Kids'll believe anything

[WhiteRose]

I was driving around today and saw that there were still a few streetlights on. This was after midday, mind you.

It got me thinking to when I was little and my mum always said that 'someone had left the light on again' everytime we passed one. Up until I was 12 I believed that the light was hooked up to the house behind it and that the owner forgot to flip the switch that morning.

Powergrids meant nothing to me.

So what amusing and silly little things did you believe as a kid?

[Lester C.]

When I was a small child I thought people in Japan naturally had orange, purple, pink, green, etc. hair and eye color because I knew my favorite anime cartoons came from Japan. I actually remember hating being American because I would never know the pleasures flying, projecting blast of brightly colored energy, teleporting to various places I wasn't allowed to go and no I’m not making this up. What can I say I have always been a weird one.

[TCJohnson]

Up until the age of five I believed that there were people in the television acting out cartoons with puppets. It was the only thing that made sense.

'All right,' said Susan. 'I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable.'

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

'Tooth fairies? [Santa Clause]? Little - '

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

'So we can believe the big ones?'

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

'They're not the same at all!'

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET - Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME... SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

'Yes, but people have got to believe that,or what's the point - '

MY POINT EXACTLY.

She tried to assemble her thoughts.

THERE IS A PLACE WHERE TWO GALAXIES HAVE BEEN COLLIDING FOR A MILLION YEARS, said Death, apropos of nothing, DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT'S RIGHT.

'Yes, but people don't think about that,' said Susan. Somewhere there was a bed...

CORRECT. STARS EXPLODE, WORLDS COLLIDE, THERE'S HARDLY ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE HUMANS CAN LIVE WITHOUT BEING FROZEN OR FRIED, AND YET YOU BELIEVE THAT A... A BED IS A NORMAL THING. IT IS THE MOST AMAZING TALENT.

'Talent?'

OH, YES. A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF STUPIDITY. YOU THINK THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOUR HEADS.

'You make us sound mad,' said Susan. A nice warm bed...

NO. YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?

--Terry Pratchet, Hogfather

[Cam63]

I believed that my parents' would stay together.

[Azrael52]

Ouch.

Now we know where all this beer-talk stems from.

[Azrael52]

I think it's funny that you can trade 3 nickles to a kid for 1 quarter. Does that make me a bad person?

The school lunchroom would sometimes serve butter in a rounded scoop. One kid told me it was "barf". For whatever reason, I believed him/her at the time.

I remember praying that Santa Clause would fix a Transformer I had broken. I even told him in my prayer that I would keep my eyes closed and when I opened them he could have it fixed.

[SoulOnIce]

I was driving around today and saw that there were still a few streetlights on. This was after midday, mind you.

It got me thinking to when I was little and my mum always said that 'someone had left the light on again' everytime we passed one. Up until I was 12 I believed that the light was hooked up to the house behind it and that the owner forgot to flip the switch that morning.

Powergrids meant nothing to me.

So what amusing and silly little things did you believe as a kid?

My mom told me that if I didn't clean my ears potatoes would grow out of them.

She also told me if I swallowed my chewing gum it would wrap around my navel and cause my navel to fall off.

[Azrael52]

My mom told me that if I didn't clean my ears potatoes would grow out of them.

Yeah, mine did too. And you better believe I believed that.

[Lubichev]

Masturbating gave you acne.

[Lester C.]

Masturbating gave you acne.
No it makes you go blind and gives you hairy knuckles. Gee I thought everyone knew that.

[Lunar Daydreamer]

My mum was explaining to my neice that my granny had gone to be with Jesus.

Paige looked puzzled, went away...then came back again ...

"This Jesus, is he a Doctor or a Teacher?!"

I could squish her to bits, I really could

:D

[Lunar Daydreamer]

I thought Deep Heat was called D-Peat ... because i'd seen that steaming mud on the tv and thought there was something within its steam that kept footballers legs warm on cold days.

Truth be told I only found out different a couple of years ago.

Meep! :eek:

[Forsaken_One]

I believed that a credit card made everything free. I wasn't actually told this by anyone, but I saw nothing being handed over in payment for things when my parents used a credit card, so it just made sense at the time.

Thankfully I've since realized that they do not, in fact, make everything free. I am apparently one of a select few to make this discovery. :)

[DLFerguson]

When I was a kid and I heard songs on the radio I belived that the actual people were sitting at the radio station waiting their turn to sing their songs. I could never understand how they could sing the exact same way all the time until my long suffering father sat me down and explained what 'records' were and how they worked.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

I thought another Loch Ness-type Monster was still living somewhere in Arizona... and that I was gonna be the one to find him.

[WhiteRose]

I think it's funny that you can trade 3 nickles to a kid for 1 quarter. Does that make me a bad person?

No, I once made my cousin believe that she should trade her 20 cent piece for my five cent piece because the five was more special and worth more, seeing as it was her age and all.

Stupid girl, she believed me.

[kipster]

"No Passing" zones threw me as a child. Did the road just stop there?

I also heard the term "guerilla warfare" on tv and wondered what gorillas had to fight about.

My wife STILL thinks as long as there are checks left in the checkbook, it's ok to keep writing them.

[Cam63]

When I was a kid, I believed the safest person you could be with was either a cop or a priest.

One outta two aint bad.

[The Mirrorball Man]

When I was a kid, I thought that when you grew old, you'd eventually reach a point where you'd grow younger and live your life backwards.

[Cam63]

That's called the mid life crisis.

[Shades0077]

No, I once made my cousin believe that she should trade her 20 cent piece for my five cent piece because the five was more special and worth more, seeing as it was her age and all.

Stupid girl, she believed me.
Whoa whoa whoa, 20 cent piece? You crazy Australians!

One of the ones I believed was that if you swallowed your chewing gum, it would stay in your stomach for seven years.

[Phoney Bone]

I used to believe that the holes in Swiss cheese were made by somone with a hole-puncher.

[Cam63]

The worlds' best job was being a cop, a sheriff or Batman.

[Dark Galaxy]

My ten year old has convinced my four year old that just like teeth, his "baby eyes" are going to fall out, and he will grow some new "Grown-up eyes". I tried to convince him that she was making up a story, but he told me that I was wrong and he can't wait to get his grown-up eyes. *sigh* This may not have happened in the first place if my husband hadn't pulled the same thing on the ten year old when she was little. :p

[Cream Filled Taco]

Blame MacQuarrie! He made me do it!

My ten year old has convinced my four year old that just like teeth, his "baby eyes" are going to fall out, and he will grow some new "Grown-up eyes". I tried to convince him that she was making up a story, but he told me that I was wrong and he can't wait to get his grown-up eyes. *sigh* This may not have happened in the first place if my husband hadn't pulled the same thing on the ten year old when she was little. :p

[David Bedlam]

I also heard the term "guerilla warfare" on tv and wondered what gorillas had to fight about.

I did that too!

Also, when I was six we invaded Iraq for the first time. Everytime I heard the phrase 'Gulf War' I pictured people hitting each other with golf clubs.

[Azrael52]

I believed that a credit card made everything free. I wasn't actually told this by anyone, but I saw nothing being handed over in payment for things when my parents used a credit card, so it just made sense at the time.

Thankfully I've since realized that they do not, in fact, make everything free. I am apparently one of a select few to make this discovery. :)

Yeah, I thought the same thing about checks.

[Cam63]

I did that too!

Also, when I was six we invaded Iraq for the first time. Everytime I heard the phrase 'Gulf War' I pictured people hitting each other with golf clubs.

...and being lead by Field Marshall Jack Nicklaus.