the world: places

My mom's ex honestly believed, until he was thirty no less, that the U.S. capitol, Washington D.C., was located in the state of Washington. He must have missed that day in class when they explain that though the names are similar, the two places are on opposite ends of the country.

I used to believe that every nation in the world were states of U.S.A. . Sometimes I still do.

I lived on the ocean and thought that if I looked really hard that I could indeed see China across the water...no matter what everyone else told me. I also though that the bamboo washed up on the beach had come all the way from China. Cause that's where pandas were and therefor all the bamboo in the world was there too. I think that the whole the earth is round lesson was lost on me until I was quite a bit older.

When my 5 year old daughter visited New York City she saw the Empire State building and also the one that resembles it but is a bit smaller, the "Christ-The-Lord building". (Chrysler building)

When I was about 6 yrs old...I'd often hear your facing North... hmmm
So; it did not matter which way I was facing; North it was...East was to the right of me...West to the left...and South was behind me... I got so messed up when I finally realized that it wasn't the case. hehehe!!!

i used to think the whole world was new zealand

When I was naughty as a kid, my dad would threaten to send me away to live with a Mrs Griggs, who lived in Ipswich. She was a nasty, mean, child-hating old spinster, who would make me eat things I didn't like and keep me locked in a cupboard. If I was misbehaving, my dad just needed to say the words "Mrs Griggs!" or "Ipswich!", and I would become panic-stricken. Even though I later found out there was no such person, I had an irrational fear of Ipswich for a long time.

When I was a child and we used to visit family in Italy in the summer, I used to think that Italy floated in the sky somewhere and thats why we had to go on an aeroplane to get there.

I used to believe that for on this side of the world, three leaf clovers were common, and four leaf clovers were lucky. But on the OTHER side of the world it was the opposite. Lots of four leaf clovers and not so many lucky three leaf clovers. I used to dream about going to the "other side of the world" and picking enough four leaf clovers to last a lifetime, and bringing them back to this side of the world so they'd be lucky.

When I was around four, I believed that all countries were separated by water and that the US states were also separated by water. In my mind, the water boundaries were what made them separate countries or states.

in learning about the layout of my city (new orleans) i became aware that there was a west bank. i never liked being there because it didn't look as nice as other parts of town.

and besides, whenever the news was on there was talk about more bombs going off there.

I used to believe that Niagara Falls was in Nevada. It made perfect sense -- after all, since lots of people went to Las Vegas to get married and Niagara Falls was a big honeymoon spot it stood to reason they were nearby. I think I was confusing NF with the Hoover Dam. Geography was never my strong suit.

When I was about 8 we were watching TV and there was a picture of the Arch of
Triumph in Paris. My mother said, "Oh, that's in Paris, they make perfume there."
For longer than I'd like to admit I thought the arch was a perfume factory.

Once, in the car on the way on a holiday to Devon, I asked if he would be there...I was slightly confused, and thought that God would be there...as he "art in Devon"

My Mum couldn't understand why I kept crying everytime she mentioned going on holiday until I told her that I didn't want to live in a pipe. I had seen refugees on TV sheltering from a flood in huge concrete pipes and believed they were in Wales, where we were going on holiday.

I used to think that County Durham was in Ireland.