places

my mother used to tell me that in new york city, it was against the law to look up at the buildings. she told me this because she didn't want me bumping into people, but i believed it for the longest time, and to this day i regret not having looked up at the twin towers more often.

Anon

I used to believe that all the roads of the same name were part of the same road. So if you stayed on Main St. in one city you would eventually continue onto Main St in the next city, and the next one and the next one and so on.

Jonah

That the city of Christchurch was a big church which everybody lived in.

Christine

I used to believe that "left" and "right" were cardinal directions like "East" and "West." I would point with my left had and ask my mother if that was left or right. She'd tell me left. I'd then turn 180 degrees and point in the same direction with my right hand, and thought she must be lying when she told me that it was now "right".

Wayne Zeller

When I was a real little kid I thought that the modern-day American west was as it was portrayed in westerns. As an older kid I saw a movie in which in English kid believed this. I thought, "how stupid this kid is" until it jogged my memory about my own belief as a little kid. 

Rocketeer 

I used to torment my sister by telling her that we would leave her in MINNESOTA. I learned in geography about the Arctic region and thought that Minnesota was a state there. She would cry everytime i said that -- afraid that we would leave her in the cold, barren land. Heck i would cry if i had to live in Minnesota too haha.

Eskimo

I used to believe that the United States covered almost the entire planet.

RAB

When I was in elementery school I had a book that explained the three branches of the US government. There was a map of the United States that showed pictures representing each branch. For the Executive Branch it showed the White House in a circle on New Jersey and Pennsylvania. For the Legislative Branch it showed a picture of the Capitol on Virginia. And for the Supreme Court it showed a picture of the Supreme Court Building on Ohio. Ever since then I always picture the Supreme Court meeting in Ohio. Although now I know it meets in Washington, I can't shake the image of the court being in Ohio.

Jon

i used to believe that north meant up and south meant down. this resulted in the belief that oklahoma was actually really far above texas... like it was stacked. why else would you use planes?

cameron

For some reason I always thought Gibraltar was an island between Spain and Africa. I didn't know it was actually attached to Spain!

Anon

I used to believe that state lines were actually marked out on the ground somehow - that is, the whole borders of the states all around. I lost this notion pretty quick the first time we took a long car trip :-)

Anon

When I was in second grade my teacher told me to find Greenland on a map. I figured it would be colored green of course because Greenland was green! I never found it that day

Anon

Because of a commercial I seen on tv, I thought the whole world was the size of the of the U.S.

Paulette

Living in the US for a while I meet people allllll the time who believe that Holland and The Netherlands are two different countries. I met a boy a few days ago who said that his ancestors were from Holland but even he didn't know that the official name for Holland is: The Netherlands.

Renske

I used to believe that China was attached to the United States somewhere up near Washington state.

Anon

I used to believe that the maps for the United States and Texas were identical.

JTexas

I used to believe that if you dug deep in the ground, you would pop out (upside down of course) in China.

Monty

I used to believe that nobody could see the top of skyscrapers. My first trip to New York City was a great disappointment.

Anon