nationalities

I thought Canadians came from Canadia.

Anon

I used to believe that to speak spanish, just put "el" in front of every word in an english sentence and it becomes spanish!

Anon

For a very long time I thought that Germany's flag had a swastika on it ( I didn't realize it was exclusive to the Nazis). I imagined those citizens having very mixed feelings when raising it.

re

My brother once told my sister that in China they skin cats and use them for stockings around Christmas. Its not so funny that she believed him but that she was about sixteen at the time.

Chellion

I used to think that all people were english, like me!

Alice

My mum, (who in fairness was told this by her mum) told me that Black people couldn't swim in their adult life. She said that their bones get heavier as they get older and that's why you don't see any Black people at the Olympic's (& other swimming comp's) etc. We all believed her, until I brought it up to my best friend when I was about 16, who happens to be mixed race... The sheer look of disbelief on her face.... "Man! My mum told me that!"

Jodie

I used to think China and Japan where the same.

Lunarmoon

When I was little, I thought that Spanish and Italian were the same except Spanish was good and Italian was evil. I probably got this belief because the only Hispanic people I knew of were always friendly to us and would never hurt anyone, while my only knowledge of Italian people was scary, ruthless gangsters from DVDs and books my parents had.

Lived in California for a long time

When I was a kid, the Pittsburgh Steelers were in their "dynasty" years. We also collected food labels for the school library - Campbell's, Swanson, Franco-American. I always assumed that Franco-American was owned by Franco Harris and Swanson by Lynn Swann. Why not? When you're 7, the world doesn't extend very far from your hometown...

Heather Lodge

I have always believed that when Chinese were eating a meal, they showed their appreciation by burping.

It proved to be horribly wrong when I burped loudly after having dinner with a Chinese girl. Luckily she had a sense of humour.

Anon

I used to believe that because i was jewish, i wasn't american. What could have contributed to this idea is the fact that i didn't know the national anthem.

Nolan

I used to believe Turkey day was a Turkish holiday. Then why are we celebrating it in America?

Lecia

up until the age of 19, i thought that spanish food consisted of tacos and burritos until i realized that spain has a culture and culinary world much separate from mexico and latin america

victor

When I was about 5 and just grasping the notion of there being other countries besides England, I somehow became convinced that France was the exact opposite of Germany. I don't know what I thought that meant though!

Maz

I used to think that Hungary would always eat Turkey!

Michaelina

(I can't find an appropraite category for this one...)

When I was younger, my family was in the military and moved around between countries. Thus, we always had passports.

It wasn't until high school that I learned that passports are not required by citizens until they leave the country. I'd always thought everyone had a passport from the day they were born.

Anon

When i was little, i thought the reason why people from New York sounded so funny because they had a cold stuck in their throat all the time.

Ann

Growing up in Sweden in the 1960's I wasn't exposed to a lot of foreign influence and didn't quite understand racial differences. Someone had told me that "negroes" (the proper term used in Sweden for black people) originated in Africa. So for me, this became a nationality rather than a race. I refused to see black people from any other continent as black. You could only be black if you came from Africa. My parents had also given my a black doll (Ada, my favorite) and it never occured to me that she was of a different race than my friends dolls. I just thought she was prettier then theirs because she had more colour and beautiful brown eyes.

Anneli

I believed that, because I spoke English, I was English.
(I'm Asian.)

Yubi

people where I live are always complaining about Bosnians, so one day my confused little sister said "there are Bosnians all over the place, aren't there? they must have a lot of kids!" she thought that 'Bosnian' was a surname and that all the Bosnians were part of the same huge family!

Elisa