A childhood belief about going shopping

Sometimes as a child in Ireland if I did a silly thing my parents would tell me that I needed to get some "cop on".

To "cop on" is Irish slang for "to understand" or "to get with the program." It is also used as a noun meaning "common sense."

They began to enrich this admonishment by telling me I needed to "go over to Mrs Conaty the Chemist [pharmacist] and ask her for half-a-pound of cop-on."

Sometimes they would even put a few pennies in my fist and send me on my way, only to call me back as I was going out the door.

I really came to believe that this magical cop-on stuff could be bought in the Chemist shop and that it would make me more intelligent, less clumsy, less forgetful, etc.

As time went on I did notice my parents trying to supress smirks as they told me this. And I finally realized that they were just sharing a joke at my expense.