I Used To Believe newsletter: October 2008
Hi,
This month's beliefs teach us not to believe everything we see on the TV - it can make your cooked breakfast or even a lawn seem sinister!
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 was little my big brother told me that if I ate raw potatoes my teeth would grow curly.
Lauren
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Once when I was at the store with my dad and grandpa, I remember my grandpa buying a special toothbrush for his "false teeth". For whatever reason I interpreted "false" to mean "imaginary" and wondered why my grandfather needed a special toothbrush for his pretend teeth.
Mike
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When I was about 6 I believed that clouds were a collection of everyone's farts around the world and when people farted too much, this would cause big rain clouds to form. For a few years I remember being terrified of rain because I believed it to be "fart water" and I would always cry and have my dad carry me under his umbrella so I wouldn't get any on me.
The Rainmaker
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When I was about 5 or 6, I discovered Michael Jackson had outbid Paul McCartney for The Beatles catalog and was making money on songs that weren't his, so I decided to start saving money to buy the catalog back for Sir Paul. I seriously thought that my pennies and dimes would be enough! But of course no one could know because Michael Jackson would find out, come into my room and steal the money...
Nina
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I used to believe there were spiders in my nose. My mother told me this when I was really little to keep me from picking my nose. I looked horrified at her and, almost unable to move with tears running down my face, asked her to take them out for me.
Nicole Phillips
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When I was a child, the "This is your brain on drugs" commercials (where they fry the egg) would play all the time during Saturday morning cartoons. I completely misunderstood and believed that the act of frying an egg in butter would somehow turn it into "drugs". I learned quickly how wrong I was when I yelled at my mom for "making drugs" for breakfast one Saturday morning.
Anon
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When I was little, I heard the saying two heads are better than one. I believed it meant that someone with two heads was better than I was. Now I'm older I know better.
Elaurana
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When I was young I believed there was a zombie in my bathroom and when I heard the taps dripping at night I thought the zombie was eating someone.
Anon
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I used to believe that there were lots of hamsters in the wheels of the car, and that's what made it go.
Jade
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My mom told me what condoms were about a year before she gave me the talk, though she said nothing about protecting you from having babies - she just said diseases. After thinking about it a long time, I decided that people put them on their tongues when they kissed.
dessy
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Whenever boys got hit in the crotch by a ball or something, they'd be like "ow my nuts!" so I thought "nuts" just referred to the area between your legs, and I didn't know it hurt a lot more for boys than for girls. So whenever a ball would hit me in between the legs I'd say "ow my nuts!"
Aubrey
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When I was about two or three, or so the story goes, I'd seen a time-lapse film on Sesame Street of grass growing. The sight of those tendrils wiggling their way out of the ground so terrified me that for a while I refused to walk on grass at the park. I though the grass would grow so fast it would poke through my feet.
Arkonbey
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In the Avril Lavigne song "I Can Do Better" she sings: "I will drink as much limoncello as I can..." I did not know that limoncello is a kind of liquor so I heard it as: "I will drink as much lemon jello as I can..." I spent hours wondering how a person could drink jello.
Hannah P.
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When I was in elementary school my friend would always call the operator for fun and say random things or try to start a conversation with them. I asked how she knew how to call the operator and she told me it was a long series of secret numbers only she knew. I was really upset and got mad at her for not telling me. I just found out this isn't true and I'm 15.
operator, operator
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I used to think that grilled cheese sandwiches were "girl cheese" because mom always offered me them, and that if my dad ever got one it would be a "boy cheese".
Lexi
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My sister told me she used to believe that people who worked in grocery stores actually lived there 24 hours a day. At night they slept in boxes in the back of the store.
Anon
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For the longest time I thought that unicorns had simply become extinct... that is until I mentioned it in my freshman year... at university... in a lecture.
Beth
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When I was younger I constantly ate mangoes. Once my mum saw me hacking into 3 mangoes at once and told me that one day I would turn into a mango. Since I was only about 3 or 4, I believed her and was terrified. The next day at preschool my friend was eating a mango and I matter-of-factly told her that she would turn into a mango. To this day I still hear laughter in my ears.
XMangoManiacX
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My little sister thought she was a little star in the sky, then she fell into my mum's drink and my mum drank her and that's how she become pregnant :)
Emzi
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After I heard about dog whistles, I tried to see how high I could make my voice go. To my surprise, I could go up to a certain pitch no higher - I thought I could make sound that was too high for a human to hear. I went around bragging about not needing dog whistles, and I didn't stop until I realized how stupid I must seem, based on people's reactions.
me
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