in the street

Up until very recently, and I am now 22 years old, I always thought that the reason some people's lawns were a kind of teal or light bluish-green color rather than regular green was because they had their lawns painted so that they would stay a pretty color all year long. I was driving with my husband one day and saw a lawn like that and I actually said out loud, "I wonder why people paint their lawns?" and he said, "that's not paint, it's pesticide". And laughed.

Shanna

When I was a small child, I used to believe that little gnomes lived inside the lamposts seen in the street. These gnomes would sit at computer consoles inside the lamposts and, when it would get dark enough, simultaneously switch on the lights. They lived there all day, every day and I often wondered how they survived as well as admired them for their demanding occupation.

Anon

Whenever I would travel with my parents I noticed the signs that had JCT on them. I thought that meant that Jets, Cars, and Trucks could use the road. I have no idea why. It was years later i realized it was abbreviation for junction. I still say to myself "Jet Car Truck" when I see the JCT sign.

Kristeen

I used to think if you stepped into a nasty puddle of water or car fluid in a parking lot, you would be mutated like TMNT or the Toxic Avenger!

LongLiveRock

I used to believe the 'To Let' signs on buildings meant there was a tiolet there

marky

I used to think that there was a highly complex underground tube system that connected public mailboxes around the world - once you popped your letter into the mailbox, the underground system would figure out where it's going and pop it out on the other end.

I thought the mail man was only for private, home mails only...

Anon

When my neighborhood friend from New York moved to Florida, I expected my new neighbors moving into the house to be from Florida as I was sure they were exchanging houses. I had no concept about buying and selling and I assumed it was just a trade. When I found out the new neighbors were from across town, I was very concerned about what happened to the poor family from Florida.

Will

When I was 2 or 3 I used to believe that, when you mailed a letter, it went down a chute under the mailbox and was somehow (pneumatically?) whisked into your mailbox at home. When walking along the street with my mother, I used to peer under mailboxes, looking for the chute.

Mike

I thought the painted white lines of a crosswalk were meant to lift you up a little higher so cars could see you.

Anon

i used to think next door neighbors were "next store neighbors"

Anon

When I was little, I assumed that gas stations had to be built over underground gasoline deposits (naturally, because gas comes from the ground, into the pumps). So when they knocked down the FoodTown by my house and built a gas station in its place, i could only wonder why they didnt just build an Exxon to begin with.

ShayBaby

when i was younger everytime we went to the parade we would stand on the sidewalk and wait, so i thought that on any given day if you stood on the sidewalk for long enough a parade would come.

Jocelyn

I used to think that the traffic signs saying, "No Parking, $5 Fine," meant no parking unless you paid $5. Then it was fine.

Anon

I moved houses for the first time when I was four and I strongly believed that you traded houses with someone else. I realized it was a lot more complicated than this when we were at the buyer of our house's current house and I told my parents I didn't like their house so we couldn't trade with them.

Anon

the numbering in our street when I was young went even down one side and odd numbers down the other,So i lived at number 3 and my friend lived next door at number 5,we used to think that number 4 was demolished because somone was murdered there...no amount of digging turned up any eveidence though.

marty f

you know those bags of sand used to hold down the construction horses? well, for some reason i always thought they were filled with poop, not sand. they had that lumpiness to them. i wondered, how do they get the poop in there? does someone hold the bag under their butt when they go poop?

Anon

When I was a young child I used to believe that the cats eyes in the middle of the road were actually lights operated by a man in an underground room beneath the road who switched them on and off whenever traffic drove along the road. I never worked out how he knew the traffic was there so he had to switch them on.

maz

My younger brother and his friends used to believe that the yellow boxes with flashing amber lights on top of them used in construction sites were tv cameras. They spent hours dancing and singing in front of them.

Bruce

The first time I ever saw the Rose Parade on TV the announcer said something like "the floats are all made entirely of flowers." I took him literally. I did not understand that they were DECORATED entirely with flowers. So I wondered for several years thereafter, how the floats were able to move under their own power -- how, in other words, one could build a working engine, tires, and all the rest, entirely out of flowers!

dcguy

All the mothers in our neighborhood tried to prevent us from playing in the open irrigation ditch near the main road by telling us that dogs peed in the ditch. Somehow, this was supposed to induce an eeeuuuuw reaction in us.

No, it didn't work. Never had a chance of working with little boys.

Don from Salt Lake City