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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 5:04 pm
Here's a place to remember the silly things you used to think had to happen when you were a kid (or an unenlightened adult!). For me, I remember two off the top of my head. 1. When people used to ask me "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I used to think that when you reached a certain age, you had to choose to be a different creature. I guess it never occurred to me that there were adults running around the world. LOL. The last I remember when I still believed this was, I had my choices narrowed down to a bumble bee or a dog. My mom even made me a bumble bee costume for Halloween one year because of that. Heck, who knows, maybe that's sort of what reincarnation is all about! Now that I'm older. Of course I realise the best choice is to be a dog. At least in the household of a TVCHer. What a life! 2. When I first got on the Internet, and was left alone to browse into the unknown, I used to think that I had to hit the Back button all the way back to my homepage before I could go off into another direction. Thankfully I didn't do that for too long before my bil enlightened me. Made browsing much faster! And to think, I was doing that on an old 486 computer, with a 26k modem on dial up!
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 5:09 pm
I used to think that a spoonful of whipping cream was called a drollop.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 5:11 pm
I used to think that when we were in the year 2005, we would be flying around like the Jetsons instead of driving.
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 5:24 pm
I used to think that when you became a grown up, you'd act like a grown up!
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 6:21 pm
I used to think that when you picked up the telephone receiver you had to wait and listen for the dial tone before doing anything else. I remember hollering at my brother when we first got a dialing phone (as opposed to picking up the receiver and waiting for the operator to say, "Number please?") because he just picked it up and started dialing without listening first. THe had told us at school you had to listen for the dial tone and I took them very literally! I used to think that I could fly, literally. I have very vivid memories of flying in my back yard when I was around five. I also have vivid memories of going down the dark hallway to my room to go to bed and having the lights not work for me. I'd flip the switch back and forth over and over and nothing would happen. Then I'd run crying to my mom or dad (usually dad) because I was afraid of the bogeyman. Of course, when he came to the room, the lights went on with no problem whatsoever. Never did figure that one out, but it was very real to me.
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Zachsmom
Moderator
07-13-2000
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 6:34 pm
LOL Whoami..My ex-boyfriends parents told me a story about asking him what he wanted to be when he grew up BF: I want to be a firetruck Parents: You mean a fireman? BF: No, I want to be the TRUCK! To this day I think about him whenever I see a firetruck..
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 6:35 pm
I asked my mom, when I was about five, when they invented color. I used to believe that before there was color TV, the whole world was in black and white, because, as we all know, photographs don't lie! I also used to believe that people lived inside our radio, and I felt so bad for them I almost broke my mom's tape player/radio trying to let them escape. AND, when I was about four, I shoved an eraser in my ear and had to go to a specialist to remove it. This was in the middle of winter, in the middle of saskatchewan, which is about as cold as it gets in Canada. The doctor, sensing I was scared about being there, told me when he looked in my ear that there were bunny rabbits skating on a frozen pond in my ear. I believed that for a few years, until i realized the impossibility of it. My mom still laughs about the 'when was color invented?"
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Abby7
Member
07-17-2002
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 6:57 pm
Karen, your post reminds me of the movie Pleasantville. I laughed when dh told me his story about condoms. He found a package of condoms in his parents' drawer. After they explained to him what condoms are, he said, "so, you have to practice first"?
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 7:14 pm
Well, since you're mentioning condoms.....I have one about what I used to think impregnated a woman. Now how can I put this delicately? Um, I had the physical contact part of it right. Meaning....um, what goes where. But I totally had the transference of sperm wrong. You see, I thought the man had to pee.....
I can't believe I just told you all that! But remember, I was just a little kid!
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 7:22 pm
When my mom and I were taking off in an airplane, I asked her what all those little trucks are for. She said "all of those trucks keep the planes running/flying." So I thought that those trucks had to just keep driving around and around to keep the planes up in the air. As in, if they stopped driving around, the plane would fall out of the sky. This was CONFIRMED when my next question to my mom was something about how when the planes couldn't SEE those trucks anymore on the way to the next city, and she said "well, then the trucks in the other city take over."
