My mother has told me about a time when I was just starting to figure out that letters made words. She said that one time she saw me pointing to the word on the back of the toliet and I said, "E-L-G-E-R. Potty!" I thought Elger (the name of the toliet manufacturer, spelled potty.

Kristie

My mum told me that 'Grown up books' didn't go in chronological order after i asked if they did. She was being sarcastic but 3 year olds don't do sarcasm!!

Sophie Lyon

At around the age of 7-9 I somehow came to the belief that the abbreviation "lb." for pound was actually an abbreviation for the unit of measure "lillebeeter". Perhaps I'd mis-heard the word "millimeter", which was still a relative rarity in 70's Canada?

michael

I read books avidly as a kid and was always awaiting the Library doors to open. I was born in 1943.

I always had a problem with two words. For years I pronounced 'Slough' as 'Sluf' and also 'Hugh' (a hero in one of my books) as 'Huff'. I suppose I had learnt to pronounce Rough and assumed the other words corresponded.

Penny

I used to think that "etc." at the end of a list of items meant electric. I was a very young reader, and since most everything adults did seemed strange, it didn't really occur to me to question such constructions as "dogs, cats, horses, cows, electric"

k

When at home reading out loud from my science book while doing homework I pronouced 'organism' as orgasim. I didn't know what was going on until I realized my mom was trying to keep from falling in the floor laughing. She came over and looked in my book and corrected me. The next day in class we had to check each other's papers and read out loud from the chapter. A boy in my class got those same paragraphs and did the same thing I had done. The teacher didn't say nothing until he finished reading his section then corrected him. A few kids were laughing. He didn't know either. At least I had my embaressing moment at home! Poor kid!

ann

A certain cousin of mine tends to be quite stubborn. When she was about five years old (and I in my late teens), she was absolutely certain that there was no way I could know how to read, as I'd never "went to school." (My parents chose to home-school me.) Eventually, I managed to set her straight and even tease her about it a couple of times.

I two kin reed! :P

When I was 4 or 5, I learned how to read. But when you learn how to read, you always speak out loud so that your teacher or parent can help you along. I thought it was a group activity. So one evening at home, I was on the floor reading some children's book aloud, and my older sister got annoyed with me and said, "Andrew, be quiet and read in your head!"

I tried a page not saying anything but still taking in the words, and was amazed when I could do it! It suddenly dawned on me that I could enjoy the imaginary worlds in books in private, and this was an amazingly powerful ability.

Andrew

When my mom and I drove to a local Wal-Mart she said if I went in with her I would get a free lolly-pop. She had to make a deposit to the bank in there and they usually gave littler kids lolly-pops. I was in fact a little kind and I was just learning to read. On the outside ity said "Low Prices." For the longest time I thought it said lolly-pops, but they didn't know how to spell. I never did get my lolly in the end.

Llama at Wally World

All through my childhood, there was a commercial for a group called R.I.F (reading is fundamental) The announcer would loudly say "Reading is FUN! Damental!"
I thought they were saying "Reading is fun- The Mental!"
As in, those children with mental disabilities should read, too.

Tom S.

when i was little i used to think the "TO LET" sign had been mispelled and was meant to say "TOILET"

mat rossetter

I used to believe that anything printed in a book had to be true!

b

I used to think that "Fl. Oz." stood for FLORAL ounces, and I couldn't understand what flowers had to do with anything. I still occasionally misread that abbreviation.

Anon

When I was in kindergarden when I just learned how to read, I always stared at the Union bank trucks.I believed that union was pronounced 'onion.' When I asked my mother why they had a bank where they used onions for money, she told me it was pronounces YOUn-ee-un, and I learned a lesson in language. =)

Ciarlene

Every day my Grandma would sit down with the Bible and my Mom, Grandpa and I would sit around her on the floor. She was older and when she looked down to read it looked like she would close her eyes, so I always thought you had to close your eyes when you read.

Ken

I used to think that pages in books were divided into little parts (paragraphs) to make boring writing look interesting, and that the more different-length paragraphs something had, the more boring the book was.

Vince

When I was very young, I was convinced that the pictures of people on book and magazine covers could see me as well as I could see them. All books had to be face down at night, or when I was getting dressed so they couldn't see me.

frano

When I was younger, I noticed there was a spot on certain forms that said "Sex: -Male -Female" I used to think that I had to mark off which I preferred sex from. It scared me...

Alias

As a small child I was fascinated by all kinds of signs and notices, including fire safety notices in hotel rooms and public buildings. It said what to do if you discovered a fire, and I used to confuse the two types of fire (i.e. as in a heater versus as in an arson attack). I remember once seeing a notice saying “in case of fire…”, and there was a heater nearby so I said “Here’s a fire”.

Alan, Sheffield

For some reason when i was little, i don't think i knew what public was, either that or i couldn't read, anyway, i thought 'Public' toilets were Pubic toilets. The strange thing was, i don't think i knnew what pubic was either.

I go to pubic school