places

My Dad once told me that if all the people in china jumped at the same time we would feel it as they landed. I used to imagine it happening and then getting all the people in Europe to jump and respond. One day I hope to organise this.

WPD

After we moved to San Jose when I was little, I used to believe my grandmother was just on the other side of the mountains. So I would stand in the front yard of our suburban West Valley house and scream "Grandma!" at the mountains, over and over.

Of course she didn't hear me, but it didn't help that I was yelling at the mountains between me and the Pacific Ocean, and my grandmother was in Ohio.

A. Foster, Naples, Florida

I used to believe that when I touched a certain spot on a map or globe, that I was in fact pushing that place and squishing people.

I felt bad about it, but at the same time couldn't help pushing.

BoycottShampoo

I used to think that the UK was short for Ukraine.

Mia

I used to think it was illegal to speak German in Germany because of World War Two.

Anonymous

I used to think Downs Syndrome was caused by living on the downs in the countryside, so when we stayed at this place called Downs Cottage in Devon, I said to the landowners 'how can you be in charge of this place if you both have Downs Syndrome?' Needless to say, we never stayed with them again.

Anon

I used to believe that America was actually the entire world and that people from every state spoke a different language. People from Ohio (where I grew up, of course) spoke English. I was always confused as to why my grandparents who lived in Illinois spoke English...I guess I figured that they moved from Ohio.

Nick L.

I thought that in Hawaii, the water fountains dispensed pineapple juice. For free!!! I wanted to go there just to get all the free pineapple juice I could drink. (Wasn't there an episode of the Brady Bunch or some other TV show where this happened?)

Diggerz

When I was 5 or so, my dad told me that Albequerqi, New Mexico was named after Al Bequerqi. He said Mr. Bequerqi was dieing, and had learned that they were trying to rename his hometown, so he got them to name it after him, Albequerqi...

I hadn't thought about this until last week (I'm 15), when my dad and I were trying to figure out the capital of New Mexico, and I said, "Isn't it Albequerqi? Yeah, cause you told me the story about that!" He said, "What?" And I preceeded to retell him about Mr. Bequerqi.

I was devastated when he told me this wasn't true, and he denies ever telling me this. When my mom came home later, I pointed at dad, virtually screaming, "HE MADE UP MR. BEQUERQI!"

Ms. NewYorkie...

When I was a kid I overheard my mother's friend say that her husband had gone to work in the Gulf. At the time I imagined that this involved playing golf on a massive golf course in the desert.

Bunker bound

When I was really little, I believed that there were actually two Texases. I would constantly refer to "the other Texas".

There was, of course, the Texas I lived in, with cities and subdivisions and Wal-Marts, and then there was the "other" Texas, with cowboys and Indians and cattle ranches all over the place.

Severely disillusioned as I was, it took quite a while to grasp this new concept, otherwise known as the passage of time.

oddleng

Child me thought that Los Angeles was a mythical city like Atlantis or El Dorado. Because I misheard how it was named and thought it was called "Lost Angeles"...as in "the lost city of Angeles."

Anon

I used to think the Empire State Building was called the "Ten-past-eight building".

Alex

I used to believe that Finland was in the end of the world. Fin-land.

Francesco Delvecchio, Roma/Italia

having grown up in western germany, i was told the strangest things about the eastern part of germany: socialism is very bad, you have to help harvesting during your summer holidays and socialism means that everybody has the same, that is close to nothing.
i was really terrified to get kidnapped by east german police. that changed when my gran got a letter from some distant relatives in east germany. thea had sent a photo, showing them all on a swing hammock - my idea of glamour and success, which i never got from my parents. naturally i thought that if everybody has the same i will recieve such a swinging hammock immedeately after entering GDR. i didn't move after all because i hated to help my mother in the garden and thought it even worse to harvest grain and hay...

jankai

I come from a very large family and I am the youngest. I used to believe that when my older Brothers & Sisters were going out "To Play", I honestly thought there was a place called "Play" that they all ventured to and it was some sort of fantasy land and I wanted to be a part of it..
Was I wrong and disappointed!!

Jason Lewis

having learned that the world is a huge globe with millions of people on it, i used to believe that every single thing existed at least twice. my best example for this, and i think that's also where i got the idea from, was our washing machine:
i was told that we were not the only family that had this particular washing machine, and so i concluded that there was also at least one family who had the same clothes in it, at the same time, washing it at the same degree...

anna asisa

I used to belive Road Island was really an island and Hawaii and Alaska were next to each other becuase in school thats how they are on the map. I could never understand why it didnt snow in Hawaii. I didnt find out I was wrong until I was 21.

Jennee

When I was little I thought "Pencilvania" was a huge store that sold pencils and nothing but pencils.

Tim

Digging in the dirt was one of my favorite activities when I was little and I thought I could dig to China if I tried hard enough, until one day my parents told me that it was impossible to dig to China. I then decided I'd make my digging goal more realistic by trying to dig to Canada instead.

Serenity