When I was little I thought "Pencilvania" was a huge store that sold pencils and nothing but pencils.

Tim

I used to believe that there were two sides of the world, because the maps were flat. I always wondered when we were going to learn about the other side.

sarah

When I was 5 or so, my dad told me that Albequerqi, New Mexico was named after Al Bequerqi. He said Mr. Bequerqi was dieing, and had learned that they were trying to rename his hometown, so he got them to name it after him, Albequerqi...

I hadn't thought about this until last week (I'm 15), when my dad and I were trying to figure out the capital of New Mexico, and I said, "Isn't it Albequerqi? Yeah, cause you told me the story about that!" He said, "What?" And I preceeded to retell him about Mr. Bequerqi.

I was devastated when he told me this wasn't true, and he denies ever telling me this. When my mom came home later, I pointed at dad, virtually screaming, "HE MADE UP MR. BEQUERQI!"

Ms. NewYorkie...

Until a shamefully short time ago (I'm 22 now) I thought that Gibraltar was just a large rock in the sea (as per the Rock of Gibraltar) about 40feet high, with absolutely nothing on it apart from small monkeys, seagulls, guano and perhaps a red phone box.

Sarah

I used to believe water from our bathroom sink flowed
through the earth to Australia. I shouted down the plughole to my aunt in Brisbane every night. I could never figure out why she didn't answer back.

snowey

I used to believe the large metal structure in Paris, France, I thought it was the "Eye Full Tower"

Janet

My dad told me (with a straight face) when I was nine that Mt. Rushmore was made in the same way as the Grand Canyon (i.e. millions of years of water carving through stone). For four years I believed him, speaking to no one about it and wondering why the world wasn't abuzz with excitement and awe that a constant rush of water could eventually carve out exact facial replicas of four of America's greatest historical figures. I thought maybe it had been discussed and accepted by people before I was born and no one therefore no one brought up the wonder of it anymore. When I was 13 I finally asked my mom didn't she find the whole thing amazing and she told me the (less than amazing) truth.

Mel H

When I was wee and I got bored and played Monopoly with my siblings on rainy days, I always wanted "The Angel, Islington" because I believed that was where all the Angels lived and they threw parties there. It wasn't until I moved to London that I realised that it was just a tube station..and a rather skanky one at that.

C

When I was little I thought that all inflatable rafts were made in Cape City South Africa. Later I read it correctly as CAPACITY........

John Weeks

In the place I grew up (Quad Cities) there was and still is a park called Vanda Veer Park. I would argue with people untill I cried the park was called Panda Bear Park. I knew there was no such thing as a Vanda Veer and thought they were trying to get me to say the wrong thing to be mean. Then I learned to read and saw the sign.

Nicole

we had a map of hawaii and a map of the continental united states in our hall. both were multi colored, where each island and each state was a different hue.
i used to beleive that each state was an island, but they didn't have enough room on the map to draw the water surrounding each island so they squished them all together to fit on the map.

Anon

I used to believe that nobody could see the top of skyscrapers. My first trip to New York City was a great disappointment.

Anon

That the city of Christchurch was a big church which everybody lived in.

Christine

I was told as a child that you couldn't enter Scotland without a kilt on. Pertrified of having to wear a skirt I used to hide under my coat in the back of the car when we crossed the border...

Iscaboo

I used to believe that all countries could only be countries if they were islands.i live in England, so grew up thinking that.so when i saw a map and things i didn't understand how somewhere could be a country if there were other places around it.So you can imagine me getting confused when i thought the whole of Europe was an entire country.

Katie

When I was younger I belived that Kansas was in black and white because of the movie The Wizard of OZ!!!!

Becky

When i was young i used to hear the term 'Midlands' on the local news and imagine it was a vast, sprawling desert area somewhere the other side of the world. Little did i realise it was simply the name for my local area.

Nick Price

I used to believe that only one part of the world could "work" at a time. For example, the people in America could be running about their day.. but everywhere else was "frozen" until it was their turn. You didn't remember being "frozen," cause it stops your brain from working too.

A Wild Cowgirl

I used to belive that Mississippi was a person. Mrs. Sippi.

Dunno

When i was little (like 3 or 4) i was convinced that florida and new jersey(where i live) were next to each other, and the only reason it took so long for us to get to disneyworld was because we stopped so much.

Anon