# Weird things you believed as a kid **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 21, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583 "2020-12-21T23:41:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/21 "2020-12-22T17:45:05Z")
I used to think that if you didn’t go to sleep, night would just last and last and last. The only way to make it end and have the day come again was to go to sleep. I also believed that President Lincoln was famous for having freed the sleighs, which must have gotten stuck in the snow someplace. I realized my errors before age 6. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/22 "2020-12-22T17:54:13Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I used to think babies were born through the navel. That’s a very common one. I never thought that, but I remember hearing other kids talk about it. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/23 "2020-12-22T18:03:08Z")
I thought I was the only person in the world who slept, as we all understand sleep. As a kid, I thought everybody else was just lying motionless with their eyes closed, but fully conscious. What I experienced as “sleep” was a weird hallucinatory coma unique to me. Sleep is actually pretty weird. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/24 "2020-12-22T18:20:59Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > That’s a very common one. I never thought that, but I remember hearing other kids talk about it. I didn’t think that but heard navels had something to with babies but no idea what. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/25 "2020-12-22T18:29:43Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Fundamentally misunderstanding visual perception. Adults’ belief in visual emissions This is not the same misconception, but remember the mini-scandal of Trump apparently signing a blank sheet of paper when he was sick? Somebody claimed it was _completely_ faked because you could see a reflection of his hand in the polished table apparently under the paper. > [@Trump and Melania test positive for COVID-19](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-and-melania-test-positive-for-covid-19/922010/763): > > Oh dear. Susan doesn’t understand how reflections work. > ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/26 "2020-12-22T21:02:23Z")
I thought that the way you told the difference between a boy and a girl was hair length. Boys had short hair, girls had long hair. I must also have been aware that I got my hair cut from time to time, but I evidently didn’t see how that could impact on the foolproof method for determining sex. j ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/27 "2020-12-22T21:21:41Z")
Whenever I had a headache Mom would give me an aspirin and tell me to lie down. I would fall asleep, and when I woke up the headache would be gone. So obviously, the reason for taking aspirin was to put me to sleep, and while I was sleeping the headache would go away. ---
**Author:** ![PB\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@PB\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PB_J)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/28 "2020-12-22T22:20:40Z")
When I was a kid, I was very methodical and organized. My school clothes were organized on hangers with complete outfits including socks. If I did not feel well one day, I attributed that feeling to the outfit I was wearing. I removed that outfit from the school day rotation as I did not want to feel sick again. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/29 "2020-12-22T22:32:42Z")
I didn’t realize that anyone else thought this too. I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t float around like an inner tube in a pool. I was astonished – and felt kinda dumb – when I learned that islands are the tops of mountains in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/30 "2020-12-22T22:33:36Z")
When I was very little (say, 5 or 6 or so), I thought that when you turned the radio off in the middle of a song, it would start right back up again at the same point in the same song even if it was hours later. I think that actually did happen a time or two, reinforcing my belief. Nowadays I know it had far more to do with playlists than anything magical. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/31 "2020-12-22T22:47:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > so had I been asked I would have guessed regular vision worked the same way I think the Ancient Greeks also thought this. So you’re in good company. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/32 "2020-12-22T22:52:15Z")
Similarly, I thought that if a song ended in a fadeout, you could just keep on turning up the volume on your stereo to compensate. Do it far enough, and the song might never end! There could be entire verses hidden there! ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/33 "2020-12-22T22:52:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I didn’t think that but heard navels had something to with babies but no idea what. You were right! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/34 "2020-12-22T22:54:04Z")
I guess Superman may have flown around the earth really fast and gone back in time to ancient Greece. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/35 "2020-12-22T23:26:06Z")
I thought I had been sent to earth by aliens, to see how well I’d assimilate, and I was failing at it. I may have been right. Somewhat later, I thought women urinated from their vaginas. Surprisingly, I later discovered that there are women who actually believe this. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/36 "2020-12-22T23:58:15Z")
I thought there were people whose job was to listen to songs and write down the words so the lyrics could be included on the album cover. It never occurred to me that the singers knew what they were saying… ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/37 "2020-12-23T00:52:59Z")
Note: given the number of mondegreens that I have found in allegedly “official” lyric releases, this likely happens quite often in point in fact I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/38 "2020-12-23T01:16:34Z")
If you ran the wheels on a battery-powered electric toy backwards, it would recharge the battery. I knew both motors & generator had wire coils in em–I thought that was how it worked. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/39 "2020-12-23T02:05:22Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > If you ran the wheels on a battery-powered electric toy backwards, it would recharge the battery. Well, kinda… It’s putting voltage into the battery… When I was young (and mentally ill) I believed that if you imagined a thing, it became real. (Similar to the entry, above, if you wish someone dead, they die.) This made me TERRIBLY afraid of monsters in the dark. (Everyone is afraid of monsters in the dark, but I was over the edge into rather serious mental illness. I sorta got better…) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/40 "2020-12-23T02:34:35Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I sorta got better… Well, before we agree on that I think you need to come clean on what you’ve been dreaming about recently. You could be responsible for 2020. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583.md?page=3)