# When I Was A Little Kid, I Wondered... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796 "2013-04-04T02:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/21 "2013-04-04T12:05:13Z")
Why most songs were about love. Why the loser in a Presidential campaign didn’t become Vice-President. Why men can’t have babies. Whether, if you allow a plant to grow, it would become a tree. Whether people who lived on islands weren’t afraid they’d sink. After all, they’re just floating on the water, right? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/22 "2013-04-04T12:24:55Z")
> [@Ms.Pumpkin](#): > > One of my earliest memories is of looking out the window, and watching the cars go by(proving that I’ve always been a tremendously exciting person). I guess 3-year-olds don’t have the best depth perception(or understanding of how traffic lanes work), because I’d always wonder how, when two cars seemed to be headed right toward each other, it never resulted in any head-on collisions. I don’t remember wondering that when I was little, but I’ve started to get that more and more when I’m driving on the highway, but for traffic going my way, not opposite ways. When two cars are sufficiently far from me and one of them changes lanes, it always looks like they’re gonna crash into each other and sometimes I even move my foot to the brake just in case. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/23 "2013-04-04T13:19:37Z")
I wondered how I would know how to spell bad words. I went to a Christian school and I knew _they_ weren’t going to teach me. I wondered what the Bingo religion was. I saw a lot of churches with a big Bingo sign, but never heard anything about it. Why did Mom keep a chocolate bar in the bathroom and never eat it? It was in a box marked Ex-Lax. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/24 "2013-04-04T13:47:48Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > …why fingernail clippers were big and fingernail clippers were small, when toenails are smaller than fingernails. > > …why my parents never got arrested for passing signs that said DO NOT PASS. > > …why my mother only pretended to mail my letters to my grandma when they were obviously in cursive writing, just like hers- I made big loops on the page just like hers! > What did you wonder- do you remember? Whenever my parents drove me past this place [http://www.poconosrus.com/hideout-directions.htm](http://www.poconosrus.com/hideout-directions.htm) I’d wonder at the foolishness of the crooks who had a huge sign saying “Hideout” in front of their hideout - surely they were bound to get caught. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/25 "2013-04-04T14:05:53Z")
According to TV commercials Mom and I should have been using _feminine_ napkins at the dinner table. But in our house, girls and boys used the same kind. Were we missing out on something fancy? Why my parents always slept with the bedroom door shut. Were they scared? How the post office cashed in a stamp when it was still stuck to our letter? Why school had to start when it was still dark outside? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/26 "2013-04-04T14:33:00Z")
…why adults still did nasty things to one another. Adults were the ones telling children not to do naughty things, so surely by the time they were adults, people had grown out of misbehaving? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/27 "2013-04-04T14:52:33Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > I wondered why my mother would constantly drink and drive, even though it was clearly against the law. (And I’m talking about fountain cokes and the occasionaly bottled coke) I’d often admonish her and she’d just laugh. I told people that my dad was an alcoholic. Well, he drank beer. And beer has alcohol in it, right? So he must be an alcoholic. People who drink alcohol are alcoholics. Another - I couldn’t understand why Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Hugh Beaumont, and Barbara Billingsly all had different names besides Beaver, Wally, Mr Cleaver and Mrs. Cleaver. Also wondered why my mom never wore pearls while cleaning the house or how Beaver’s dad came home wearing a suit. My dad worked construction and came home dirty and smelling pretty ripe. I couldn’t figure out how Mr. Cleaver did the same and came home in a suit. I thought that all men worked in construction. Those guys working in stores and stuff just did that because they liked to. They all still must work in construction somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/28 "2013-04-04T15:41:24Z")
I wondered about drinking and driving, too. I wondered why the Queen Elizabeth’s husband was not called “king”. I wondered what the long versions of people’s names were. Like, the long version of Jenny is (often) Jennifer and the long version of Katie is (often) Katherine. So what’s the long version of Rachel’s name or Mason’s name or Heather’s name? I genuinely wondered if people perceived colors differently and how we would have any idea if they did. No amount of explanation on that one satisfied me. I wondered about languages- how they were so hard to learn when I was pretty sure I was well on my way to learning Spanish. I thought it was letters that got translated, not words- so everything was spelled the same, but pronounced differently, and all you had to do was remember that, for example, J makes an H sound in Spanish. eta: I also wondered why they advertised coke and pepsi on TV when coke and pepsi weren’t new. I thought commercials were only for informing the public that something new had been invented. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/29 "2013-04-04T16:13:31Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > …why my parents never got arrested for passing signs that said DO NOT PASS. I wondered why the road people couldn’t make up their minds. “Do Not Pass”, followed shortly by “Pass With Care”, then again with “Do Not Pass”…either you shouldn’t pass, or you should! > [@voguevixen](#): > > I used to wonder what “Famous cash” was. You know when there’d be a commercial offering you three rooms of carpet for $299 - 90 days famous cash. I could make it out as “same as cash”, but the idea confused me. How do I pay for something with 90 days?? