in the street

When I was small, I believed that when you posted a letter in a letterbox, it travelled from there in an underground pipe to the Post Office or to its final destination.

Lewis

When building roads in the state I live in (U.S.A.), they use "local rock," e.g. rock from the quarry nearest the work site. Occasionally, this gives the road surface a slight tint of color, such as red or green. As a newlywed, moving here with my husband, I commented on the freeway having a greenish tint, and my husband told me that the state painted all the roads green. I actually believed him! He finally set me straight on the matter when he overheard me very seriously repeating his "tale" to a friend! Thirty-eight years later and I STILL can't believe I fell for that!!!

Dopey!

When I was little I could never understand why the petrol company ESSO was pronounced the way it was. I always thought it should have been pronounced e-ess-ess-o!

Steve

When my father was a child, he didn't know that postmen had to empty the pillar boxes and take the post to a sorting office etc. He thought that when you put letters through the slot they dropped down onto a conveyor belt which took them to where they were going.
Also, when as children they had to say the Lord's Prayer he couldn't understand why they mustn't let anyone lead them into Thames Station.

Pud

When I was a kid growing up, I would never step in a whole in the ground because I thought you would fall throught the earth.

~Silly Kid

Whenever I walked past a derelict building i always used to read the sign that said "Bill Posters will be prosecuted", I always felt sorry for Bill, who ever he was!!!

Sue

At night, while walking along the sidewalk, I would see the reflection of car headlights on the power wires up above. Since they moved quickly and disappeared after a while, I thought I was seeing electricity moving through them.

PK

I used to think that when you poster a letter in a letterbox it would go straight to the person you sent it to.

Until now I have never thought about this but now of course there is E-mail Spooky eh?

UKmark

My Grandfather convinced me that there was a little man who lived under the road who turned the cats eyes on for us when we passed.

danzig

I used to believe that when you posted a letter ina letter box it would go striaght in the front door if whever you sent it to

Mark

When younger, on certain days of the week I used to wake up to the sound of the World turning around. A kind of faint whirring sound. It wasnt til I was a teenager that I realised the noise was coming from the local Go-Kart track !!

Jackie Corps

One of my friends who was 17 at the time asked me "Why are all Fire Engines called Dennis?"

That joke ran and ran!

Liz

cooling towers
I was told that they were used to boil up old bones to make glue - I believed this for years ( and deep down what you are told as a child has a habit of sticking!)

Anon

when i was younger i used to believe that oil and petrol patches on the floor were dead rainbows.i used cry whenever i saw one.

cherie

I once told my enquiring 5 year old that the birds switched on the street lights as it became dark by pecking the little knobs on the top of them. It wasn't until she was 12 years old (!)that she even considered what I'd said when she asked.... 'how do the birds know when to turn the lights off?'!!! As she said the words she, for the first time, realised how silly it sounded, and what a wonderful 7 years of magic she had quite happily accepted as fact and been believing in all this time.

Kay (Shropshire)

When we were little, my sister and I were told that if we trod on the cracks in the pavement, then a lion would come out and gobble us up.

Anon

I used to believe that every time I saw a "To Let" sign, for example on a patch of land for sale, that it was a toliet advertisement but they had lost the "i". I was very confused when driving to my grans one day which was a 40 minute journey through the country that we passed thirty three toilets!!!

Kelly

I used to think that when you put a letter into a postbox that there was a huge conveyer belt underneath that took it to your door during the night. I thought tis because my dad told me when I was 5

London Bob

Here in the UK, there are posts on the streets which tell the fire services the location of the nearest hydrant. They are yellow, with a black 'H' on it. Above and below the 'H' are numbers (I still can't work out what they tell you exactly - perhaps 'x' metres along and 'y' metres out?). I always thought that they told the fire brigade where the NEXT fire would be, to help them get there quicker. Well it seemed sensible to me!

Alasdair