Miscellaneous Monday - Embarrassing Misunderstandings

[Dreamsuite Mike]

Who is willing to start the week by admitting things in life you embarrassingly misunderstood? 

This could come from from childhood or if you're brave enough, something that you believed into adult life only to find out you got it completely wrong

I'll get started...

When I was younger, probably even into my teenage years,  I was baffled by "To Let" signs I saw outside houses.  I would think:

1. How can so many people be spelling toilet wrong?
2. There are lot of people letting random strangers use their toilet?!
   

[Summer.Hogan]

I've got one! I thought my whole childhood that if I swallowed a piece of gum, it would take numerous years to digest. I even thought of the potential that it could stick to my organs. NOPE, not true! The gum base is insoluble and will not stick to your stomach or intestines. Instead of hanging around for years, it travels the same path as food. WOW! It was a Myth all along.

On this note, I found this long list of myths a while back and some of them blew my mind. My favorites is the "Goldfish 3-sec memory" that says "While not the smartest, goldfish boast a memory span of 3 months - better than most politicians." https://www.businessinsider.com/mythbusting-common-misconceptions-2014-11 

[Dreamsuite Mike]

I've got one! I thought my whole childhood that if I swallowed a piece of gum, it would take numerous years to digest. I even thought of the potential that it could stick to my organs. NOPE, not true! The gum base is insoluble and will not stick to your stomach or intestines. Instead of hanging around for years, it travels the same path as food. WOW! It was a Myth all along.

Ha, yes that was the myth my parents said to me too.  😂😂😂

[Andy Gladstone]

🤫 I hope my kids are not on the community (I know they aren't). I still tell them this today!

[Ankush Bora]

I have a similar one. As a child, I used to think that if I swallowed a seed(s) of an orange or watermelon etc. a tree would end up coming from my insides. Come to think of it, it was indeed terrifying! Thankfully it was otherwise. Else, I would have been growing mangroves. :)

[Ankush Bora]

Although this thread is old. Thanks for this one. @summer.hogan 

[Curt Holley]

That's hilarious @Dreamsuite Mike 
I do recall giggling to myself as a child about how certain "To let" signs looked like they were advertising giant toilets (especially when written on a single line and on the side of a commercial building).

Ahh, toilet humour. Starts early, never gets old.

[Dreamsuite Mike]

I can continue the toilet theme with a story about my wife...

I will start by saying, my wife is infinitely smarter and more capable than me. I'm also banking on the fact that her job in medical research will not be one that brings her to the Atlassian Community any time soon 😃

Early on in our relationship, probably 5 or 6 years ago, I noticed on several occasions when we were out, she would say she's popping to the loo, only to come back having not been...

It didn't happen often but one day it happened so I asked her why....

She had spend her whole life thinking that the 🚾 sign for toilets meant Wheelchair so she didn't think it morally right to use them...😂😂😂

[Andy Gladstone]

This one is not mine, but one my Dad used to tell us when we were kids. He took a trip through Europe during the 3 month after he finished college in 1965 and lived on couches of friends and family, hitchhiking where he could. He covered over 20 countries during the 3 months.

He always told us that he was once on the Autobahn in Germany and commented to the driver how the town of Ausfahrt must be huge. The driver and passengers laughed at him and informed him that Ausfahrt is not a town, it means exit! He spent two hours wondering how big the city must be before making that comment out loud, and the next two hours in silence!

I'm going to call him now to tell him how I was reminded of this story, thanks for giving me an excuse to call @Dreamsuite Mike! 

[Chris K]

That's hilarious :D Thanks for the laugh. 

When I visited France with some friends for the first time, we discovered these red circled road signs named "Sauf Bus". In german it means "Drinking Bus" or "Booze Bus". Obviously there were no such buses, it means more like "don't drive here, except you're a bus". We had a lot of fun and giggles, I think I'll call my friend to tell him about this story, so thank you @Andy Gladstone for your story and @Dreamsuite Mike for this creative post :D

[Matt Doar]

Too many to count. Mostly because my mouth sometimes speaks before my brain. One from a long time ago when my wife was still in seminary, training to be a priest. We were at a formal dinner all sitting at a large round table. I was way across the table from the bishop who was the senior person at the table.

As we all got up to say "goodbye" people were shaking the bishop's hand. He and I had to stretch right across the table to shake hands. What came out my mouth was "what long arms you have for a bishop!". He just gave me a look and moved on. Ah well.

[Ananjan_miniOrange]

Haha, that's relatable, @Summer_Hogan  Your story brought back my own childhood memories.

And oh boy, I've got an embarrassing one too. I was pretty clueless about phrases as a kid (and let's face it, not much has changed 😅). I remember this classic: "Raining cats and dogs." Can you believe I thought real cats and dogs were falling from the sky during heavy rain? I was this mix of fascinated and worried about their survival tactics!

Then came the rainy day I decided to finally ask my mom about it. She burst into laughter and, well, that story still gets thrown around at family gatherings. Ah, the good old days of puzzling misunderstandings! 😂

PS: I am still trying to enhance my phrases skill😅😅

Good one @Dreamsuite Mike ✌️

[Rachel McDonald]

Growing up, my mother ALWAYS called baseboards "dustboards."

I honestly thought that is what they were actually called. I was a grown adult before realizing they were called baseboards.

"Dustboards" was her nickname for baseboards because they collected dust. 

Thanks, Mom. LOL

[Mohamed Riza _ServiceRocket_]

This reminds me of a friend of mine during internship. He was a pure mathematics genius but he serious thought that all chicken eggs come hard! Like as in hard boiled eggs. That was due to seeing hardboiled eggs being sold in the cafeteria with the shell and assuming that all eggs were naturally in that state! He got a rude awakening when he went to the grocery store to buy and egg and noticed that it was not hard!!! He was genuinely shocked and recounted the story to us at work.