# 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:** 3
**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, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/41 "2013-04-04T18:17:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > When I was a kid I wondered how airplanes got small when they were in the air and how it felt to the people inside when they shrunk along with the plane and got bigger again when they were on the ground. My niece figured this out at a pretty young age. They don’t get smaller, grandma and grandpa live in the sky. ---
**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, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/42 "2013-04-04T18:27:53Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 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! I thought that mean people had put up the “Do Not Pass” signs. Mean people who give orders. The “Pass With Care” people though are quite nice. They are fine with you performing a pass. In fact they hope that you do it OK. They want you to be careful because they care about you. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/43 "2013-04-04T18:32:13Z")
I wondered how my grandmother, long before caller ID, could tell who was calling. When I asked her why she wasn’t answering the phone, I _thought_ she said “Because it isn’t Irene.” They were on a party line. **Their ring** was one long followed by one short. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/44 "2013-04-04T18:35:22Z")
When I was really young I wondered why my stuffed animals’ hair didn’t grow back when I cut it off. I was so fucking retarded. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/45 "2013-04-04T18:38:26Z")
I wondered why I couldn’t use the loo in one of those many buildings that had a sign saying “toilet.” Whyyyy did we have to wait for a service station with a toilet? There were lots of places “to let” back then. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/46 "2013-04-04T18:39:42Z")
From watching old TV shows and monster movies with my Dad, I used to think what a dreary time it must have been when my parents were growing up, because obviously color hadn’t been invented yet. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/47 "2013-04-04T19:36:52Z")
Caution: Deaf Child I always made sure my door was locked and went on high alert when we passed one of these signs. I think I assumed since they were born deaf and weren’t old enough to understand why they were deaf this made them very angry and they lashed out at random people on the street. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/48 "2013-04-04T19:42:07Z")
When I was 5 or 6 I was really worried about when “the long run” was going to be. I would hear people talk about “the long run”, and to make it worse there was a poster in our school gym that said something like “Exercise is good for you in the long run”. I thought there was going to be a big running race that everyone had to participate in. I exercised like a motherfucker because I wanted to be able to make it in “the long run” even if I was only a little kid. Also, I was sure that robots would replace people at _every_ job, and that it was going to happen nearly instantly, like one day everyone would wake up and find out that robots were taking their jobs that week. I wondered what I would do all day and how I would make money as a grown up when the robots did everything. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/49 "2013-04-04T19:57:09Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > From watching old TV shows and monster movies with my Dad, I used to think what a dreary time it must have been when my parents were growing up, because obviously color hadn’t been invented yet. [Calling Bill Waterson…](http://www.reoiv.com/random.asp?img=dadbandwandcolour.jpg&page=2) ---
**Author:** ![smaje1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/50 "2013-04-04T20:08:10Z")
I always wondered why I could see Wonder Woman’s invisible jet (specifically, from the Super Friends cartoon show). There was an obvious outline of it and everything! Mr. smaje and I just bought the Super Friends DVD for l’il smaje, and I told him that – he said he had thought the exact same thing when he was a kid! ---
**Author:** ![smaje1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/51 "2013-04-04T20:09:25Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Why my mom kept a little flexible frisbee in a zippered container in her nightstand. I mean, if you’ve got a cool toy like that, why not keep it out? > > /it actually didn’t work as a frisbee very well. My sister and I found our mom’s “frisbee” and tried wearing it as a face mask. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/52 "2013-04-04T20:31:45Z")
Who’s the first car in front of this traffic jam? Is he driving slow and weaving so no one can get past? ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/53 "2013-04-04T20:51:05Z")
I would watch cartoons at friends houses (in color) and assumed for this reason Cartoons were in color while regular TV was in B&W (despite watching cartoons on our B&W TV set). After figuring out we were the only ones in the neighborhood with B&W I asked my parents “are we poor?” My parents asked why I thought that - I said “because we are the only ones with B&W.” The next day my dad bought a color TV. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/54 "2013-04-04T21:14:30Z")
> [@HubZilla](#): > > Who’s the first car in front of this traffic jam? Is he driving slow and weaving so no one can get past? I STILL wonder this. “If everyone went 5 MPH faster we’d all BE there by now!” ---
**Author:** ![tomandjudy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e4f/32.png) [@tomandjudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomandjudy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/55 "2013-04-04T21:43:22Z")
I worked as an underground miner for years and many of my friends had Suffered accidents over the years. My daughter , until about fifteen thought that as men got older their fingers fell off. ( she’s now a Dr and I hope she knows differently ) ---
**Author:** ![tomandjudy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e4f/32.png) [@tomandjudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomandjudy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/56 "2013-04-04T21:46:40Z")
The miner is back. My other daughter heard we were " high ballers " so she naturally thought I went underground and played football all day ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/57 "2013-04-04T23:16:44Z")
A couple more: I used to see dispensers in ladies rooms marked “napkins”. I wondered who these fancy rich people were who chose to pay for napkins, when they could just use the free paper towels, like the rest of us. But then I also wondered what was so special about the napkins that they actually cost money, to begin with. This one’s a little weird: I was in the living room, playing, when it suddenly occurred to me that I WAS a “me”. That I could see out of only my eyes, and control only my own body, and think thoughts to myself, and other people must be the same way! I’m not explaining it very well. Anyway, I kept thinking about it, and started thinking I was very lucky I got to be in a human body, and not, say, a lamp. Somehow the thought that I could’ve been a LAMP scared me to death, and I started crying and my mother came in and I didn’t have the vocabulary to explain what I was upset about. I’m still glad I’m not a lamp, though. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/58 "2013-04-04T23:27:58Z")
My parents’ good friends were “from grease.” Boy was that confusing. I also thought that \ getting trapped by quicksand, \ getting bitten by a snake and \ getting chased by a swarm of bees until I found a lake to jump into were much, much bigger dangers than they actually turned out to be. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/59 "2013-04-04T23:31:40Z")
I thought that clubs that advertised “No Cover” were strip clubs. The other ones had dancing girls, but they were covered. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796/60 "2013-04-04T23:45:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Ms. Pumpkin** : > > This one’s a little weird: I was in the living room, playing, when it suddenly occurred to me that I WAS a “me”. That I could see out of only my eyes, and control only my own body, and think thoughts to myself, and other people must be the same way! I’m not explaining it very well. Anyway, I kept thinking about it, and started thinking I was very lucky I got to be in a human body, and not, say, a lamp. Somehow the thought that I could’ve been a LAMP scared me to death, and I started crying and my mother came in and I didn’t have the vocabulary to explain what I was upset about. It would be harder to explain, except that I think everyone has gone through that experience and so we know exactly what you mean. I still remember exactly where I was (walking down the hallway at the babysitter’s house) when that thought hit me. Well, except for the lamp part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-was-a-little-kid-i-wondered/654796.md?page=4)