criminals

When I was little, i thought a "loan shark" was a literal shark. I remember hearing my parents talking about loan sharks and thought they were going to get bitten by a shark if they didn't pay any money.

Anon

I used to be afraid that someone was going to break into my house and shoot or stab me. So, naturally, I kept the covers over my head at night because everyone knows that pillows and blankets block bullets and knives!

Uni

I used to love to walk with one foot on the curb and one foot in the gutter. My father told me when I was very young to be careful not to get arrested for jaywalking, but as a kid I still did it, thinking myself to be a rebel. I believed that "jaywalking" was walking that way until COLLEGE when I said something to my new college pals who were doing that in the streets of Washington DC and they laughed hysterically... I was mortified.

GullibleAmy

I used to think smoking while driving was illegal. The anti-drug programs at school would tell us not to smoke, do drugs, or drink and drive (even though we were in kindergarten). I guess i thought a cigarette was a drug and drug sounded like drink to me at the time.

I was shocked to see the woman who drove my carpool light up a cig while taking us to school.

Sam

I used to hear the phrase "drinking and driving" when i was young and being too young to know about drunkess i thought it meant any drink-- I'd see a lady drinking a bottle of water in her car and go "MUMMY THAT LADY'S DRINKING AND DRIVING!!" she'd always laugh at me and made me feel like crap & I didn't know why.

Gina

i used to believe that during the night, burgulars would come and try to kidnap me. so to protect myself, i would stick my leg b/w the wall and my bed and tie my opposite arm to the bed. i thought that by doing this, the kidnappers would have to take a long time to free my and i would have time to scream for help!!! lol

Caitlin

For some reason, I used to think it was illegal to make up stories in your head, without writing them down on paper!

Anon

I used to think that my aunt had been in jail. While incarcerated, a rat came up through the toilet and bit her in the butt. As a result, she had a hairy butt. I was terrified of falling in toilets but was still able to use them. I did make sure, however, to SLAM the seatcover shut! PS My aunt was never in jail and does not have a hairy butt(that I know of) I believed this until I was about 10-years old when I made mention of it and my mother corrected me.

Crystal R. in Chicago

This is from the good old times when i was young and innocent and didn't know about french kissing - I always wondered about that strange kind of kisses the people on screen enjoyed and my mother told me it was illegal to kiss each other the "real" (child safe) way on stage and so they did id that way.

usedtobesoinnocent

I used to be such a goody goody so i thought of course nobody would be bad enough to actually shoot somebody i thought they had toy guns so whenever i saw on tv someone was robbed, i thought, why doesn't the person just say no i wont give you my money byebye. and the criminal would go o man and try the next person.

T.L.

When I was 12 years old, I used to think that a statutory rapist was a rapist who rapes a statue.

Anon

I used to believe that arson was a flammable liquid, not the act of deliberately setting fires.

Joey Schwartzman

I could not figure out what the term 'assualt and battery' meant..what did a battery have to do with hitting someone? lol

Brandy Lynn

When I was little I always heard the don't drink and drive slogan. And in class we got to draw on paper bags that said that and they were handed out at the liquor store. Well anyways, one Saturday, my family was going shopping, and I saw my dad drinking a cup of coffee while he was driving, I started yelling at him for doing so and he just shrugged and said I guess I'm breaking the law.

ummm no thanks

When I was a kid I thought rape just meant someone tearing the clothes off of a woman's body.

Matt

When i was little I lived in an area where there were some kidnappings, and i was the neighborhood know it all. Well my parents told me that this kidnapping was happening and that the man drove a white van, so every time i saw a white van (the one w/o windows, you know the ones) I would hide, no matter where it was, especially under cars. Do you know how many clothes i ruined! I thought that all white vans would take me away and i would never see my family again.

SL

Underneath The Westway road in West London the phrase "BILL STICKERS WILL BE PROSECUTED" was stencilled on the pillars in big black letters. I used to believe that Bill Stickers had done something for which he was going to be prosecuted, but I though it was really unfair that his fate was being advertised so publicly.

Anon

When I was young I once read statistics about rape in a magazine, and didn't know what the word meant. When I asked my dad, he said it was "when a man attacks a woman." It made sense to me that this was a worse crime than simple assault, and deserved a separate name.

Bongo Powers

I used to believe that drinking, literally drinking like, anything, not just alcohol, while driving was illegal. I also thought that smoking ciggarettes while driving was illegal. I didn't find out about the drinking part untill I was in the car with my mom and saw her take a sip of coffee. I told her that she would get arrested and she explained it to me. I was about 8.

Anonymous

I used to think that when someone was executed by firing squad, they were burned to death, after I found out that they were riddled with bullets.

Anon