the best beliefs ever

I used to think the fire brigade rescued cats from trees because the cat could set the tree on fire, before realizing it was because of the long ladder equipment.

Anon (from animals : general)

I used to think you had to be an adult to drink household chemicals

Anon (from at home : around the house)

As a kid, I thought that soap operas were shows that involved people singing in the shower while washing their bodies with soap.

Anon (from media : tv)

I used to believe that a funeral organist was the person who collected the body parts of the dead

Anon (from death : people)

I used to think that "explosive diarrhea" was when you pooped actual explosives, like nitroglycerin or whatever.

Anon (from body functions : weeing and pooing)

I used to think that if you were scared "half to death" that you only had one scare left before you died.

Bush Hiddenofsky (from death : people)

I used to think gravy was made in graveyards.

Anon (from death : people)

I used to believe that when television channels when they would sign off at night play the American anthem and say please stand by , I would get up and stand by the television .

Danielle Hagen (from media : tv)

I thought the tip jar at the restaurant was so people could give the chef cooking tips for how to cook better.

Anon (from neighbourhood : going shopping)

I thought you could get toffee from mixing tea and coffee.

Anon (from food : sweeties)

When I was about five or six, my mother and I got into a taxicab and the driver said, "Where do you want to go?".
I thought he was talking in general, so I said, "New York!"
Note: I was living in England at the time.

Anon (from neighbourhood : excursions)

As a child I believed that toilets were alive. When you used them, you were feeding them, and if they didn't like what you fed them, they'd vomit it back up (overflow). If you made them angry, they would eat you, so you had to be nice to them and not make them sick. Stranger-toilets (e.g. public restrooms) were especially untrustworthy - best to keep an eye on them at all times.

I also believed that they would detach from the wall and dance around the bathroom at night when no one was around. You couldn't normally catch them at this, because they'd go back to being inert as soon as they heard you coming, but if you closed the bathroom door and then quietly crawled up to it and looked under the bottom, you could see this happening.

Anon (from toilets : fear of)

I convinced my little brother that bubbles were your possible futures and once you popped them, they were destined to happen to you. I told him that the reason you see a tiny version of yourself in them (your reflection) was because that was the future you but that I could see really well and only I could make out what they were. I would blow a bunch of bubbles and say there were a bunch of different futures in them sand watch him excitedly pop the ones that I told him were really good. Sometimes when he was acting up I'd tell him one of the bunch was bad and then watch him pop and bubble and shout "oh no! Not that one!" But then after he'd freaked out about whatever bad future I said would happen, tell him the next bubble undid it. Some of his bad futures were getting bad grades in school, growing up ugly, losing all his teeth, or just getting trouble for what he might have done that day. But the future that made him really lose it and meltdown was that he would fall in love and get married. For some reason that future was utterly unbearable to a five year old.

A really clever older sister (from people : lies)

I used to believe that fireflies went to sleep for the night as soon as it got dark. Or at least that's what I was told, probably so I would go inside. It wasn't until my 20's when I was hiking with some friends at night and saw fireflies that I expressed out loud, 'Wow, I can't believe these guys are out so late.' It got quiet and at that point I realized...

pfrank (from animals : general)

Before I was born my parents had a "painter" paint a mural in my room of angels. For some reason this marvelous painter painted a bunch of little angels with 6 fingers on each hand. As I grew up I thought it was a common known fact that all Angels had 6 fingers.

Nivia (from religion : characters)

In Sunday school, we sang "Lord of the Dance" and I thought it said that "he danced for the tribes of the Cherokees". I had no idea what Scribes and Pharasees were.I was singing it this way one time, and someone asked me if I was Mormon.I wasn't, and was very confused.

Anonymouse (from religion : hymns)

I used to believe there were numbers called "onety" and 'twoty." I thought "twoty-nine" came before twenty.

CC (from language : counting)

when i was little i thought the word "prostitute" meant "prosecutor" and in seventh grade i was on the bus and I yelled really loudly HEY JAKE ISN'T YOUR DAD A PROSTITUTE!

Kate (from the law : criminals)

Not directly related to Santa Claus, but when I first heard of Cupid from classical mythology, I immediately thought of Cupid, one of Santa's reindeer. I figured they must be one and the same, since they're both mythological figures who can fly. When asked how this is possible, I explained that Cupid is an angel the rest of the year, but transforms himself into a reindeer at Christmastime. The other reindeer can do this too, but they tend to keep on the down-low because they're shy.

Rocketman (from make-believe : father christmas)

When I was about four, our kindergarden teacher told us that there would be a fire simulation in the next few weeks when the firemen would come to our school. I was terrified, because I thought they would set our school on fire to teach us what to do in case a real fire started, and I was unsure whether the firemen would be able to deal with the fire before everything was destroyed.

The little girl who wasn't a fan of fire simulations (from school : classes)