being ill

I always heard that people went to the hospital when they were sick or hurt, so I believed that hospitals were only for people who had a disease called "sick or hurt."

Emily

When i was a kid i used to complain to my Mum that I had diarrohea, however i just had an ear ache and thought it meant 'a dying ear' i never heard the proper pronunciation and made up my own mind what it meant, the looks of horror on peoples faces and the way they would rush me to the toilet, I could never understand it!

Noop

My grade six teacher got sick in that year with glandular fever. I'd never heard of that disease before; everytime I heard people say it, I thought they were calling it "Glenangela Fever". Kids at school were telling me that it is also called the "kissing disease". So, I came to the conclusion that it got this name because a boy named Glen and a girl named Angela kissed and ended up getting sick. I was later corrected about this my mishear.

Aly

I thought a depressant was the opposite of an antidepressant and wondered why anyone would take them if they make you depressed!

Dr.Badguy

I used to think when women has just recently had children and they suffered from depression, that the term was post mortem depression and used it frequently.

Anon

When I was 4 years old, I believed, quite logically, that the more medicine you consumed, the quicker you got better. Apparently that is not the case as i had to get my stomach pumped.

katie rose

I used to believe that when you had cancer, your bottom would be in front instead of in back.

Anon

When I heard "kidney transplant" on TV, I thought they were talking about "kid knee". I was concerned for quite a few years about my knees being needed in a transplant.

Keith

When I was six or seven years old, I woke up one morning screaming for my mum because I was covered in red spots (chicken pox). I swore off chicken for months because I believed it was the chicken I had eaten the night before which had caused it.

Lorraine

When I was probably four, I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible cough that sounded like a donkey. I genuinely believed that for being a "bad boy" I was being transformed into a donkey like in Pinocchio.

Jacob

When I was about six, I was sitting at the kitchen table drawing, and my foot fell completely asleep. This was a new expirience to me, so I asked my dad what it was called when you foot did that. He was watching T.V at the time, so he didn't really pay attention to what I asked and he said "Thats diareah, dear." And I didn't know what diareah was at that time either, so I went to school and told everyone (including the teacher) that it really tickled when I had diareah. Then I found out when a good friend of mine told me what diareah was.

Anon

My mum told me that for every chicken pox spot that I scratches, another one would form on my waist. Everytime I scratched one, another one would appear, until eventually they spots would go round my waist like a belt. She then said that when they went all the way round and joined up again at the front, I would die. Never scratched one after that !

Anon

Oh, how I feared the hospital. Not just the shots and doctors and tiny little gowns, but I feared turning into a vegatable. No one ever told me this, but I figured out on my own that if you got really sick or in an accident or something, you might actually, literally, as you were lying there in bed, TURN INTO A VEGATABLE. Like you'd become a squash (is that a vegatable?). Worst of all, then, would be that some nurse would throw you away - just toss you out with the garbage, not knowing you were, in fact, a human being. It SHOCKS me that I used to really, really believe and fear that!!! Wow - what goes on in kids' heads when they hear something they don't understand...

Doug

when i was younger, i used to get sores in my mouth a lot. i had never heard anyone call them "sores" before, and I didn't know what else to call them, I just knew that they felt sore. So I called them "sores". Then I saw a commercial for cream that you put in your mouth to numb the pain from "sores". I was convinced I had coined a new term, and now everybody was going to start saying it because I had made it up.

Renae

I used to think if you caught a cold during summer, it was called a "hot".

Brandon Campbell

When i was 6 i once came down with a terrible fever, so my mother rugged me up in bed with lots of warm blankets and i slept for what felt like a week. It was nightime when i woke up & was very upset that my family wasn't all sitting around my bed crying. I found them in the family room eating dinner & watching a movie!

but very relived to hear i had only slept from 12:00pm - 6:00pm not a week!

ShannonOfDoom

I used to think that you got cancer by hurting yourself. I hit my funny bone on a door when I was 8 and it hurt so bad I was positive I'd given myself cancer. I didn't tell anyone because I was sure my mom would be mad that I was horsing around and getting cancer. I decided sticking my arm in the microwave after making food was the only way to cure myself and not get in trouble. After a few weeks I was cured and mom was none the wiser.

michelle

I heard my dad say that he thought the computer had a virus, and that made me worry that everyday objects could get "sick" and therefore spread germs if you tried to use them.

Anon

When I was 4 I had gotten into my parent's closet and mistaken a can of Raid for air freshener. I sprayed it to see what it smelled like and ended up with Raid in my face. I wasn't hurt, but my Gramps told me that I might turn into a giant bug. It just so happens I had a very bad cold at the time and was hospitalized the next day with pneumonia. Needless to say I thought it was because I was turning into a bug! I loved that man, but he was a stinker!

jan-jan

When I was little (4) I had my tonsils out because of very severe ear infections, bad enough to burst an ear drum. Somehow I got the idea that I was sent to the hospital as punishment for being sick and in pain. I was very reluctant to complain about anything after that.

Ladybug2535