general

When I learned that the two alternative circular motions are called clockwise and counter-clockwise, I was told that clockwise is called that because it is the direction in which a clock moves. This misled me about why counter-clockwise is called that. The prefix counter is used to mean opposite or reverse, so this name means that counter-clockwise is the reverse of clockwise. But I thought that there was something called a counter clock, which is like a clock but goes on a counter and moves the opposite direction.

Also, I'm not sure if this ins't a misinterpretation, but I think that we call it counter-clockwise here in America, while people from the UK call it anti-clockwise, which sounds like a better name to me.

Anon

I thought my age started at 4, because I couldn't recall any mention of my age before.

Anon

I used to think that a holiday would take place throughout an entire month. So, during each day in October, I kept saying it was Halloween.

Then, after finding out that Halloween is the last day of October, I was thinking that every holiday was the last day of the month.

Anon

I didn't originally know that years were numbered. I was like WTF when I was in kindergarten and my teacher always read the date, and it ended with the number 2003, and I didn't know what that number was.

I think I finally figured it out when it became 2004 as December became January.

Anon

I used to believe that when an ambulance came by, we should touch red, because the person in the ambulance was someone we knew. I also used to believe that African Americans like me were never slaves, until roots came on TV.

Anon

When I was very young I had a subscription to Sesame Street magazine, and a January issue had, of course, a New Year's section, which was the cycle of the months illustrated by different balloons in a circle, all labeled. It stuck with me in my head, and from then on I believed I could "see" time in my head - a visual cycle of months (although I think when I got older my mind changed the balloons to little calendar pages).
Once I grasped the big picture of 12 months becoming a year, I started picturing the years too: Each cycle, labeled by year, the current year being on top of this huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge spiral of years, and looking downward you see the past. Thing is, I can still visualize it in my mind now, and it is depressing to realize how far away the year I got that magazine is now! D:

Anon

I used to believe that on day light savings time we would gain one hour of sleep every night up until the spring when we would lose one hour every night.

courtney

After my mom told my sister and I it was time for bed, we begged to stay up a little longer. She told us we could stay up for five more minutes, and I was shocked when it was over so fast. I said "that was so short, it's like five minutes is less than one minute!" My mom sort of nodded and dismissed it, so for the next few years I believed some sort of time anomaly cause five minutes to actually be shorter than one minute.

Lexi

I used to believe that if i walk around a corner or went through a door i was actually going into another dimension, so i had to go back around that corner or back through that door or else i would be stuck in that dimension that was strikingly similar to ours.

Anon

When I was in third grade, I believed that there were 12 seconds in a minute.

Anon

My mom told me that when she was younger the whole world was black and white. I believed her until I was like ten. And going through her and my father's old pictures, I thought that the adding of color to the world was a gradual thing, because the pictures started with a little color then gradually became like today.

Erin

When I was about 5 years old I realized what 5 years meant. It confused me, so I asked a friend and she reassured me that we were each at least 100 years old.

Ali