# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/101 "2020-12-24T21:59:13Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > What I couldn’t understand was how the people trying to put Churchill down could be so shockingly incompetent - _another_ bullet in? How many is that now? And they still haven’t put him out of his misery? Had you lived in Spain 1974 you would have greatly enjoyed Franco’s last months. He had scores and scores of bullet ins. With lots of fancy words like peritonitis. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/102 "2020-12-24T22:06:54Z")
When I was 6, I believed that people changed their names every now and then. I couldn’t imagine someone keeping their same name for their whole lives. I figured the name change would kick in once I hit age ten or so, and I would get to choose. So one day I was 6 or 7 years old on an airplane with my father, and the flight attendant asked me, “What’s your name?” and I replied, “I haven’t decided (my next name) yet”. She looked at me quizzically, and so did my father, who apparently hadn’t gotten the we-change-names-every-now-and-then memo. ---
**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 25, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/103 "2020-12-25T00:11:17Z")
I remember thinking that after a Presidential election, the loser got to be Vice-President. I didn’t understand political parties, and how that would invite assassinations. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/104 "2020-12-25T00:43:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I remember thinking that after a Presidential election, the loser got to be Vice-President. Of course, that’s the way it originally worked, before the 12th Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/105 "2020-12-25T00:55:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > She looked at me quizzically, and so did my father, who apparently hadn’t gotten the we-change-names-every-now-and-then memo. 50 years ago, you could change your name when you felt like it. Several of my friends (women) changed their names when they were old enough to make their own decisions: it’s like your clothes: when you are young, your parents choose your name and your clothes: when you get older, you get to make your own choices. I can remember a talk-back radio lawyer explaining that you could use any name you wanted, but that courts would assume you were doing so for criminal purposes or to avoid debt: 60 years ago, when my relative worked in Chicago, public hospital patients often had a different name (with no medical record) when they came in. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/106 "2020-12-25T04:31:41Z")
I was told: “Every 4th child born in the world is Chinese”. You are the 4th child in our family, so you are Chinese. And they would talk to me in “Chinese” and I would cry because I didn’t understand them. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/107 "2020-12-25T04:59:11Z")
That was the basis of a Little Rascals episode… > When Mickey reads something in a jokebook stating that one out of every four children born is Chinese, he begins to worry that his new baby brother or sister will be Chinese as well. The Gang put Mickey at ease by telling him that it will not be so bad to have a Chinese sibling. The gang then introduce Mickey to Spanky’s friend Lee Wong. Once he has learned that people are people no matter what their ethnic background, Mickey is happy—until he discovers that his much-anticipated “kid brother” is not only a girl, but twins to boot. > **[Baby Blues (1941 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Blues_(1941_film))** > > Baby Blues is a 1941 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 196th Our Gang short (197th episode, 108th talking short, 109th talking episode, and 28th MGM produced episode) that was released. > When Mickey reads something in a jokebook stating that one out of every four children born is Chinese, he begins to worry that his new baby brother or sister will be Chinese as well. The Gang put Mickey at ease by telling him that it will not be so bad to have a Chinese sibling. The ... ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/108 "2020-12-25T18:10:13Z")
In my younger days, I would look at the TV listings to see what daytime shows I would be missing due to being at school. Besides the usual game shows and soap operas, one program title intrigued me: “To Be Ann.” It seemed to be on various channels at different times, and I was curious to see who wanted to be Ann. It sounded like a soap opera, so my interest in following up waned as time went by. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/109 "2020-12-26T01:12:02Z")
We were, and then . . . _fission._ I became the radioactive product, and **Trinopus** became a far more stable element. Tripler Hey man, I can’t explain it. It’s just science. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/110 "2020-12-26T01:27:20Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > **Trinopus** became a far more stable element. He doesn’t know me very well, does he? Hehehehehe ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/111 "2020-12-26T13:35:27Z")
It’s like I’m talking to myself, because you don’t know _ **me** _ very well, do ya? 🤪 Tripler Boom. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/112 "2020-12-26T17:12:09Z")
Grin! It’s like finding a long-lost brother! ---
**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 26, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/113 "2020-12-26T18:54:33Z")
Start a thread, reunite a family. What a place we have here. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/114 "2020-12-26T23:39:26Z")
Ha ! I had a blanket that had a little hole in it, so I’d put it over my head with just my nose poking out. Did that every night, over an embarrassingly long period. Our local equivalent to TV Guide always had a page giving the preview of the TV Guide for next week, including a shot of next week’s front cover. To me, this meant next week’s TV Guide was obviously already printed, _including the preview page for the following week_, so all the TV Guides for all eternity were already ready and somebody over there knew what would be on TV in 3 years, etc. Shrimp were little pink things that came in a can and tasted funny. It took a few years until I found out these were _aquatic bugs I was eating whole_; at that point I stopped eating them. I haven’t eaten a shrimp willingly in about 43 years. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/115 "2020-12-27T01:28:06Z")
> [@solost](#): > > When I was very young, like 5 or younger, I had the cause-and-effect of traffic lights backwards: Similarly, around that age, I thought the clicking noise of a turn signal “allowed” the car to make a turn. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/116 "2020-12-27T01:45:06Z")
Heh. You invented preformationism [Preformationism - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preformationism) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/117 "2020-12-27T02:43:08Z")
I believed that gas stations were built over underground gasoline deposits, which is why there were always several gas stations clustered together. It must have been clever city planning that allowed them to mostly be on corners. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2020, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/118 "2020-12-27T07:23:21Z")
When I was in stationery stores I’d look to see if they sold checkbooks. But I never saw one for sale in any store. They were obviously very valuable because you could buy anything with them. I thought a checkbook would probably cost a million dollars. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/119 "2020-12-29T03:19:18Z")
When I was very small, I thought that Noah measured the ark with a measurement called a Q\*bert. Also, I believed until some time in the second grade that there was a very important historical figure named Richard Stands. I kept waiting to learn about him, but we never did. Finally I saw the words to the pledge of allegiance written out and understood my mistake. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583/120 "2020-12-29T13:26:51Z")
My brother and I tried to send Morse Code messages to each other at night in our bedroom using flashlights. We were convinced that signalling “SOS” out the window would result in the police coming to our house. Tried it- didn’t work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-things-you-believed-as-a-kid/928583.md?page=5)