When I Was Young….08 Feb 2011 08:51 pm
By The Wiz
1. I was certain that the tampon/pad machines in the restrooms were machines that allowed people to buy their own super sterile toilet paper.
2. I was also pretty sure I was Jewish, and would inform people thusly.
3. I often heard people refer to the “Y” and the “U” and I was confused why nobody ever talked about the ”B.” That must be the crappy part of the school.
4. I was very surprised to learn that “several” wasn’t a real number.
5. I was in the gifted program. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Your turn.
1. I thought that all foreign languages were based on English and made up for fun, like pig latin.
2. The whole “step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back” thing seemed to make some kind of cosmic sense, and when my great grandmother did, in fact, break her back, I worried it was somehow my fault for not paying attention on the sidewalk.
3. I pronounced pot pourri phonetically for years and at about 12-13 or so I was astonished, then humiliated, when my mom told me it was pronounced “poe porEE.” I also remember when a friend of mine in the 5th grade (a girl who was always infuriatingly smarter than me) had written “miscellaneous” on one of the pencil boxes in her desk that she’d made it up in order to look more intellectual.
Comment #1 by Angela H.February 8th, 2011 at 10:12 pm1. I thought soy sauce was made from worm juice and pidgeon blood. Because I was told so, so it must be true.
2. I determined that monsters hid in dark places and came out at night. As long as I had every part of my body under the covers, and took care not to breathe outside of the quilt, I was okay. I still wrap myself in quilts and can’t sleep without them.
3. When asked what my favorite food was, I replied “Anything exotic” meaning anything I different from what I usually ate. Now I just say “sushi”.
4. I was famous in my family for cooking disasters. At least until I left home.
5. I had a reputation for blowing speakers when I would sing. Still proud of those times. Made for great fireworks.
Comment #2 by ScarehaircareFebruary 8th, 2011 at 10:15 pm1. I wanted to capture my whole family, shrink them, and keep them in glass jars, except for a few times when I might let them out to be their regular size.
2. I dreamed of flying like a bird, over and over and over.
3. I played Sacrament in the sand pile, said the prayers, and even ate the sand. Just once.
4. When I got angry, I would go in my room, find the section called “the storm” and turn up my tape player as loud as it would go, blasting the William Tell Overture.
Comment #3 by ErinFebruary 8th, 2011 at 10:37 pm1. I thought that in order for prayers to be answered, your eyes had to be closed during the said request. Hence, when my eyes were opened when my Dad prayed that my grandmother would feel better, I was certain she was going to die and I was to blame.
2. Thanks to my bully of an uncle, I thought if you twisted your belly button, your bum would fall off.
3. I didn’t believe that saying a ‘couple’, really only meant 2. I just figured it was any number bigger than 1. There was (and still is) a lot of miscommunications because of that (because I still sometimes believe that if I say a ‘couple’ everyone will know I mean 5 or 6.)
Comment #4 by HaybayFebruary 8th, 2011 at 10:59 pm1. I thought ELEMENO was the name of a letter. (Sing the alphabet song).
2. Somebody convinced me once that they had switched the girls and the boys restroom at school and forgot to change the signs. Sadly I was convinced of this for several weeks and even tried to persuade some girls that they were in the wrong restroom.
3. I was afraid of getting baptized. Someone in a testimony meeting said getting baptized was like leaving your old self behind in the water and a new person coming out. That idea freaked me out because apparently I wasn’t very good at understanding metaphors.
4. I told people that when I grew up I wanted to be a professional chemist, doctor, football player, baseball player… and in my “spare time” I would be an archeologist.
5. Believed that Toltecs had encoded secret messages in pottery shards that I had found near the pyramids in Mexico. (Probably broken tourist souvenirs). The only way to decipher the messages was to soak the shards in water and listen to the air bubbles come up. I guess I thought is was some kind of Morse code. I could never break that dang code no matter how hard I tried.
6. I also was in the honors program. Be very VERY afraid.
Comment #5 by Mr. MFebruary 8th, 2011 at 11:22 pm1. I believed for a lot of years that cows that lived in hilly areas had one set of legs shorter than the other (so they could stand on the hill sideways to graze). Thanks, dad.
2. Oh yeah, and that my dad could magically make the traffic lights switch to green by saying “one, two, three, change light” and snapping his fingers.
3. I still can’t seem to pronounce plaid correctly- does it rhyme with mad or raid? Still can’t figure it out so I try to avoid it
4. And I, too, was in the gifted program and even interned at NASA. Good thing it had nothing to do with cows.
Comment #6 by JulieFebruary 9th, 2011 at 12:16 am1. I used to pick fights with other kids in first grade as we walked home from school, not because I was mad at them, but because I REALLY enjoyed fighting and was pretty good at it.
