When I was a kid, I knew that a "dead end" was where the road ended before joining another road, but I thought that if you drove down to a dead end, you couldn't go back and you had to stay there until you died. Hence the term "dead end".

Marijka

When I was little, I lived in California where U-Turns where the norm. (For those that don't know, a U-turn is where you make a sharp left turn at an intersection to go back the way you came.) For some reason, I thought a U-turn was an intersection where the drivers argued about who was going to turn... "You turn."... "No, YOU turn!"... "No, no, really, YOU turn!!"... Ah, well... I never did see anyone arguing about who was going to turn so I couldn't figure out the purpose of the signs which authorized this activity!

No U-turns in Maine

I used to see "End Road Work" signs, and thought they were a sort of protest.

Sebastian

When I was younger I asked my mom why you had to go slow past a school (school zones) and she told me it was in case a kid ran out in front of the car you would be able to stop quick enough to get out and spank them. I was VERY careful not get off the sidewalk when I was at school for a long time after that!

Kai

i always thought the signs on the roads that said "EMERGENCY STOPPING ONLY" said "EMERGENCY SHOPPING ONLY" and i thought that if it were christmas eve and you haven't bought any gifts yet you could shop there and there was a mall or something near by.

Erin

Well, you know those signs on the road meant for deer crossing, with the deer jumping against a yellow background? I used to think that all the deer would cross only at that sign ( much like humans and crosswalks) and I always wondered how the deers knew where to cross.

Becky

My brother told me that tarmac was white and that the road layers had to paint it all black before it was ready. This explained why roadworks took so long. I used to try and catch them doing the detail in the middle.

dodyskin

I used to think that the Australian road sign "No Through Road" meant that you were only allowed in that street if you lived there or were visiting someone you knew. It was a few years later I learned that it just meant it didn't comeout into another street.

Anon

I asked my parents why so many roads in California were named after the Prime Minister of Israel (at the time, Menachem Begin). I had observed that almost every freeway we drove on was marked by a big sign saying "Begin Freeway".

Adam

The street sign on my street was always getting knocked down by cars running into it, but the "Dead End Street" sign was always there so I thought I lived on Dead End Street. I always got angry when my mother ordered pizza using the wrong street name and was proven right every time because the pizza guy could never find our house.

Anon

I used to beleive that the sighting poles and crosses used in motorway construction sites were actually the hastily dug graves of the poor workers who had died creating the transport system!

Rockman

When I was a kid, we visited Italy once. I noticed that in every city we visited, there were signs pointing to "Senso Unico", which I surmised must be some important building each city had, like a city hall. It never dawned on me to ask my parents what it was. So at one point we were in some small city in Tuscany, and my parents decided to hang around in a cafe, so my sister and I decided to go exploring the town. We took it upon ourselves to go and find the Senso Unico. The signs showing the way to the Senso Unico seemed to lead us all over the place, and eventually we ended up where we started. We gave up.

When we got back, we told our parents about the failed quest. It was then that we learned "Senso Unico" is Italian for "One Way"!

Kdees

when i was learning to read i used to think that PASS WITH CARE signs said PASS WITH CAR and there was a sidewalk by the road. i thought that to pass that sign you had to take your car with you. i thought that to go for a walk on the sidewalk you had to pull your car with a rope to pass the sign on the sidewalk

kk

When I saw signs on the road that said "Commercial Vehicles Only", I used to think (when I was younger) that only vehicles that were shown on TV could go down that certain exit/road.

Anon

Not mine--

My great grandfather would point out "Watch For Falling Rock" signs along the highway on family road trips. He would tell a brief story about Falling Rock, the missing/wandering Indian and that they were search signs for the public to help find him. My grandma and my three great aunts used to watch for Falling Rock on their road trips. And no one ever fought the whole trip, just silence.

Sara

When I was 3 and just learning about words and reading, I noticed a sign on the road to our house that said "Speed Checked by Radar." I thought it said "Speed Chicken" and I used to love to picture this giant chicken running up and down the highway telling people to slow down.

Sue

I used to think "Yield" signs read "Yelled", so I thought that they were there to show where someone had once yelled at something.

Matt

When I was younger I used to believe that the signs that said "No Outlet" meant that all the houses down that street had no electrical outlets or electricity. I remember looking at the houses and thinking "Wow, that's a pretty house, too bad it doesn't have electricity." I always used to wonder why anyone would want to live on those streets.

C.C.

I once asked my father why there were curve signs along the roadside when you could already see the curve. My father replied "those are for blind people." Nearly a year later when learning disabled in school after the teacher was explaining what Brail was, I raised my had to ask, "why don't they just make words the same colors as those signs on the side of the road."

Anon

The day the training wheels fell off my bicycle I realized that I could keep on going without them. I continued down my street for several blocks and wound around the neighborhood until I came to a street called "Persimmon Tree Lane." I thought it said "Permission" and that I was not allowed so I turned around and went back home.

Rafael