# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/41 "2005-02-14T23:40:48Z")
Really weird dept.: I once thought that only women were supposed to have pubic hair. When I was 12 (ca 1975), I went into a convenience store that sold adult paperback books in a rack next to the counter. On the cover of one was a man with his shirt undone. Just at the bottom of the picture was the top of his pubic hair. I naturally assumed he had gotten a sex change! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/42 "2005-02-15T00:06:59Z")
> [@MercyStreet](#): > > … that when someone hit you, you had suffered a salt and were given a battery. When the guy who hit you was caught, he was put in a dry cell. 😃 I once believed that when a house or building was abandoned, it no longer belonged to anyone, and it was okay to go inside and play. That one got me in a lot of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/43 "2005-02-15T00:09:28Z")
That actors performed the commercials I saw on the TV Live. I understood tape & reruns, etc., but for some reason I saw ads as different. Dummy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/44 "2005-02-15T00:13:08Z")
> [@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. Me too. And for that matter I thought “according to your point of view” was “according to your point of you”. Well, it makes sense doesn’t it?? And I thought “no holds barrred” was “no holes barred”. Which also made sense to me, and I do note it comes up with a lot of hits on googel…although they alll seem to be porn sites… And speaking of sex, around the time I had figured the act out, I thought once you start, you were stuck that way till you finished. No, it wasn’t based on any observation of dogs or anything. Just seemed to make sense. So one of my earlies sexual anxieties was…well, wht it a fire breaks out in the middle of it??? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/45 "2005-02-15T00:17:12Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > While (great) pandas are indeed bears (red pandas are more iffy), Australia’s a continent, not an island. :dubious: Perhaps you have better information (would not surprise me in the least) but the last I heard they were saying pandas (including great) were more closely related to racoons than they were to bears. Of course I’ve also just hear it makes more sense to classify fugus in with the animals that with the plants. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/46 "2005-02-15T00:21:28Z")
I used to think that the big city in the Northeast was called You Nork. I also used to think that snow was something that only happened in far away places like the Swiss Alps. (I grew up in California). ---
**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 15, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/47 "2005-02-15T00:25:57Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > :dubious: > > Perhaps you have better information (would not surprise me in the least) but the last I heard they were saying pandas (including great) were more closely related to racoons than they were to bears. > > Of course I’ve also just hear it makes more sense to classify fugus in with the animals that with the plants. Who knew? No. Although Red Pandas _may_ be procyonids. Giant Pandas are unequivocally bears (family Ursidae). Continent and island are not mutually exclusive. Australia is often referred to as the island continent. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/48 "2005-02-15T00:38:26Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > Perhaps you have better information (would not surprise me in the least) but the last I heard they were saying pandas (including great) were more closely related to racoons than they were to bears. “They” were, indeed, saying that, oh, about 20 or so years ago. They’re not saying that now. See [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=290043). I once believed that flightless birds evolved from the ornithomimid (aka “ostrich-mimic”) dinosaurs, while volant birds evolved from other dinosaurs. ---
**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 15, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/49 "2005-02-15T00:46:46Z")
> [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > “They” were, indeed, saying that, oh, about 20 or so years ago. They’re not saying that now. See [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=290043). > > I once believed that flightless birds evolved from the ornithomimid (aka “ostrich-mimic”) dinosaurs, while volant birds evolved from other dinosaurs. I once believed that Class Aves and Class Reptilia represented monophyletic lineages. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/50 "2005-02-15T00:51:43Z")
I wasn’t sure who Richard Stands was, but I knew he had to be pretty important since everything in the country was for _him_ according to the Pledge of Allegiance. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/51 "2005-02-15T01:06:31Z")
When I was young, I used to confuse “Deaf” with “Death”. I also thought supposably was a word. /Ms Cyros ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/52 "2005-02-15T01:10:28Z")
I left my heart, in San Francisco. Above the blue and win D C. I didn’t understand what that meant. Knock knock Who’s there? Sam and Janet. Sam and Janet who? Sam and Janet evening. I just couldn’t understand that because I had a cousin named Janet and I didn’t know who Sam was. I was an adult before I got that joke. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/53 "2005-02-15T01:16:58Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > I once believed that Class Aves and Class Reptilia represented monophyletic lineages. They do…so long as you include Aves within Reptilia. I once believed Linnaean classification made sense 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/54 "2005-02-15T01:17:43Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Continent and island are not mutually exclusive. Australia is often referred to as the island continent. And Europe’s often referred to as \*The \*Continent. Idiomatic expression doesn’t dictate geographical terminology. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/55 "2005-02-15T02:22:45Z")
I thought “Don we now our gay apparel” was “Gone be now our day of peril.” Unless I have those mixed up and the second one is right. Gah! Either way it made sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/56 "2005-02-15T03:13:58Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > No. Although Red Pandas _may_ be procyonids. Giant Pandas are unequivocally bears (family Ursidae). Fair enough. Although I’m still inrigued by the idea that mushrooms should be classified with animals…what will this do to the PETA members who do 'shrooms :D? ---
**Author:** ![Okaybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc348/32.png) [@Okaybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okaybear)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/57 "2005-02-15T03:31:52Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I wasn’t sure who Richard Stands was, but I knew he had to be pretty important since everything in the country was for _him_ according to the Pledge of Allegiance. You stole mine, **elfkin**! I also believed that I was pledging my grade-school allegiance to Richard Stands. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/58 "2005-02-15T03:37:57Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Really weird dept.: > > I once thought that only women were supposed to have pubic hair. When I was 12 (ca 1975), I went into a convenience store that sold adult paperback books in a rack next to the counter. On the cover of one was a man with his shirt undone. Just at the bottom of the picture was the top of his pubic hair. I naturally assumed he had gotten a sex change! I was just the opposite. You see, men have beards, women don’t, so it made sense that while men had hair down there (which I knew because I’d seen my dad) women didn’t (definitely had not seen my mom). This was all in the era when even mens’ magazines’ pictures of naked women were coy about their pubic regions. Then one day I came across a ‘naturist’ magazine and – ‘Holy cow! She’s got more hair than my dad!’ DD ---
**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:** [February 15, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/59 "2005-02-15T04:11:18Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > You see, men have beards, women don’t, so it made sense that while men had hair down there (which I knew because I’d seen my dad) women didn’t You read Chaucer at an early age. > [@](#): > > Absalon fastidiously “kissed her naked arse, most savorously”, but wonders “a woman hath no beard”. He hears the two laughing and realizes his mistake. [http://www.bookwolf.com/Free\_Booknotes/Canterbury\_Tales\_by\_Geoffrey\_C/Millers\_Tale-Canterbury\_Tales\_/millers\_tale-canterbury\_tales\_.html](http://www.bookwolf.com/Free_Booknotes/Canterbury_Tales_by_Geoffrey_C/Millers_Tale-Canterbury_Tales_/millers_tale-canterbury_tales_.html) ---
**Author:** ![RayMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e495f1/32.png) [@RayMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RayMan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/60 "2005-02-15T08:04:42Z")
> [@Lillith Fair](#): > > Knock knock > Who’s there? > Sam and Janet. > Sam and Janet who? > Sam and Janet evening. > > I just couldn’t understand that because I had a cousin named Janet and I didn’t know who Sam was. I was an adult before I got that joke. I’m an adult, and I don’t get this joke at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060.md?page=4)