Dumb things you used to believe as a kid

I thought that the Ecruteak Gym puzzle in Pokémon Gold and Silver had to be done perfectly in a single take otherwise the game will delete your save file as a punishment, because I misinterpreted the strategy guide saying "the floor will bring you back to the start".

Yeah, at some point I learned that shoe-tossing usually has nothing to do with criminal activity - admittedly, I had some doubts about that even when I first heard it.

Apparently, my mom doesn't remember telling me the "someone got so frustrated trying to tie their shoes that they threw them on the telephone wire" story.

When I saw Mouser in the All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 2, I thought his ears were his eyes, and his sunglasses were his mouth.

In Pokémon Diamond, I got to the point where you need to get to the city with the 8th gym, but couldn't because of story events. The game said that it was due to a power outage that would be fixed soon, so I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to just wait it out. Then I lost the game cartridge.

My family hated McDonald's, so whenever we went out to eat I'd get McDonald's and then eat it in Wendy's since it was right next door. I was so scared I thought I would get banned from the restaurant...nope. No one really cared, except for one cook who harped on me about it in complete jest.

Now I don't do it anymore because I converted my whole family to Macca's. And proud of it.

Edited by ilovewildkratts1 on Jan 14th 2024 at 3:39:43 AM

When the 2017 It first came out, I was a pretty naive little girl, and when I started catching glimpses of the movie when my family watched it on the couch, I ended up believing that Pennywise was real and that he was actually hiding in the sewers. Not only did I develop a fear of going near those sewer hole-thingies perched onto the sidewalks from that, I also ended up developing a hatred for the entire state of Maine! (both of which I don't have anymore)

Edited by iReekOfLemons on Jan 14th 2024 at 12:08:32 PM

I thought that a baboon and a buffoon were the same thing (which kinda makes sense given the Silly Simian trope.)

I once thought gibbons and baboons were the same animal. An understandable mistake to make, because they are both primates.

There was a time where I thought that when skunks sprayed, they were basically just farting. I'm pretty sure I might've gotten this misconception from certain cartoons (as the page for Smelly Skunk points out) - interestingly, skunk spray actually comes out as a liquid, not a gas.

I also thought "buffoon" was "baboon."

I thought that diabetes was diarrhea.

In Super Mario Bros. 2, when you die and have the look of surprise on your face, the hat slightly lifted in the air, and the sweatdrops, I thought that was actually Mario or Luigi's brain coming out of their head!

Speaking of death animations, I thought Mario or Luigi smiled when they died in the older Mario games.

Maybe I wasn't exactly a "kid" when I thought this (around 12-14), but I thought "neckbeard" referred to someone whose beard is on their neck exclusively

My parents told me that children were made in laboratories.

To be fair, you've gotta tell your kids something to explain that before you give out the talk.

Edited by jtard on Jan 19th 2024 at 12:59:16 PM

Reminds me of the time I thought that you could buy babies at Babies R Us. I knew that Toys R Us sold toys, so it all checked out.

Calvin's dad bought him in a kit at K-Mart.

Wait, it's not normal if your dad bought you in a kit at k-mart???

Edited by ThatAsianInTheCorner on Jan 24th 2024 at 8:26:23 PM

I thought "high" meant happy, because "low" can sometimes mean sad.

According to one of my teachers in 12th grade, "high as a kite" used to be an expression referring to being happy. I wouldn't be surprised if the word "high" in general also meant something similar before it gained drug-related connotations.

I thought that Americans (which I am) didn't have an accent and American was just the normal, "default" way of talking.

That would make a lot of sense. I always thought part of why being on drugs was called being "high" is because a lot of drugs make you feel happy.

One more before I forget. When I heard people talk about "illegal aliens" I thought they meant aliens from another planet who were on Earth illegally. I figured they used some sort of Voluntary Shapeshifting (or maybe holograms or something) to disguise themselves as humans, and that's why I never saw them

Edited by Bootlebat on Jan 30th 2024 at 7:15:40 AM

I'm sure I thought the same thing about "illegal aliens" when I saw a Wikipedia description of a Robot Chicken sketch that involves Sylvester and Speedy.

I used to think skin-to-skin contact with a dead person would kill you instantly.

There was a time when I thought that the name "Sean" was pronounced "seen".

For added irony, Sean is an Irish name... and I'm mostly Irish.

I thought the Sonic Screwdriver from Doctor Who was from Sonic the Hedgehog.

I thought the same thing!