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/30 "2013-04-04T16:19:28Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > I was a weird little kid (over time, I became a much larger weird kid, and then a weird adult), and I distinctly recall wondering why so many other people never wondered anything- even after I came to realize that grownups didn’t know everything, there never seemed to be any curiosity in most people at all, and I wondered why. This one STILL puzzles me. Some people seem to have NO questions, whereas I’m nothing but questions. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/31 "2013-04-04T16:19:46Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > eta: I also wondered why they advertised coke and pepsi on TV when coke and pepsi weren’t new. I thought commercials were only for informing the public that something new had been invented. I wondered how TV channels advertised competing products, like Ford one minute and Chevy the next. Or especially political ads. Don’t these channels or networks have any convictions? How can their support change so quickly? ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/32 "2013-04-04T16:40:22Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > why my parents never got arrested for passing signs that said DO NOT PASS. Years ago, my ex returned from a short trip and explained her treacherous journey. She normally took the interstate to this place, but this time she decided to take the scenic route. Along the way, she came upon a ‘DO NOT PASS’ sign. She said she nearly turned around, but the road looked okay, so she went on. She went real slow not knowing what was around each corner, but she made it to her destination. Turns out the road wasn’t in bad shape at all. She didn’t feel there was any need for the sign. Never seeing a girl with a skirt ride a bicycle, I used to wonder why girls bikes had that low-angle bar on the frame. As someone who’s landed their nuts on that top bar, it seemed to me that somehow boys bikes and girls bikes were mixed up and why didn’t they figure out that mistake? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/33 "2013-04-04T16:46:15Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > I used to wonder what “Famous cash” was. You know when there’d be a commercial offering you three rooms of carpet for $299 - 90 days famous cash. Similarly, I wondered how programs could be proctoyoud. As in “Days of Our Lives has been proctoyoud by the following…” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/34 "2013-04-04T16:54:23Z")
I wondered about the “DO NOT PASS” signs as well. How are you supposed to get down the road if you can’t pass the sign? I’m showing my age here, but I also wondered why fallout shelters were in the basements of places. You can’t fall out of a basement, why do you need to shelter from it? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/35 "2013-04-04T16:57:17Z")
Growing up, I never wondered about that, but there was (and still is) a place in my home county where the divided highway turns into a regular road, and there is a sign that states “highway ends 1000 ft.”. But I didn’t notice this, my dad had to point out the silliness to me since the _road_ obviously didn’t end. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/36 "2013-04-04T16:59:55Z")
and to hijack, in Melbourne, where I’m living now, there’s a similar sign where the _sidewalk_ **is** actually about to end which states “sidewalk ends 1034 feet.” I would post it on oddlyspecific if I didn’t have a feeling that that sort of photo is common. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/37 "2013-04-04T17:24:40Z")
> [@Obeseus](#): > > Years ago, my ex returned from a short trip and explained her treacherous journey. She normally took the interstate to this place, but this time she decided to take the scenic route. Along the way, she came upon a ‘DO NOT PASS’ sign. She said she nearly turned around, but the road looked okay, so she went on. She went real slow not knowing what was around each corner, but she made it to her destination. Turns out the road wasn’t in bad shape at all. She didn’t feel there was any need for the sign. Woah. In my defense, my reading skills came in before my common sense- I was four. Your poor ex. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/38 "2013-04-04T17:28:12Z")
I wondered if on TV whenever someone was killed if they used death row inmates for that part. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/39 "2013-04-04T18:05:13Z")
As a child, I was somewhat puzzled by how people could move 3,000 vehicles so fast just by pressing on an accelerator pedal. I also was perplexed by other thermo-mechanical processes and machinery. I had to work hard by comparison to make my light weight bycycle move along. After engineering school and a few years working in automotive related industries, I mostly understand it. [QUOTE=SurrenderDorothy] I genuinely wondered if people perceived colors differently and how we would have any idea if they did. No amount of explanation on that one satisfied me. [/QUOTE] I was in my 20s before I realized that there existed [such a variety of color blindness conditions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/40 "2013-04-04T18:10:51Z")
If you’re three, you’re short. If you’re four, you’re a little taller. If you’re really old, like eight, you’re really tall. If you’re ancient, like 14, woah, you’re freakin’ sequoia. Therefore, the older you were, the taller you were. So where were all of the really really old people, like older than dad? I came to the only logical conclusion. At a certain age, people must be made to go live in some bizarre land of the giants. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796.md?page=3)