As a kid in the 70s and 80s I amassed a large number of annuals, or bumper comic (book) hardbacks which came out to coincide with the school holidays. Some of these had a "serious" feature designed to give you an idea for something to do apart from read comics, and although I generally ignored these, one, headlined "Youth-Hostelling", intrigued me for a long time. I didn't know what the term meant, but instead of finding out (or reading the feature) I tried to work it out by myself, concluding that it actually said "Youth House Stealing", and that the article warned against getting involved with large gangs of young criminals who stole houses.

Thoughtcat

When I was seven years old, I used to believe if you closed a magazine and left it alone for a few days, all of the pictures inside would change to new ones. I have no idea why . . .

Jerre

As a kid, I believed that Little Red Riding Hood was "Little Red Writing Hood". I found considerable cause for puzzlement in wondering what her hood had to do with writing.

Wendy

"When I first saw a metallica shirt I though it said 'Metal-Licka'. I was a stupid child..."
Chester Bennington, Linkin park singer

LP fan! :)

When I was a kid I used to think that the signs on elevators that said "In case of fire, do not use lift" meant never to use a lift, just in case there's a fire. I wondered why have the lift at all, if you're never meant to use it? But figured since everyone else ignored the sign, the risk couldn't be that great!

Tegan

I used to mix up the words 'prosecuted' and 'executed.' Every time I saw a "violators will be prosecuted" sign, I made sure to be on my best behavior. I was absolutely terrified that my actions would result in death if I did something wrong.

Kristen

I used to ask my father to read me a bedtime story every night. Usually he did, but every now and then he would tell me that today he couldn't, because today he wasn't able to read. At that age (I must have been 2 - 3 years old) I was used to newfound abilities sometimes failing, so I accepted that adults must experience the same thing from time to time.

Ole

i used to believe that when you read italicized words, you were supposed to lean to the side a little bit like the letters did.

Linarite

My mom was a high school English teacher. She used to have a book in the house entitled, "Writing With a Purpose" and for some reason I thought it read, "Writing with a Porpoise". I couldn't understand why she was having her students study about Porpoises in English class.

Amy

when my friend was little, she used to eat paper, thinking it would make her read better.

hehehe

As a child I played videogames, especially poorly translated ones from Japan. I sometimes tried to adopt some of the bizarre syntax and grammer of these games, assuming that while it seemed akward and at times incomphrehensible, it MUST be right.

Anon

My favorite crayon color as a kid was cerulean, but I actually thought for a long time that it was called "chlorine." I guess I must've misread the label because a lot of the same letters are in both words. I thought it was a good name, though, because the shade of the crayon was a lot like swimming pool water. I'm just glad that I never had a reason to talk to anyone about my chlorine crayon before I realized my mistake!

Amanda Danielle

I believed that there were two n's in the alphabet. I asked my teacher in kindergarten because to me it went... L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y *N* Z (because of the AND Z).

Joelle

I could never figure out what No unauthorised entry" signs meant, as I thought unauthorised was una-thor-sized. I was about 19 years old before I heard someone read one of these signs out loud and realised my mistake.
And there was a magazine that we used to get that would say on the cover "full story on centre pages", I thought it said "certain" pages and would spend ages flicking through the mage looking for the certain pages that the story was on!

Lobelia Overhill

When I was little I thought that the weight measurement "pounds" were different from "lbs." I thought lbs was pronounced lubs, and got a good laugh when I explained this to my family.

Anon

I was broken hearted when I read a chalk message outside my friend Dorelle's house that said "Went Private". I stood outside in the street and shouted her name, because I didn't dare go onto her property, but she didn't come out. Deeply distraught, I ran home and fetched my dad who explained that the message was "Wet Paint", and I could still go and call on Dorelle, so long as I didn't lean up against the painty fence.

Dorelle's friend

Somehow, i used to be sure that Edgar Allen Poe wrote Winnie the Pooh, and whenever people talked about his work being so depresing, I would think "What are they talking about, he wrote Winnie the Pooh!"

Proud weirdo

For some reason, in the book "The Restraunt at the end of the Galaxy" (sequel to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), I thought until pretty recently (I'm 16) that Trillian, the female in the book, was a giant centipede. heh...

Yami kami

I used to believe that 'prosecuted' as in 'trespassers will be prosecuted' meant electrocuted. I always thought that it was so unfair, and that they should at least give you a chance to explain.

Amber

I used to believe the word "relax" wasn't a real word until I turned 16 after I found this word in the dictionary. I read a newspaper when I was about 6 and I asked my mom to define "relax", she said it was not a word at all and it was just a total slang. I suppose she was just too lazy to define.

Alexa