What were some misconceptions you had about the world when you were a child?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Which makes me wonder why things are said to be as American as apple pie rather than as cherry pie.

Clearly, you have never talked to this guy:

Never saw any of those films, but I was under the impression they were in favor of cream pie.

[Aliens]

My favorite books were the Goosebumps series, so I was a huge fan of Ben Stein.  I guess I thought that "R.L. Stine" was just his mysterious pen name.

[Never]

I thought the sun went down right when you went to sleep, and I thought that you only went to sleep for a few minutes before the next day came. Like many others on this thread, I also thought that back in the old days everything was gray. I thought that farm animals drank out of funny-looking bathtubs; I had no idea that they were called troughs. Up until I was about eight or nine, I thought that Sunday School taught you every single thing there was to know about God. Then I picked up a Bible and read some of it myself, and realized that there was so much the Sunday School teacher hadn't taught.

[Badger]

After watching Conquest of the Planet of the Apes on TV, I was convinced the gorillas from the Pittsburgh Zoo were going to escape and find my house in the middle of suburbia 15+ miles away, climb in to my bedroom window and attack me.

Does that count?

[Del Tachi]

I was reminded this by watching a CPG Grey video.

Its typical for Americans to say the word "Mississippi" between digits to approximate counting by seconds.  Since I grew up in Mississippi, I just always assumed that only people who lived in Mississippi said "Mississippi" while counting seconds and that people in other states used whichever state they were in order to do the same (i.e., "One Alabama, two Alabama; One Massachusetts, two Massachusetts). 

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I was reminded this by watching a CPG Grey video.

Its typical for Americans to say the word "Mississippi" between digits to approximate counting by seconds.  Since I grew up in Mississippi, I just always assumed that only people who lived in Mississippi said "Mississippi" while counting seconds and that people in other states used whichever state they were in order to do the same (i.e., "One Alabama, two Alabama; One Massachusetts, two Massachusetts). 

That might be a fun system - "One Chad, two Chad, three Chad", etc.

[TJ in Oregon]

I used to wonder why my parents would use checks for small purchases because I thought they had a limited number of checks rather than a limited amount of money to write them for.

[Del Tachi]

I was reminded this by watching a CPG Grey video.

Its typical for Americans to say the word "Mississippi" between digits to approximate counting by seconds.  Since I grew up in Mississippi, I just always assumed that only people who lived in Mississippi said "Mississippi" while counting seconds and that people in other states used whichever state they were in order to do the same (i.e., "One Alabama, two Alabama; One Massachusetts, two Massachusetts). 

That might be a fun system - "One Chad, two Chad, three Chad", etc.

Mississippians would get really good times at the Olympics...

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I was reminded this by watching a CPG Grey video.

Its typical for Americans to say the word "Mississippi" between digits to approximate counting by seconds.  Since I grew up in Mississippi, I just always assumed that only people who lived in Mississippi said "Mississippi" while counting seconds and that people in other states used whichever state they were in order to do the same (i.e., "One Alabama, two Alabama; One Massachusetts, two Massachusetts). 

That might be a fun system - "One Chad, two Chad, three Chad", etc.

Mississippians would get really good times at the Olympics...

How far down would the counting go? Only subnational?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I was reminded this by watching a CPG Grey video.

Its typical for Americans to say the word "Mississippi" between digits to approximate counting by seconds.  Since I grew up in Mississippi, I just always assumed that only people who lived in Mississippi said "Mississippi" while counting seconds and that people in other states used whichever state they were in order to do the same (i.e., "One Alabama, two Alabama; One Massachusetts, two Massachusetts). 

That might be a fun system - "One Chad, two Chad, three Chad", etc.

That system could leave one hanging.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

[Del Tachi]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

That's not a misconception.  Churchgoing families are more involved in their communities generally. 

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

That's not a misconception.  Churchgoing families are more involved in their communities generally. 

Being "involved" in my hometown invaraibly meant you were awful.

[Donerail]

That might be a fun system - "One Chad, two Chad, three Chad", etc.

That's how it's done here.

[7,052,770]

I was reminded this by watching a CPG Grey video.

Its typical for Americans to say the word "Mississippi" between digits to approximate counting by seconds.  Since I grew up in Mississippi, I just always assumed that only people who lived in Mississippi said "Mississippi" while counting seconds and that people in other states used whichever state they were in order to do the same (i.e., "One Alabama, two Alabama; One Massachusetts, two Massachusetts). 

Yeah, when I was young I also thought the "one Mississippi, two Mississippi" thing was something only we did.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I thought I was conceived immaculately.

[Del Tachi]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

That's not a misconception.  Churchgoing families are more involved in their communities generally. 

Being "involved" in my hometown invaraibly meant you were awful.

Only if you consider things like being involved in civic organizations, running for public office, or donating money to charity to be "awful". 

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I just thought of another two: "bait" was a type of fish (I'm sure you can understand that one), and "hillbilly" was pronounced "hilla-billy."

[DC Al Fine]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

That's not a misconception.  Churchgoing families are more involved in their communities generally. 

Being "involved" in my hometown invaraibly meant you were awful.

Only if you consider things like being involved in civic organizations, running for public office, or donating money to charity to be "awful". 

But clearly the Rotary Club is evil

[GaussLaw]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

That's not a misconception.  Churchgoing families are more involved in their communities generally. 

Being "involved" in my hometown invaraibly meant you were awful.

Only if you consider things like being involved in civic organizations, running for public office, or donating money to charity to be "awful". 

But clearly the Rotary Club is evil

Clearly, it symbolizes the patriarchal, white-supremacist classist notions upon which the evil empire of America was founded. 

/idiot

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Our family was somehow "worse" than others because we didn't go to church on Sunday. 

That's not a misconception.  Churchgoing families are more involved in their communities generally. 

Being "involved" in my hometown invaraibly meant you were awful.

Only if you consider things like being involved in civic organizations, running for public office, or donating money to charity to be "awful". 

Well to be fair to HockeyDude, his hometown is in New Jersey, where all those things probably involve some sort of Mafia-like corruption.

[anvi]

I thought it was alright to color in black-and-white pictures from library books with crayons.  My dad was pretty quick to correct that misconception--there was a lot of yelling involved... 

[dead0man]

     I thought I was conceived immaculately.

That's both hilarious and sad.  I literally went "haha....ohhhhh "


The only one I can remember is...one time I asked my mom where California was when we were going somewhere and she pointed west and said something like "a long way that way" as we were passing a street.  I thought California was at the end of the street.  This was in Illinois.



(and for Franzl only, it was Edwards St....and not even the important part of Edwards St by Washington Ave, it was the tiny chunk off of S.Rodgers)

[Bandit3 the Worker]

When I was very, very young, I knew the world was round, but I thought we were on the inside of it instead of the outside.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I was convinced my mom was best friends with Rosie O'Donnell for a long time. No idea why.

I was actually convinced that my parents knew Paul Simon (the singer). I have no idea why I thought this.