# What ironclad memories from childhood have turned out to be pretty much wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** theater-stage-dance\ **Created:** [June 21, 2026, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065 "2026-06-21T01:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/21 "2026-06-23T17:19:46Z")
This most likely a false memory, but is it mine, or my parents? When I was very young, maybe 4-5, I went with my dad to the neighbors. I was playing on a straw pile, and the next thing I remember was being driven to the hospital. I remember the drive, and the concern, but I had no idea what happened, or what treatment I had, if any. So decades later, after my dad had died, it was bugging me, and I asked my mom what happened that I had to be taken to the hospital. Did I have an allergic reaction? Did I land on my head? What? She said that never happened. Did she forget her one and only son’s near-death experience? Maybe dad never told her? The memory is still vivid 60 years later, but now they’re both gone. I’ll never know for sure. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/22 "2026-06-23T18:05:16Z")
Or maybe it did happen, and your memories were accurate, but it was for something much less severe than your five-year-old self assumed, something minor enough that your mother had no particular reason for it to stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/23 "2026-06-23T19:04:28Z")
It could be. When you have no basis for comparison, you have no way to file the memory correctly. At that age, everything you do, see and experience is the first time. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/24 "2026-06-23T20:40:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I must have been melding a lot of separate T intersections together I swear I use the verb TO CONFLATE at least once a day these days. Mostly apologizing for conflating two events together in my memory. Now that I’ve read up more on how memories are stored, I’m not surprised. They aren’t pages in a file cabinet that you pull out, they’re a jumble of pictures and sounds and snippets of ransom notes that you piece together on the fly when you’re trying to tell someone about an adventure from your childhood. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/25 "2026-06-23T22:08:01Z")
And every time we recall a memory, it changes. Tricky thing. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2026, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/26 "2026-06-23T22:59:57Z")
When I was 4 years old, my parents hired a Santa to come by the house and deliver presents. Apparently he was a local elderly guy who loved doing this sort of thing. We have a few pictures of his visit, so I know that it did happen. But in my childhood memories, I always remembered him coming down our staircase to deliver the presents which, as it turns out, is pretty hard to do in a single-story home. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2026, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/27 "2026-06-23T23:09:52Z")
Eh, Santa’s magic, he can find a way. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/28 "2026-06-24T01:04:48Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > And every time we recall a memory, it changes. > > Tricky thing. Yep. Memories are unreliable and subject to change from outside influence. I made this point about very old cold cases with some witness with a 30 year old memory, but other posters insist that memory is _perfect._ ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/29 "2026-06-24T01:37:14Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > And every time we recall a memory, it changes. > > Tricky thing. Wait, what?? ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/30 "2026-06-24T02:30:11Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > And every time we recall a memory, it changes. That’s why I refuse to remember anything ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/31 "2026-06-24T02:43:24Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > > And every time we recall a memory, it changes. > > > > Tricky thing. > > Wait, what?? Basically, every time you recall a memory, it essentially gets “re-recorded.” So if you inadvertently add a spurious detail, or conflate it with a different memory, or something you read, or something that was suggested to you, the memory gets “re-recorded” incorrectly, and the next time you recall it, it may be different from what you originally remembered. And this continues every time you recall it like a game of telephone. This is one reason why the practice of investigators leading witnesses in a crime is so harmful—like showing them a photo of a single suspect. Witnesses have been put on the stand at a trial and sworn that they saw an accused person committing a crime, whereas it later shown (such as by incontrovertible evidence such as DNA testing) that their memories were compromised by ignorant or unscrupulous police investigators. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/32 "2026-06-24T03:48:32Z")
Along the same lines as Big and other mistaken memories, I for years had a cherished memory of Julia Child dropping a chicken on the floor on her show The French Chef, and then picking it up and cleaning it off, and saying something witty about how these are things only the cook knows and what the guests (or family) don’t know won’t hurt them, It was in the very early black and white days of the show, sometime after it started in 1962, I was a teen watching in the evening after dinner with my mother, and we looked at each other and laughed and laughed. Apparently I am not the only one to have this memory, but also apparently it never happened. Or so claims every historical and personal resource today. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/33 "2026-06-24T14:45:28Z")
I remember some forgotten TV program from the sixties singing the cast credits with the name “Morey Am-ster-dam!” However recently I’ve been seeing the reruns of the “Red Skelton” program–and that was the actual program. For some seasons they had an introductory musical number that introduced the guests, and that’s the way they introduced Red’s musical director David “The Stripper” Rose. . . “Da-vid Rooooose, and his or-ches-tra!” Exact melody. (Although maybe Morey was a guest at some point, and I really did hear it with him.) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/34 "2026-06-24T16:25:59Z")
I had a clear memory of watching the family dog get run over and killed. Years later I recounted this, and my mother said that wasn’t how it happened at all. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/35 "2026-06-24T16:38:31Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Along the same lines as Big and other mistaken memories, I for years had a cherished memory of Julia Child dropping a chicken on the floor on her show The French Chef, and then picking it up and cleaning it off, and saying something witty about how these are things only the cook knows and what the guests (or family) don’t know won’t hurt them, It was in the very early black and white days of the show, sometime after it started in 1962, I was a teen watching in the evening after dinner with my mother, and we looked at each other and laughed and laughed. > > Apparently I am not the only one to have this memory, but also apparently it never happened. Or so claims every historical and personal resource today. That sounds more like something that would have been on SNL or some other parody of Julia Child that people then remembered as real. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/36 "2026-06-24T18:35:32Z")
Possibly, but my mother also watching and laughing with me was a strong part of the memory. Also I almost never watched SNL (which would have been later anyway), but I possibly might have seen a sketch repeated somewhere. As the point has been made, nothing with memories is certain. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/37 "2026-06-24T18:41:38Z")
A single bean would be a “Frijol”. Singular “Frijol” Plural “Frijoles” In Spanish words ended in a consonant receive an “E” and an “S” when being pluralized, so “Frijol”-\>“Frijoles”, “Federal”-\> “Federales” (there is no such thing as a “Federale”) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/38 "2026-06-24T18:44:15Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > there is no such thing as a “Federale” Or a tamale. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/39 "2026-06-24T18:55:20Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Basically, every time you recall a memory, it essentially gets “re-recorded.” That’s how the 11’ trout I caught when I was 8 years old eventually morphed into a 125# swordfish hauled in off Baja. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065/40 "2026-06-24T19:43:01Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Apparently I am not the only one to have this memory, but also apparently it never happened. Or so claims every historical and personal resource today. At least nothing like that was broadcast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ironclad-memories-from-childhood-have-turned-out-to-be-pretty-much-wrong/1031065.md?page=3)