenever I see a dragonfly. And...I think fondly of my mother.

As a kid we called them dyning needles. Even though I think I knew the better term was "darning needles" I didn't make the connection between darning and sewing. It would have taken a killer dragonfly to sew my mouth shut.

[Mr. Met]

I still believe that "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" is one of the greatest movies, like ever.

[mjb]

" ... they said nobody would ever go broke publishing photos of women urinating"

[jwaggs]

That I'd have to shave my palms