I used to believe that each person had a certain amount of 'voice'. I thought that when people had lost their voice it had just run out, so I used to stay quiet for long periods of time to save it up.

Mee

I opened the car window a crack and my mother told me to shut it because I'd "catch a draft," which I interpreted as "catch a giraffe." I didn't question the sense of it, and just assumed it meant "to get a chill." I think I must have been learning about idioms at the time ("have a cow", etc.), because it seemed perfectly natural to have an expression that made no sense literally.

jamby

My friend used to believe that the phrase "missed by a hairs bredth" was really "missed by a Hares breath". To explain this he said " A hare was crossing the road when a car just missed it." The Hare said,"Phew that was close" Thus the hares breath.

Neil Swift

When I was 5, my mom was being sued, and whenever I heard her discussing the lawsuit with my dad, I thought she was saying "lost shoe." So I worried very much that she would never find her lost shoe. It wasn't until I was saying grace at dinner one night and asked God to help my mom find her lost shoe that my parents figured out why I was so intent on helping my mom with her legal problems.

Sam

When I was 4 I was very angry at my older brother and told my mom that i was "Happy as a Clown" until he hit me, she laughed and said it was "Happy as a Clam" i got angry and asked "Why would a Clam be happy?"

Kelli

i used to think that original meant plain and old like the original flavor of something is usually the blandest.

Anon

I used to think that getting "knocked up" meant getting hurt. One day when I was about 5 years old I scraped my knee then told my mom i got "knocked up". You should have seen the look on her face.

Lindsay

When I was a kid, my mother was forever saying, "Why can't you be a gribble?!" This caused me no end of grief. I could never figure out what the heck a gribble was and why I should want to be one.

It was several years later I realized what a gribble was. I guess I was forever asking my mother questions - especially when she told me to do something. Her favorite thing to say was, "Why can't you be agreeable?!"

Dawn

For the longest time I thought the phrase "Dog eat dog world" was actually "Doggy dog world" and this made me happy because I liked dogs.

Xornia

I used to believe that when my mum replied 'I wouldn't if I were you' she was actually threatening to 'fiver' me, which sounded pretty scary, so I never did the things I was asking her opinion on!

Lilli, UK

When I was about 6 I knew a mute girl at primary school. I used to believe that people had a limited number of words that they could pronounce in a lifetime and once you'd used them all up, then you became mute. From then on, I paid special attention not to waste words.

Anon

I never had health class or "the talk" from my parents; so I always thought that vagina was pronounced like Regina. (va-jeen-a)

Anon

that terraced houses were actually terrorist houses. and if there were terrorist houses, why didn't they just arrest all the terrorists since they knew where they lived. I'm from ireland so this was a really big deal.

Anon

When I was in primary school, I always wondered why we had to give the teacher a "round of the floors" after assembly. I mean, why on earth would a teacher want a circle of linolum?
It wasn't until many years later I dicovered the word "applause"....

Rachel Worrall

For years I believed that "giblets" was a made-up word my parents used to describe me and my siblings. My maiden name was Gibbs, so "giblets" obviously meant "little Gibbses". It makes perfect sense. I was in my teens before I figured it out.

Ex-Gibbs

My dad told me at a very young age that I should read the book "To Kill a Mockingbird". However, I heard him wrong and until I hit the seventh grade I called it "Tequila Mockingbird"

Lynz

When I was 9 or 10, I used to call my friend a "dildo". For some reason, I thought it meant "silly", until my friend's horrified mother told me otherwise!!

Lorena

I once saw a sign that used to the word 'Prohibited" and I asked my dad what he meant. He said it meant it was forbidden.
So for the next few years I believed the word "prohibited" was pronounced "forbidden". It wasn't until I was reading a sign aloud that a friend of mine asked why I said "forbidden" instead of "prohibited" and I realised that they were actually separate words.

Julianne

I cheerfully told the kid down the street "Good Riddance," when they moved away,thinking in all honesty that it was something people said to each other in a good bye. My other friends mother was furious at me and would not allow me to spend time with him anymore. She didn't explain why to me eiether. I was fearful to ever say it to anyone for many years.

dreams305

I remember my aunt teaching me some basic manners. She gave me a piece of gum, and said "now say thank you" which I did, and she replied "you're welcome" but i thought she said "you're well gum" and thought you only had to say that when you gave someone a piece of gum.

Jill454