My grandfather had lost half of his right index finger in a work-related accident many years before I was born. When I was younger, he would tell me all sorts of stories about how he had lost his finger... but the common theme in his stories were that it was somehow my grandmother's fault.
She had chopped it off cutting veggies, she had sewn it off on the sewing machine, she had vacuumed it off while cleaning. But his favorite story, the one that kept me well away from my grandmother for a number of years, was that she had gotten mad at him for pointing at her, and bitten it off.
I was 9 before I learned the truth. In the interim, I would never point at ANYTHING in my grandmother's presence, nor would I give her hugs. I was determined that she wouldn't take a bite out of me.
A childhood belief about lies
others believed things like this
- I used to believe that a half moon was gods finger nail, and his finger was pointing downwards.— clo
- My Grandmother once told me she could unscrew her feet. I believed that for years.— Andy Bettison
- Never point at a grave, if you do your finger will rot off.— KL.R
- I used to believe that if you picked your nose far up enough, a snail at the top would bite your finger.— Jenny
- my grandpa told me if you pick your nose too far then a snail will bite your finger off haAnon
- that there was a sharp toothed snail inside my nose, waiting to bite my finger off— diana