When I was about ten, I read the word "prostitute" somewhere. I thought a prostitute was a member of a religious order, something like a nun. I pictured groups of prostitutes walking around in habits and doing things for charity... in retrospect, I think I had them mixed up with Protestants... though I don't know where the nun bit came from...

Anon

I used to believe that a mistress was the same as a seamstress and I couldn't figure out why all these men were so attracted to ladies that sew.

Holly Lane

My Dad (who was in the airforce) told me that when his office hole punch got full of circles, that they had to be emptied into a bag and sent to a factory to be packaged as confetti to help the government pay for all the aeroplanes because they didn't have much money. I was at university years later, in the city that Dad had said the factory was in, and I asked someone if they knew where the government confetti factory was.

julie

When I was under five, I used to think that there were people who were squished btween the ceiling and the roof of dept stores, like Sears, and their job was to give all the announcements through the speakers in the ceiling. I pictured them laying down in the dark, yelling through those speakers, like "Clean-up in aisle seven.."

Keri Cahill

That Strippers were the ladies who stripped the tablecloths off the tables in night clubs at the end of the evening.

Catherine

i believed as a child that if you were fired,you were made into a computer.for this reason,i began to have conversations with my own computer.

me

I used to believe that EVERYONE wanted to be an astronaut when they grew up. I guess I thought most adults had tried and failed, and had settled for an inferior option.

Andres Cabezas

When I was very young I said to my mother in all seriousness "A work is where daddy goes to have lunch and get paid."

Nick Dablin

I used to believe that the "Employees Only" room in the back of the store was where the employees lived.

KewlKid

you know how there is MD after the name of a doctor?? well i thought that it meant that all doctors where from the state of Maryland...i didn't realize it was an abbreviation for medical doctor.

keko

This is a story that my mother tells - it happened to my cousin when he was 5. Once day my cousin came down to visit his auntie and uncle (my parents). He asked my father what he did in the day. At the time he worked at an oil refinery, but decided that the process of refining hydrocarbons was too difficult for a child to understand. Instead he told him that he worked at a rabbit factory, and pointed out the window to one of the tall stacks at the refinery - telling my cousin that he stood up on a metal tower and counted the rabbits in the fields below to make sure none ran away. My cousin believed this for a further two decades, and even now (at the age of forty) he still goes bright red when its brought up!

Jeremy

i used to believe the president controlled all the street lamps. i thought he had a big board and at night his job was to turn them all on by small buttons and turn them off.

lawrence

I used to think that minimum wage meant that you were paid one cent an hour - since that's the lowest amount of money you could possibly get to!

Catherine

When I was very young I wanted to be an astronaut. My hopes were dashed when I read some description of space travel that mentioned that a Saturn V rocket cost over a million dollars to build.

Oh no, I thought. I would never be able to afford that.

Scott Forschler

One Halloween, when I was about 7, my Dad dressed up in his old Navy uniform and my Mom dressed up a "girl that dates sailors." When the neighbors came over dressed the same, they told me that they were all dressed up as sailors and hookers. So for about 4 or 5 years, I thought that hookers were just girls that liked to date sailors...

Chris S

I used to believe that "Tallest Person in the World" was a job and that it paid good money. When I was in elementary school I always tried to be the tallest and when someone beat me, I was heartbroken.

Anon

I used to want to be a garbage man when I was older because I belived they only worked one day a week

Oscar the Grouch

When I was a kid I thought that when mum and dad were working, they were playing video games. I walked in on my dad typing and was suprised.

Carole-Ann

I thought that an ambassador was simply someone who wore a tuxedo, top hat, and a monocle, and held a cane.

GE

I used to believe that Fired and Hired both meant that you were out of a job. Me and a friend also thought it was an insult. We used to run up to other kids and yell, "Your fired! Your hired!"

Lecia