general

I started visualizing time as circular from a very young age. I see the days of the week are like segments of a doughnut, with Saturday and Sunday at the top (a little larger than the others) and Wednesday at the bottom. I see the days the same way and also the calendar, with Dec/Jan/Feb at the top. I was in college when we discussed our thoughts about time before I realized that I am not "typical" and that most people have very linear views of time.

occupational therapist

I never understood "a stitch in time saves 9" (till fairly recently). I assumed it had something to do with sewing up the fabric of time in a kind of star-trek way.

Kat

When I was young I believed that Christmas was the last day of the year. It made sense, I was a child of a practicing Catholic family and I thought Jesus's big day was supposed to be the last day of the year. So what were those couple of days in between Christmas and New Year's? I believed those were just leftover days, as if someone didn't do their calendar arithmetic correctly.

Nolan F.

I used to believe that the only way to get to the next day was to go to sleep.

C.C.

Calendars are set out so that, at the end of the month, there are some blank boxes in the grid. For example, if May 31 is a Monday and June 1 a Tuesday, there will be a number of blank spaces after Monday 31 and also before Tuesday June 1. When I was 5 or 6, I believed that those were extra days that had no name. I thought it was a totally wasteful way to portion time, because there were all these blank days we had to live through to get to the next month.

Eileen

In 1999 my older brother told me that in the year 2000 all the computers would go down, all the planes in the sky would crash (right on my street... of course), and all the animals would escape from the zoo and giraffes and elephants would be running down the streets. On New Year's Eve I was so scared I could barely think straight! He also told me that the world would end in 1998. I got so upset and wasted another New Year's Eve worrying.

EK

When I was younger, I thought that Labour Day was when all sorts of women gave birth.

Greg

For a long time, I thought that you were born either as an adult or child, and you were that way for your entire life. I was so jealous that my parents got to be grown ups while I was stuck as a child.

Jen

When I was about 3 my aunt asked me when my birthday was, which I was proud to say, "may 21." but then she asked me when my birthday would be next year, and i got confused, so i said "may 22" because i thought since she asked me it must be different and change, and therefore add a day every year.

linda

When I was about eight, I was convinced that I was a part of someone else's dream. I was just sure that one day the person would wake up, and I would disappear.

Kaitlin

I thought the year of my birth (in my case, 1968) was some sort of code you were given when you were born. Whenever I was asked what my birthday was, I would give them the day and month. If they then asked what year, that was my clue to give them my code... 1968.

Kristie

I use to believe that on some days, or dates, the day would change in the middle to another day.

three points of evidence were:

(1) towards the latter week of the
month of some calanders, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and sometimes Wednesday would have a slash through the square for the date with one date (eg 22) in the top half and another (eg 29, seven days later in the lower half.

(2) the clock wad divided into two 12 hour sections (AM vs PM) which repeated, and on the days that switched in the middle, the switch occurred at noon, with the PM 12 hour section to facilitate the crossover

(3) my folks would often ask each other what day of the week it was (eg "Is is Tuesday today"), with the resonse being "Yes, all day). Well, clearly then on other days the day must have changed.

scientist

Growing up in Australia I knew we were 10 hours ahead of England, and almost a day ahead of America! Of course, that meant that we were in the future, which made us better than Americans. I remember specifically thinking that rollerblades, even though they were invented in America, would get to Australia a whole day before the Americans got them, which made us more advanced. That's early patriotism for you!

Jo who now lives 10 hours behind Australia

i used to believe i would 'catch up' to my big brother one day and we'd be twins.

lil' sis

After reading the back of my new watch I'd received for my seventh birthday I remember saying to my Dad, 'Dad, I know what water resistant means, but what is shock resistant?' He replied 'It's so your watch won't break if you stare at it for too long'.

It wasn't until I wondered (many years later) how my watch knew whether or not I was looking at it did I understand, I had cruel parents!!

Anon

I used to think that there was only 1980 and 1981. I thought that we just alternated between the two, I got really confused when we got to 1983 because no-one had ever explained to me how years worked...

Beki

When I was in kindergarden, I thought that the days of the week were invented by my kindergarden teacher.
It was only in 1st grade at school when I realised that the rest of the world knew about her great invention.

Uri Geva

when I was little, I used to believe that no one should work in the summer. Everyone should rest from the first of June and return to work only in September))))

Maria

If you went to the International Date Line and jumped back and forth across it 2 or 3 times it would affect your age.

Blake

I used to believe that if you wanted to go back to yesterday you would just have to go back to sleep after you woke up and then you'd wake up in yesterday. However, I never got to try this as I was always forced to get up and go to school!

dippingmytoes