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 7:33 pm
I used to think that if I wore a white washcloth on my head, the airplanes wouldn't land on it. (For some reason, for a brief period of time when I was four, whenever I played outside, I had to have a washcloth on my head. Don't ask. I think it speaks volumes about me, though! <grin>)
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Herckleperckle
Member
11-20-2003
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 8:43 pm
What a great thread! And you guys are so funny! I was convinced my first grade teacher was a witch. (She was very stern and had a big wart on her wrist that she covered with a handkerchief held tight by her watch.) I ran away from the school several times (we lived nearby) and I would never tell anyone why. I was too scared! When I was in the third grade, I used to believe a tiny alien in a tiny spaceship hovered right outside my bedroom window at night--waiting for me to catch him. I wasn't scared--guess I thought the alien was a bit like a leprechaun. I thought if I could just see him, he'd come in and talk to me! So I'd pop in and out of bed constantly at night to peer out the window. Never caught that little alien!
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 8:53 pm
This is really sad but at 31 years old I completely believed that I did not belong on the Maternity Ward with all those screaming women because I was having a C section. How do I put this sensitively, I also believed that because I had a C section I wasn't going to bleed directly after birth, because my son was born from a C section not the natural way.
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Vee
Member
02-23-2004
| Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 9:13 pm
When I was a child, my grandmother was forever talking about "human beings" only I thought she was saying "human beans." This kept me confused for some time until my uncle brought some Mexican jumping beans to the house. Mystery solved! 
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Konamouse
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - 12:12 pm
I used to believe that if I swallowed the watermelon seeds, a vine would start growning in my stomach. Eventually it would reach the back of my throat and come out my mouth. 'squeek'
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - 4:18 pm
I used to think that if I had a nightmare, woke up and turned my pillow over ... the nightmare would go away and I'd have a nice dream. I'm now teaching this to my 8 year old son.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - 4:23 pm
I used to think that if I slept with a picture of David Cassidy under my pillow, I would dream about him. I don't think it ever really worked that much.
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Ohiomobprincess
Member
11-07-2003
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 10:19 am
I used to think that Vanilla extract tasted just like vanilla. I learned it didn't the hard way when I was about 6.
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Marysafan
Member
08-07-2000
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 11:24 am
When I was a little girl, my father often came to our bed to tell us a bedtime story. Unfortunately, most of these tales involved something scary, and Dad would take much delight in sending shivers through us or watching us hide under the covers. Many of these tales involved witches which were also a common them of fairy tales. I was absolutely convinced that there was some secret portal where witches were able to access my closet. Every night before going to bed, I would close my closet door so that the witches couldn't get out. To this day, I cannot go to sleep in a room if the closet door isn't shut tight. When my father was three years old, he was abandoned in an orphanage by his mother. It took three days for his paternal grandmother to locate him, but when she did she took him home to be raised. This very tiny woman spoke Canadian French and next to no English. Both of my parents came from homes where french was spoken so they also spoke French when they went to visit her. To make matters worse, by the time I arrived on the scene, she was very old, very wrinkled, and somewhat stooped over, sometimes using a cane to support herself. All this made her look remarkably like the witch in my viewmaster reel of "Hansel and Gretel" (add to this her house which was the color of gingerbread!) Having no idea what-so-ever just where babies came from, I was somehow convinced that this wrinkled old woman who spoke these strange words was somehow involved. After my baby brother was born (I was five at the time), my parents went to show the new baby to his great-grandmother. I was however convinced that they were going there to thank her for the baby boy, being that they already had two girls. I remember vividly hiding on the floor in the backseat of father's 1956 Ford...cowering there...hoping that no one would discover me until they were on the way home...and I was safely out of the grasp of this strange woman. I figured that if this woman was involved in the arrival of babies, then she could also take them back! I was terrified that she was going to do just that! I am told that this little lady was the kindest, sweetest, gentlest thing who would hurt a sole. I am told how good she was to my father as she raised him..and how she made it clear to all of her sons that they could live in the house for the rest of their lives, but when they were done with it, it was to go to my father. My parents live in it now. It is one of greatest regrets that my foolish child mind never allowed me to have sweet memories of her. She died shortly after that visit...and I remember feeling greatly relieved. So foolish...and so sad. I am reminded of it every time I visit my parents.
