# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/61 "2005-02-15T08:36:05Z")
I once believed facade was pronounced “fak-aid.” Until the middle of a 10th grade English class. :smack: I believed at one time that lateral transfer of genes was unimportant in phylogenetics. I also believed commensalism, parasitism, and mutualism were discrete states. Woe is me! I wouldn’t go so far as to lump in fungi with animals, but they’re closer than they are to the “higher” plants. [Tree of Life](http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Eukaryotes&contgroup=Life_on_Earth) ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/62 "2005-02-15T08:56:40Z")
> [@RayMan](#): > > I’m an adult, and I don’t get this joke at all. Sam and Janet Evening = Some Enchanted Evening (it’s a song) ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/63 "2005-02-15T12:29:43Z")
I thought Pink Floyd was named after Pretty Boy Floyd. It gets weirder, however–in my mind Pretty Boy was Dipper Boy Floyd, someone who brought water in a dipper to blues musicians during the 1930’s. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/64 "2005-02-15T13:46:19Z")
You know that song “My Country Tis of Thee”? The part where they refer to " land of the Pilgrim’s Pride", well, I thought it was “land where the Pilgrims cried”. For some reason, my mother thought that was a fucking riot and told all her stupid grad school friends. No wonder I’m such a mess nowadays. ---
**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 15, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/65 "2005-02-15T13:54:39Z")
> [@Okaybear](#): > > You stole mine, **elfkin**! I also believed that I was pledging my grade-school allegiance to Richard Stands. **Richard Stands** would be an excellent in-joke user name/alias/Witness Protection Name. And it’s **Four Witches Stand**. I mean, _c’mon_ ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/66 "2005-02-15T13:56:18Z")
… when I was a wee lassie the new thing for tennis shoes was Belcro straps instead of laces. … that the Galapagos Islands were located near Greece. (You see, my mom’s family is Greek and Galapagos sounded like a Greek name to me… nevermind.) Don’t ask when I learned that the islands are part of Central America. :o ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/67 "2005-02-15T13:56:20Z")
In CCR’s “Looking out my Backdoor” I thought the lyric was: Let’s take a Ride On the Glide-Wheel Spoon. For years I wondered what a “Glide-Wheel Spoon” was. I thought it was maybe some kinda Southern carny ride. “Mom! Can we ride the Glide-Wheel Spoon?” “Yeah, can we?” “Now, you _know_ you just finished a box of popcorn and two candy apples. I’m not going to have you throwing that up because of a ride.” It was quite a while before I figured out it was: Take a Ride On the Glide We’ll spoon. Even if I’d seen the lyrics printed out it wouldn’t have helped. I only learned what a “Glide” was a couple of years ago, and I didn’t know what “spooning” meant for a long time, either. ---
**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, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/68 "2005-02-15T14:01:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > In CCR’s “Looking out my Backdoor” I thought the lyric was: > Let’s take a Ride > On the Glide-Wheel Spoon. I though it was “flying spoon” i.e., cocaine. [http://www.mattsmusicpage.com/creedence/llookinout.htm](http://www.mattsmusicpage.com/creedence/llookinout.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/69 "2005-02-15T14:21:14Z")
Even _my_ hearing isn’t bad enough to mistake “flying spoon” for “glide-wheel spoon”. I don’t know where those lyrics come from, but there’s no way they can be right. “Glide-Wheel Sponn” at least _sounds_ like “Glide… We’ll Spoon”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/70 "2005-02-15T14:31:43Z")
If you think you’ve got another thing coming, then you’ve got another **think** coming. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/71 "2005-02-15T14:31:55Z")
I used to think that ‘Jew’ was the same as ‘Christian.’ I remember once watching a show about how in some Jewish city they got around using electricity for hospitals and such on the Sabbath, and thought, “Why don’t we do that?” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/72 "2005-02-15T14:41:14Z")
Until about age 5, I thought Jewish meant black. I also thought when something was “forbidden,” it was being saved for a little old man named Bidden, who wore a white coat like a doctor. (Why the coat, I dunno.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/73 "2005-02-15T14:45:45Z")
> [@Terrorcotta](#): > > I thought the Yuletide carol was about a ‘one horse soap and sleigh’. I thought it was “one horse soapin’ sleigh” and I pictured a horse-drawn sleigh surrounded by tons and tons of bubbles. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/74 "2005-02-15T15:01:50Z")
Okay, I’ve looked at a few lyric sites, and the _all_ have"flying spoon". But, I swear, it doesn’t sound at all like that. “flying spoon” doesn’t even _scan_ right – there aren’t enough syllables, and if you stretch it out it doesn’t work. And I’ve never heard “flying spoon” as a synonym for cocaine. It _does_ sound like some carny ride that can make you lose your lunch, though. Anybody know the truth about this? Am I mistaken twice? (And, if so, **Pepper Mill** is in the wrong, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/75 "2005-02-15T16:21:00Z")
…that the United States was invisible. 'Cause of the Pledge, you see. Important little syllable, isn’t it? …that the world ended at Colorado. It was just a big square column, with us on top of it. (I was little.) …that there was somewhere some sort of adult manual, that you got when you grew up so you’d know how to do things - like get a driver’s license, pay taxes, pay bills, move into a new place, that sort of thing. Things that I didn’t have to do how to do when I was little, but that my Mom did all the time. I didn’t know you just picked it up as you go along. Sad, that - a manual would be handy. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/76 "2005-02-15T16:27:28Z")
I though the song _The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi_ was _The Sweetheart of Sig McKye_. We had a neighbor named Sig Carr and the words “sigma” and “chi” were not in my vocaulary. I also thought the Sunday radio show _Little Theater Off Times Square_ was _The Little Theater Oftimes Square_ and I wondered what shape it was other times. And Katie Couric said that she thought the song about “the girl with kalaidoscope eyes” was “the girl with colitis goes by.” ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/77 "2005-02-15T17:55:23Z")
I thought Kentucky bluegrass was blue like the sky. I asked my dad how the horses knew to stop when they came to the sky. _singing_ “Precious and few are the moments we toucans share…” Obviously a song about Froot Loops. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/78 "2005-02-15T18:05:20Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > I used to think: > Pandas and koalas were bears. Pandas have been [readmitted](http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/y/j/yjw101/taxonomy.htm) to the bear family by many taxonomists. Not gonna happen for the Koala, though, mark my words. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/79 "2005-02-15T18:11:10Z")
I have been lurking and this is what a choose for my first post…heaven help us all. I once mistakenly believed that pee was green because it looked that way in the blue toilet bowl in my house as a child. I recall even INSISTING this was the case to a classmate. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060/80 "2005-02-15T18:12:02Z")
In the song **Silent Night** , I thought the lyrics went “Ground yon virgin…” instead of Round yon virgin. My family recently viewed an old videotape of me and my cousins singing this song together at Christmas about 20 years ago and thought it was the height of hilarity. I also thought black people were “chocolate people” and white people were “vanilla people”. No idea where that correlation came from. My mom freaked out one day when I came home from the first day of second grade and was telling her about my new teacher. “Her name is Miss Jones, she’s very tall and she’s a chocolate person.” My dad used to say “I’m going for a tall orange soda” when he would go to the fridge for a beer. One day I thought that sounded pretty good to me too and said I’d like one – I was about 6 at the time. It took him a minute to realize I thought he meant a REAL orange soda. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-once-mistakenly-believed/290060.md?page=5)