I Used To Believe newsletter: December 2008
Hi,
Relatives often seem strange, but the ones who glue their teeth in place with chewing gum or eat your dirty socks are stranger than most. Look out for the really weird ones with beards!
For more great beliefs visit www.iusedtobelieve.com or get the book of the site, Butter Comes From Butterflies, available from Amazon and all good booksellers!
Have fun,
Mat.
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When I first encountered a childproof lock on a car door, I thought it could somehow detect how old you were when you tried to open it, and that it would not open if you were below a certain age.
Alan, Sheffield
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When I was young, I did not understand that cars are always on the right side of the road. As a result, I believed that half of all road signs were backward. I could not figure out why it was that you had to turn your head around to read those road signs.
literal
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When I was a kid, I thought that I could fly if I jumped high enough - but that once I did, gravity would no longer work, and I would go flying off into space and die. So I never jumped very high unless I was indoors.
Anon
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I used to believe that Camembert cheese was actually common bear cheese.
Dan
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When I was little my cousin told me that if you sat on someone's head it would explode. For the longest time I believed her. Now I just think she wanted me to get off her head.
Anon
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When I was little I used to think that you made breakfast sausage by putting Wieners in the toaster, the same way you made toast by putting bread in the toaster. That's what I thought toasters were for, turning "everyday food" into "breakfast food".
Vano
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Not my belief, but I knew someone who truly believed the sun was only bright on one side, and someone turned it around at night so we could all get to sleep. This belief was shattered on one of those evenings when you can see the moon in the sky while the sun is setting - but she believed until she was over twenty years old.
Anon
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Up until I was about 8, I thought that your heart was like a locket and you had pictures of the people you love in it. My mom thinks it's adorable.
Taylor
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Once my parents were taking me on a walk through a forest and my dad mentioned something about "the power plant right over there". I immediately began running up to every tree in sight, asking him if this was it and how does a plant make electricity?
Rachel
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I thought that ice cream trucks were the only vehicles that couldn't kill you if you got hit.
Anon
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My grandma used to chew gum all the time... grandmas usually would have hard candy but mine had gum 24-7! I thought she chewed gum so much because it helped her fake teeth stay in her mouth...
Emily
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I used to believe that a secretary was a person who kept all the secrets in a club or organization and was an important person in that group, till I finally learned about them in school.
Anon
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When I was a child, whenever one of my brothers or I found a coin we had to show it to my dad. If I found a coin with a princess head on the back I could keep it, and if my brothers found one with the prince or king on the back they could keep it. He naturally got to keep any coin with the queen's head. I can't believe I fell for that one for so long - I think we ended up giving him a fair bit of money over the years.
Chloe in the UK
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I used to think veterinarians and vegetarians were the same thing. In my mind, veterinarians didn't eat meat because they loved animals. It seemed logical at the time.
Anon
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My birthday is June 14th. Here in the US that is also flag day. On my birthday everyone would put out their flags on their houses, cars or whatever. My parents told me they did that because it was my birthday. Until I was 10 I believed them.
Mike D
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When I was younger I really wanted a pet chinchilla. My dad told me the reason I couldn't have one was because they were vicious. He explained that a friend of his had a chinchilla and when he went out of town his house keeper accidentally left the lid off of its cage. As the house keeper was vacuuming, the chinchilla escaped and ate her leg off. For years I believed this without questioning, until a friend in middle school mentioned wanting one. I told her it was a horrible idea and went on to explain the story. It wasn't until after I had finished that I realized how ridiculous that story was.
Katy
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This is my brother's belief and he won't admit to it. He was around 3 and wanted to know why there was a book in the drawer in our hotel room. I told him it was placed there by the Gideons. Gideons were tiny people who came into hotel rooms and put Bibles in the drawers. About 5-6 years later, we were in the grocery store and he saw a person of very short stature and pointed, saying "Look! A Gideon! There's a Gideon!". I 'fessed up the truth, after I stopped laughing.
Wiser Older Sister
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My Dad is called Gary and until a few years I thought it was short for Garage. I was so upset when I found the truth out. I've told my friends and we refer to anyone called Gary as Garage.
jennychocs
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I used to believe that men who had lots of facial hair were covering up the fact that they didn't have a chin. I used to be afraid of hugging my uncle, or accidentally reaching up into his beard because I thought I'd find something unpleasant!
Zanzibar
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When I was younger, I thought my brother kept eating my dirty socks, and that's why his feet smelled.
Kail
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