# Adorable Things You Believed as a Child, Part Whatever **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809 "2013-09-27T16:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/1 "2013-09-27T16:21:33Z")
This gets done from time to time around here (even I have started a thread about it). Can’t hurt to do it again. When I was a wee lad, I believed: [ul] [li]I believed that the brand of baseball played by the Chicago Cubs was fundamentally different from every other team in baseball. Any player who came to play for the Cubs would need to learn the Cubs way. Similarly, St. Louis, Cincinnati, etc. all had their own styles of baseball unique to that franchise, and that new players would need to get to know the team’s system before they were fully integrated.[/li][li]I believed that it wasn’t a mural behind Johnny Carson; it was a window, and viewers were looking at the California coastline.[/li][li]I believed that head shops, sex shops, porn shops, etc. were all technically illegal but the police looked the other way. Whenever Mammahomie would take me in to our favorite head shop to buy incense, I was always afraid that the police would change their minds and barge in any moment and take us both to jail.[/li][/ul] What are some of yours? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/2 "2013-09-27T16:29:05Z")
I thought the songs on the radio were being performed live at the station by the artists, and they traveled around from station to station. I knew the characters in the Batman TV series were fictional and played by actors, but I thought the props they used were real. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/3 "2013-09-27T16:34:59Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I knew the characters in the Batman TV series were fictional and played by actors, but I thought the props they used were real. I thought the floors of the bad guys’ hideouts were really tilted and asked my mom why the villains weren’t sliding around or falling down. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/4 "2013-09-27T16:51:59Z")
I recall thinking the soft-drink, root beer, was a type of alcoholic beverage, and was amazed to see adults let kids drink it at a birthday party (I had a different background, coming up). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/5 "2013-09-27T16:56:32Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I thought the songs on the radio were being performed live at the station by the artists, and they traveled around from station to station. Yeah, when I was four I thought the bands just hung around the station and played songs when asked to. I thought they must get bored just sitting around. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/6 "2013-09-27T17:03:28Z")
I thought there were three sexes: boy, girl and boygirl. There was this girl named Paula in my class. I knew she was a she, but she was kind of boyish, and of course her name also cleverly tacked an “a” onto a boy’s name, so yep. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/7 "2013-09-27T17:03:38Z")
After reading Thumbellina, every morning on the walk to school I’d gather dew and rub it on my cheeks to make myself very, very small. The book said it would work. It didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/8 "2013-09-27T17:03:56Z")
I thought dogs and cats were the same animal; dogs male and cats female. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/9 "2013-09-27T17:51:10Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought dogs and cats were the same animal; dogs male and cats female. I knew they were different animals, but I too thought all dogs were male and all cats were female. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/10 "2013-09-27T17:55:30Z")
I grew up in Northern California, and I thought that snow was something that only happened in far away countries, like in the Swiss Alps. I didn’t think it snowed anywhere in the U.S. I desperately wanted to believe in magic, and even though my head kept telling me it was all fictional, I still thought if I could just find the right magic words, or magic object, I could make magical things happen. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/11 "2013-09-27T18:13:43Z")
When I was about 4 or 5, I was in the car with my father. There was one of those big enclosed electrical boxes on the side of the road (that long ago they were made of wood). I asked him what was in it, and he answered “bubble gum.” I eventually figured out that they weren’t filled with bubble gum . . . but to this day, more than 60 years later, there’s a little piece of my brain that wants to open one of them up and grab a fistful of bubble gum. A few years later, I believed that women had one breast for each kid they had. After all, my mother had 2 breasts and 2 kids. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/12 "2013-09-27T18:16:27Z")
I used to think that losing gravity was like a natural disaster–every once in awhile it would just fail, sending things flying off into space. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/13 "2013-09-27T18:17:10Z")
I believed that if you stepped on a person’s grave, they could feel it and would say “ouch.” I believed there was a person inside the traffic light pole who changed the light from red to green depending on the amount of traffic. I also couldn’t understand why there were so many roads named Frontage. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/14 "2013-09-27T18:31:00Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > This gets done from time to time around here (even I have started a thread about it). Can’t hurt to do it again. I’ve probably told this one in one of those previous threads, but… When we’d go to the beach, I used to love playing in the waves and letting them push me around. As long as my feet could still touch sand, the waves would reliably keep me from going adrift and always push me back to the safety of the beach. But I always felt sorry for those poor kids on the other side of the ocean, where those _same waves_ would be pushing them out to sea! :o ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/15 "2013-09-27T18:36:12Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I used to think that losing gravity was like a natural disaster–every once in awhile it would just fail, sending things flying off into space. Gravity is just a theory, you know. Just because every time you drop something it always falls down, doesn’t mean that it may one day fall up! ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/16 "2013-09-27T18:42:01Z")
Just remembered something hilarious that I saw on the net the other day that fits this topic perfectly, so I had to go look for it. Unfortunately for all of us, now an outsider is pretty much bound to win the thread… [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/0rDcXlc.jpeg "Potty Parking") ](https://imgur.com/0rDcXlc) :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/17 "2013-09-27T18:44:31Z")
I believed pro wrestling was real until I was about 15. Not sure whether that counts as adorable or sad. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/18 "2013-09-27T18:47:36Z")
As a child I thought that there was no such thing as magic, it was all technology. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/19 "2013-09-27T19:11:57Z")
…:dubious: …:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809/20 "2013-09-27T19:32:23Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > …:dubious: …:rolleyes: Then you don’t know me and have not been following me long term. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adorable-things-you-believed-as-a-child-part-whatever/669809.md?page=2)