2. I thought my home town was a peninsula (which I pronounced penin-SU-la) because it was surrounded by a river on three sides. Yes, I too was in the gifted program.
3. I tried to incorporate a rocket booster (from illegal Wyoming fireworks) into my pinewood derby car. My Dad confiscated it.
4. I tried to make spiderman-like web-shooters from tunafish cans and string. They didn’t work very well.
Comment #7 by Wiz DHFebruary 9th, 2011 at 1:01 am1. My most famous catch phrase was “You’re not the boss of me.” I still don’t like anyone to be the boss of me–which is why I like being a mom–I’m the boss! (at least theoretically)
2. I ate dirt–repeatedly. My Mom was really into health food, not always into taste (my childhood candy bar stealing incident–doesn’t everyone have one?–was a carob bar from the health food store). So I don’t know–maybe when you are used to health over taste, maybe dirt tastes good. Or maybe I’m a slow learner.
3. I used to really think my feet were great looking (don’t ask my why). However, that ended when someone told me, at about age 10, that my toes were exceptionally long. I never realized it before that moment, but he was right. I still have freaky practically finger-length toes. I wear sandals anyway, but my dreams of being a foot model will not come to fruition.
4. I used to play “Hiding from the Nazis” in a grove of trees in my front yard. I think I read too many Holocaust stories in elementary school.
5. I, too, was in the gifted program. The dirt thing doesn’t corroborate.
Comment #8 by Erin S.February 9th, 2011 at 2:05 amSo fun!
1 - There was a decorative oval (about 20 feet by 40 feet) that was attached to the ceiling in our chapel, which hung about 1 foot lower than the rest of it. I used to think the area in between the oval and the ceiling was heaven, and I couldn’t understand how they fit so many dead people up there, and why I never saw an arm, or a foot, hanging over the edge.
2 - I used to believe that there was a little tiny band in the radio speakers that played the songs. I always wondered how they could play so well when people requested songs.
3 - I was in the gifted program too. Definitely scary.
Comment #9 by GingerFebruary 9th, 2011 at 4:46 amI didn’t understand why the kid in my kindergarten class who made a “weiner” out of Playdoh during sculpting time got in such big trouble. I thought it was a very good likeness of a hot dog and he was obviously getting ready to make the bun with the two balls of Playdoh next to it.
Comment #10 by kaduseyFebruary 9th, 2011 at 7:14 amI thought “tourist” was a full-time profession, and that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I still want to be a tourist when I grow up.
Comment #11 by StephanieFebruary 9th, 2011 at 7:37 amHa ha ha ha ha ha
1- I couldn’t figure out why when my dad pointed at a snake and said “Bang you’re a belt” while we were driving he never stopped to get the belt he just made.
2- I knew that if I dig deep enough or in the right places I would find proof that dragons existed - and maybe find my very own egg.
3- I always wanted to be a witch but could never find the right broom. No matter how fast I ran it just wouldn’t take flight. I was also in the honors program. *sigh*
Stephanie - that tourist thing sounds pretty good to me!
Comment #12 by SamanthaFebruary 9th, 2011 at 8:37 am1. I asked my mother why people didn’t refer to Prince Charming by his given name - Bill Crisper? The record I listened to clearly was singing, “Bill Crisper, I love you.”
2. I thought the characters from Star Wars were secretly watching me from inside my closet to determine whether or not I was worthy to join them in their adventures.
3. I also thought elemeno was a letter.
4. I was never in the gifted program. Go figure.
Comment #13 by KamiFebruary 9th, 2011 at 9:32 am1. I thought you got pregnant by going potty in a used toilet bowl… So when my mom made me pee in the toilet that my brother had just used, I was sure I was going to get pregnant. Now that I think about it… why didn’t she want us to flush between? Saving water?? Not sure.
2. I thought that my Primary teacher was Spencer W. Kimball, but looking back, he was just an old man with white hair.
3. I will tell on my friend, too… she thought Euthanasia was Youth In Asia, and was totally ticked when the teacher marked it wrong in high school! She got mad at me when I laughed at her.
4. And yes, we were in the Honors programs.
Comment #14 by JenFebruary 9th, 2011 at 11:02 amI thought everywhere I went my mom had little cameras that she could spy on me, so I never did or said anything bad.
When I would go to sleep at night, I’d always have my hands under my pillow so the scary swamp thing I saw in a clip from a movie couldn’t turn my fingers webbed.
I hated clam chowder, so when my mom would buy cans of clams, I would hide them in the linen closet so when she went to cook, she didn’t have the ingredients. When she finally found them, I think there were more than a dozen cans.
