# I once mistakenly believed ... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060 "2005-02-14T19:24:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/21 "2005-02-14T22:48:52Z")
Until I was about six or seven, I thought that when you said “God damn” or “Jesus Christ” in anger, you were saying the Lord’s name in Spain. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/22 "2005-02-14T22:50:00Z")
I used to think: Australia was an island. Pandas and koalas were bears. George Washington had wooden teeth. Dinosaurs and cavemen lived at the same time. **clairobscur** was a woman. :o ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/23 "2005-02-14T22:51:28Z")
The lyrics to America the Beautiful included the words “…and crown thy \*hood \* with brother hood from sea to shining sea.” ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/24 "2005-02-14T22:51:34Z")
I spent way too much of my childhood wondering: 1. How the Police knew if you removed the tag on the bottom of the furniture. 2. What they did to you if you did. 3. Why they cared. * * * In other news, I was likely a teenager before I found out that “Forhesajollagafella” wasn’t one big word. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/25 "2005-02-14T22:55:32Z")
…that Paladin’s first name was Wire. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/26 "2005-02-14T22:56:20Z")
I thought the phrase “for all intents and purposes” was really “for all intensive purposes.” It wasn’t until I read it in a book that I figured out the real wording. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/27 "2005-02-14T23:00:42Z")
. . . that when the highway sign said “Exit Only” that there was no way to reenter the highway there, so I kept driving until I came across an exit without the “Exit Only” sign. (I was going south, but wanted to turn around and go north.) Don’t ask how old I was. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/28 "2005-02-14T23:00:46Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > …that the Champion of the World was Muhamma Dali. [Hijack] One day, I shall name my sandwich shop **Muhammed Deli** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/29 "2005-02-14T23:04:11Z")
I always wondered why things that were roughly similar were good for all intensive purposes. It seemed that those are exactly the purposes for which you’d need the actual thing. Also, since my friend Joe’s mom was white and his dad was black, I thought he was vibracial. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/30 "2005-02-14T23:05:24Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > I thought the phrase “for all intents and purposes” was really “for all intensive purposes.” It wasn’t until I read it in a book that I figured out the real wording. The real wording is: Four Intense Porpoises. Fnord Don’t tell a soul. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/31 "2005-02-14T23:11:37Z")
Aggravated assault. As in: “I HAD to hit him Judge, he pissed me off!” ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/32 "2005-02-14T23:12:38Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > Australia was an island. > Pandas and koalas were bears. Uh, pandas are bears and Asutralia is an island… ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/33 "2005-02-14T23:15:00Z")
That a genie lived in a little triangular patch of light created by the streetlight outside my bedroom window. If I was good, the genie would give me candy. Sadly, it seems I was never quite good _enough_. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/34 "2005-02-14T23:21:32Z")
…that the moon followed me around. …that felons were accident prone people who always left the seat up. :o :o …that car phones’ phone #'s were people’s licence plate #'s, and you could call them when they were driving like idiots. My mother loved that one. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/35 "2005-02-14T23:21:35Z")
I used to believe that all doctors went into the medical field because they wanted to help their fellow man, and that they had a strong calling to heal people. I had similar beliefs about politicians. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/36 "2005-02-14T23:22:40Z")
That Jesus was rather small – or God was very big – because: > [@](#): > > He sitteth on the right hand of God the Father ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/37 "2005-02-14T23:24:42Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Uh, pandas are bears and Asutralia is an island… I guess I knew more than I thought I did!!! 🙂🙂🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/38 "2005-02-14T23:31:04Z")
… that when someone hit you, you had suffered a salt and were given a battery. ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/39 "2005-02-14T23:32:19Z")
… that a certain state of unconsciousness was “nacoma.” As in: “Your friend is very sick. She’s in nacoma.” ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/40 "2005-02-14T23:37:33Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > I guess I knew more than I thought I did!!! While (great) pandas are indeed bears (red pandas are more iffy), Australia’s a continent, not an island. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060.md?page=3)