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 11:29 am
Ohiomobprincess... I learned that lesson, too! What a horrible lesson to learn! ewww.
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Karen
Member
09-07-2004
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 11:32 am
Mary, that's a sweet story. We've all had memories like that of people who scared the bejeezes out of us, simply because as children we didn't know any better. I used to think that if you looked into a mirror when the room was dark a monster would come and steal you into the alternate 'mirror dimension'. Even though I know it's not possible, I still get a racing heart if I find myself accidentally looking at a mirror in the dark. I just can't do it.
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Cinnamongirl
Member
01-10-2001
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 2:46 pm
I used to think all cats were girls and all dogs were boys... 
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 3:17 pm
I used to think that the dogs or cats on the side of the road really were just sleeping like my daddy said. 
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 3:42 pm
Vacanik, they are. I used to think my grandparents had a horse with a glass eye because that's what they called it. One eye was brown and one eye was a translucent blue. I was grown before I finally realized it was George's real eye and how dumb I was thinking that these Arkansas farmers would have bought a fake eye.
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 4:09 pm
I used to think that I could hear the ocean if I put a seashell up to my ear. I also used to think that if I stepped on a crack I would break my mother's back. (she started that one for me by yelling out everytime she seen me step on a crack)
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 4:40 pm
Who, I thought the very same thing as you re procreation. What a pair we are! LOL
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 5:08 pm
Too funny OG! 
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Herckleperckle
Member
11-20-2003
| Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 6:49 pm
I love reading all these used-to-thinks! What a delightful thread, Who!
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Friday, January 21, 2005 - 9:09 am
When I was six and my folks said they had bought property the build a house on Burnside street, I was scared to death. I thought that both sides of the street were on fire.
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Vee
Member
02-23-2004
| Friday, January 21, 2005 - 9:57 am
After an unfortunate experience with my great-grandmother's sneezing and losing her teeth—they landed right beside me on the sofa, I understood why people covered their mouths when they sneezed.
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Marysafan
Member
08-07-2000
| Friday, January 21, 2005 - 10:08 am
I used to think that the price tag hanging from Minnie's Pearl's hat was tea bag...not just any tea bag, but a Lipton's flow through tea bag. Obviously I was one 50's tv child very susceptable to advertising. Also from watching soap operas with my mother and grandmother, I used to think that well to do people drank sherry instead of coffee when they visited in the afternoon. I thought that when I grew up I would serve my company sherry too.
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Jimmer
Member
08-30-2000
| Friday, January 21, 2005 - 10:48 am
These are all funny ideas. Here's one that I had. When I went for a Doctors check-up when I was little, they told me I was going to get a "shot" (a vaccination). I promptly burst into tears. They thought that I was afraid of having a needle, until I told them what my real fear was by saying "Please! I really don't want to be shot".
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Konamouse
Member
07-16-2001
| Friday, January 21, 2005 - 3:28 pm
I was making a house-call to provide dietary education for a family with a newly diagnosed Celiac. This is a diet for life - very strict gluten-free. A large extended family was present for education. The patient (a very cute little 4 year old girl, was sleeping on the couch). After our education session the little girl woke up. Mom wanted to introduce her to me, but she was very afraid. Now, I work with kids and when I'm not wearing any lab coat, they really like me. Turns out the little girl was told that the "dietitian was coming" and seeing all her relatives, she head something completely different - she thought the "DIE-e-titian" was coming and she was going to die; and I was the person who was going to take her away. She is now a very healthy & happy 7 year old who proudly proclaims to anyone meeting her, "I have silly-yak" and is not afraid of me anymore. 'squeek' PS, for more information on Celiac, http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/ http://www.celiac.org/ http://www.gluten.net/
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