reading

in my native language UN means flour,so when i was 7 i used to see big tanks with UN written on them in war zones and think they used to carry around flour,and i used to believe we were very rich because we had so much flour at home,if they were guarding flour in tanks it must have been very precious but no body ever told me UN meant uited nations!

gurel

I used to read 'Shopfitters' as 'Shoplifters'....wondered why they had a warehouse to advertise the fact thats what they did! Never dare ask my parents about it in case only I could see it!!

Anon

I used to think that "Jabberwocky" was a character from Star Wars.

Katya

Everyone in my family wears glasses, and they love to read. So, when I was little, I used to believe glasses allowed to read. I always wanted to go to the optic in hopes of getting mine.

Anon

When I was young and started learning how to read I read a sign at the mall next to an escalator that said "Adults must accompany children at all times when riding" and theres was a picture with an adult holding a child's hand, but as a child my imagination was very wild and I thought "adult" said alligator and the picture was and alligator too so I told my mom that I couldn't go down the escalator with her until I found an Alligator. Of course that belief didn't last long when she dragged me on the escalator and I found that nothing bad happened to me even with no alligator.

Amy

I used to live in Florida, so I used to believe the FL OZ measurements on drinks and shampoo were FLORIDA ounces, and each state had its own unit for measuring liquid.

FL OZ

Up to being 18, if I was reading a particularly scary book, when I put it down I couldn't leave it open at the page I was on, I had to shut it and use a bookmark. This was in case anything got out of it and came to get me.
Also, I couldn't leave it face up, with the picture on the front looking at me.

Katie

When in 1940 my sister was 12 she found the word "brothel" in a book and asked her father what it meant. he replied "a soup kitchen for poor people"
Her husband disillusioned her at the age of 20.

Alan

Once, I found a very fascinating book in my mother's book case. I read the summery on the back, and learned the word, "Courtesan", as well as many others(all of which got me into some sticky situations). I reasoned that from the sound of the words and the summary that a courtesan was a female lawyer.
Bursting to show off my new word, I addressed my aunt, who was a lawyer. I...asked her what she did as a courtesan. What happened afterwards was Not Fun.

Virginia W.

When I was little, my mom wanted to buy me a subscription to a magazine called "Children's Digest," but I absolutely refused to get it because I thought the magazine was all about digestion, and who wants to read about that?

Molly

When I was young I had a computer game that taught you reading skills. On of the words you could click on was "sax" which I confused with "sex". I was very curious to learn was sex was but didn't want my parents to see me click on it cause I thought it was bad. I was very dissapointed and confused to see a picture of a saxophone!

Katie

I used to belive that fairytales were real stories that had happened and that one day someone would write about my life and then I would become fairytale character...

Slushyyy

I use to believe that I had written the version of the Three Little Pigs were the wolf was a good guy. I made a big stink about it when I saw the book in the library. I told my parents that they had stolen the idea from me.

Krissy

I used to play the Rayman game for gameboy, and there was a password system where the player had to enter a code to get to the next level. I once entered a made-up code, trying to get to the highest level, and the screen said "Invalid!" afterwards. I thought the game was insulting me for thinking I could trick it, when it was actually implying the other definition of the word.

c

As a child I read on a sign once "apply within" and at the time I thought it had something to do with apples!

Lesley

When I was young I thought that the "Danger: High Voltage" signs meant that there was voltage at a taller altitude, not that the voltage was strong. There was a utility pole in our yard so it made since until I saw a ground box and thought "Well, that voltage isn't very high?"

Anon

I used to think that pounds were called lubs since they are notated as lbs..

Katie

As a pre-teen, when I read the back of the Aqua Net and it said, "caution: contents under pressure", I thought "contents" was a verb. I wondered for years how the can would content if it was put under pressure!

Emily

Before i had learned how to read and write, I thought that the grown-ups weren't actually writing (i mean handwriting), they were just fooling around and scribbling weird stuff on paper. Therefore, I was convinced that I could "write" as well, so ever time I got my hands on a pen and a piece of paper(including newspapers, books etc.) I just scribbled it to death. That drove my grandparents crazy, especially since I ruined a few rare and expensive books.

Marius

I grew up not far from the local train tracks. My friends and I would lay on the slope leading up to the tracks and would count the cars as they went by. I remember going home one day and asking my Grandmother where Capa City was. It was written on all of the box cars. We got out the altas and searched, but found nothing.
Not long after that, we got stuck in the car at the RR crossing. When the box cars starting rolling by, I showed her where it said they were all from Capa City.
She began to laugh so hard, she had to turn around to go home and change her pants.
What I was reading as Capa City, was actually "capacity"...as in maximum volume.....Ooooooohhhh!
Hey, I was 7!

Carol