the world

When I was little I heard on the TV that poverty had something to do with politics. I knew politics was something the mayor do, and mayors take care of cities.
So I believed that poor people lived in poor towns, and rich people lived in rich towns.

There's a city in California called Lompoc.I thought it was pronounced lawn-poke.when I was 7 we went on a car trip and stopped in lompoc for lunch.As chance would have it we drove bya lawn that was being airated(sp?) You know when they punch holes and there are little plugs of turf lying around. I saw it and thought ,"aha! Thats why its called Lawn-poke!" It made plenty of sense.When I told my mom she cracked up and I couldn't figure oht what was so funny.what a coincidence!

When I was a child, I believed that Mount Rushmore was a natural phenomenon. Somehow God or Nature had carved the heads of Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln into the cliff in South Dakota at the beginning of time, and when our country was born, the prophesy began to be fulfilled. Not sure when I realized this was not the case, but I think I was probably a teenager.

When I was around 13-14, before I understood where money came from etc etc I thought that when a cashier asked you if you wanted 'cash back' it literally meant, 'would you like some of money you used to purchase this item back' I always used to ask my mum why she never wanted any of her cash back! I have now learned that I should explain shit to my kids to save them all this hassle!

I lived on a dead end street with a group of trees at the very end. I thought that if I went behind the trees I would be in China.

When my parents would tell me they were going to Miami I'd ask "How long are you staying in Yourami"?

I was well into my teens before I realized that Pearl Harbor wasn't in California.

I used to believe that Florida was up in the clouds and that's why we had to take a plane to get there.

Whenever we saw something that said "Made In USA" our dad told us that "Yoosa" (USA) was an island in the Pacific.

I grew up in California. I used to think that "Out West" was a region in the middle of the country, where the "Wild West" happened. Past that, was "Back East" which was obviously the east coast. California couldn't possibly be more west of west because things got wilder the more west you went, and my life involved absolutely zero train heists or saloon shoot-outs.

I used to believe that everyone had a twin somewhere in the world living the same exact life you were living, since there just seemed to be too many people for the amount of personalities.

I used to believe that the US President knew every square inch of America. Not an acre unseen by our president.

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and believed that the Golden Gate Bridge led one out of California and the United States: after all, the word "gate" always meant that it led to something else!

I used to think a large radio tower down the street from my house was the Eiffel Tower. I knew it was a historic monument and I lived in a historic town, so it made sense.

I live in Michigan, and I was convinced for the longest time that New Jersey (where my grandparents lived) was a different country. I mean, Canada is a different country and New Jersey was waaaay more different from Michigan than Toronto is.

I used to believe that soccer players weren't allowed to talk among themselves during the soccer matches because the only thing that I could hear on the TV was the voice of the match's narrator :)