when i was a kid, my dad told me that there was two kinds of ice, tame ice and wild ice. The tame ice was the icecubes in the freezer, and the wild ice was the ice forming on lakes etc in the winter.

Auto

When I was four years old my family went to a lake for a vacation. I was not allowed in the lake except for the roped-off kiddie area, but I wanted it deeper, so I spent two weeks getting sandpails of water from the other side of the dock and pouring it into the wading area. I must have been pretty dense because it never did dawn on me that I wasn't getting anywhere.

Texas granny

I went to the beach alot during my childhood but i was never allowed to swim at night time. My parents would never tell me why which i thought was mean UNTIL i realised the reason i couldn't swim @ night was because the government turned off the waves at night time so stop people swimming!

Anon

When I was little, we would always get in a tube and bounce up and down in the pool to make a "wave pool." When we went to the beach, I thought there was a really really fat person in the middle of the ocean with a really big tube bouncing up and down to make waves!

Anon

When I was about six i had a pen pal in Colorado. I thought that because they didn't live in a shoreline state they had never seen water before so I would go down the street to the beach and put some water in bags and mail the water to them, attemting to explain what it was.

Danielle

When I was young I could never figure out why I couldn't see the bunnies in the river. My parents would always look at the river and comment about how fast the rabbits were (rapids).

Pat

i used to believe that all rivers and seas etc were filled up by giant taps in the morning and at night someone would come and pull the plug out so they could be filled up fresh again in the morning! one yr we went to the seaside and i stepped into the freezing sea and shouted "they should have run some warm water shouldnt they?" to my parents. they have NEVER let me forget this.

rosie

I used to think that the ocean was salty because of the boston tea party, and that the tea never got washed out and spread to the entire ocean.

Apparently I thought that the ocean was freshwater before this.

I guess it never occured to me why tea would make water salty instead of tea-like.

Fulgore

Once when I was young I saw a movie where some nuns fell out of a boat and began to drown. I said, "What's wrong?" "They're drowning." After that, I was scared to get into the tub until my mother told me it wasn't "drowning water". After that, I believed there was a difference between regular water and "drowning water". Some time later, we saw a movie where two people were in a boat on a storm. I asked my mother with concern, "Is it drowning water?" She replied that it was. That was a scary movie!!

d. gabler

My older sister used to tell me that the foam from the ocean was caused by fish vomit, I was about 10 when I realized she was pulling my leg.

Anon

When I was little and swimming in the ocean on family vacations, my mom would always shriek "Watch out for the undertow! The undertow!" Constantly. I used to believe there was this giant toe living under water, with teeth where the nail should be, that would eat you if you went too far out.I still see that scary toe in my dreams!

Rhys

i used to believe that scuba divers went to school to learn how to breath under water like fish do. my cousins told me this

timmy

When I was five, a tidal wave made big headlines. I asked my dad what a tidal wave was and he told me it was a giant wave caused by whale farts. I continued to believe this until 4th grade when we learned about tidal waves, but I only learned the truth after blurting out, "tidal waves are caused by whales that have eaten too much beans!"

Laurie

I used to think that all rivers could only flow south. Because of the curve of the Earth and gravity, of course.

Sarah

I used to believe that the foam on the ocean & waves was made up of bubble bath that went down the tub drain. When I discovered it wasnt true, I deceided that the foam was made from dead mermaids and thats why it glowed green in the dark.

Anna

I used to believe that if you were wet, say from being in the pool or running through the sprinkler, and you walked near something that smelled very badly, say dog poo or garbage, that the smell would stick to you.

Jill

When i was a little kid, i used to go to the beach often in the summer, and reasoned that the ocean waves were what caused the earth to rotate. I therefore concluded that by getting in the way of the waves (swimming) i was making summer last a little longer.

Mike

My sister belived there was a giant toad under waterfalls that would grab you and pull you under water if you got to close.... it was the under toad

Zeppy

My mum told me that there were dangerous currents in rivers and from then on I always looked for currants(the berries) floating around in the water!

lucy

I used to believe until about 5 minutes ago when I read that someone else had the same belief, that the sky was blue because it reflected the ocean. I too, was told this by a teacher who even used a theory about water, air, and light molecules reflecting off each other creating the effect. I am astounded. I am 34 years old.

I also used to believe that teachers could be trusted.

Jude Horrocks