Sometimes I would squeeze the toothpaste into the toilet when I wanted a new flavor, just to empty the tube.
Comment #15 by Tracy MFebruary 9th, 2011 at 11:19 am1. I thought the word “I-dot” was a terrific insult that I learned from MAD magazine. Years later I realized I was misreading the word “idiot.”
2. Nancy Drew always wore CHICK clothing
3. I thought married people had to just close their eyes and concentrate REALLY hard, and that is what constituted “trying” to have a baby.
4. And yeah, I was in the gifted program too. This is getting a little bizarre.
Comment #16 by meemsFebruary 9th, 2011 at 12:15 pmWhen I asked my Dad where my Mom went, and he told me that she went to the moon, I thought the moon was the name of a store.
I once read in a book what a funnel cloud looks like when it is starting to form, so I always kept an eye out on cloudy days just in case a tornado happened to form.
Comment #17 by KatieFebruary 9th, 2011 at 12:21 pm@Haybay, I couldn’t figure out “a couple” either! To me, it means the same thing as “a few”, not “two”.
@Erin S., I played “Nazis” in elementary school, too! We were Jewish children running and hiding from the Nazis all recess long. (I blame The Number of the Stars).
When I was little, I thought that when you got older, the year you were born changed. “I’m 8 now, so now I was born in 1981 instead of 1982.” My parents, bless their hearts, didn’t even chuckle as they explained that to me.
Comment #18 by Barb @ getupandplayFebruary 9th, 2011 at 1:11 pmI thought that it was ‘bishop brick’ and not bishopric. I wrote this word in an email to someone and when my husband saw it he laughed and laughed. (Yes, to my shame I only figured this out a couple years ago.)
It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized the Arby’s symbol is supposed to be a cowboy hat.
The phrase, ‘By this shall men know…’ in the song, As I have loved you- I thought it was saying shallmennow. What the heck is a shallmennow?
Comment #19 by MarianneFebruary 9th, 2011 at 1:35 pm1. I thought there really was a genie in that little bottle from the gumball machine.
2. I stole a zipper from the fabric store. I really thought now my mom would make me a dress. Instead she made me talk to the manager. Rude!
3. I thought fields full of hay bales were cemeteries for cows.
Comment #20 by Aundrea HillFebruary 9th, 2011 at 2:44 pmA slight variation…
When my younger sister and I were kids I convinced her that a telltale sign that it’s going to rain is if any cows you see are lying down. I explained to her that cows could more readily feel changes in barometric pressure and a lowering barometric pressure was heavy on cows and caused them to lie down. Fast forward 20+ years and I overhear her telling someone -in absolute seriousness - about this brillant weather forecasting technique. Oops! (I did end up telling her then but I’m pretty sure she still thinks it’s true).
Comment #21 by JELFebruary 9th, 2011 at 4:07 pm1. I was sure my dad was one of the Three Nephites because I thought he was perfect. It was when he got sick that I realized he couldn’t be one of them and I was devastated.
2. I never understood why every song seemed to be about love and remember asking my mom why that was, several times.
3. Every time a song had the word “baby” in it referring to your sweetheart or whatever, I took it literally and didn’t know why so many songs were about babies. (I apparently listened to a lot of music as a kid and didn’t understand any of it.)
4. I was sure there was an alligator in the drain of our swimming pool and never dove down very deep to avoid being attacked by him and sucked down the drain to my death.
5. I thought the word “nowhere” was actually pronounced “now here” and it made no sense when I read it in books.
6. I was also a “gifted student”.
Comment #22 by StarababaFebruary 9th, 2011 at 4:42 pmI was amazed at Marianne’s “bishop brick”, and “shallmenow”. I too, thought those words existed!
I thought the football players were praying, as they got down on their knees, before each play of the game! (They didn’t want anyone to get hurt!) And yes, I was in the honors program.
Comment #23 by jellybeanFebruary 9th, 2011 at 8:46 pmMy daughter (who was in the honors program) loved to read. But some words are hard to pronounce when you have only read them. She was always coming up with the craziest pronunciations. My favorites: Poly-jam-ists (polygamist) and I-row-keys Indians(Iriquois). Her 8th grade honors history class heard her pronounce that last one, and gave her a horrible time. For the rest of the year, that is how they all pronounced it.
1. I tried to do a back flip by pushing off the city pool in perfect backstroke formation and instead of going straight, I hurled my body back around and slammed my head into the wall where I started. I still wonder how I survived that.
2. In a panic about an overdue school library book, I left school and ran the half mile home, walked in my house, grabbed the book, and ran back. No one saw me at home, and no one noticed my absence at school. I was in the second grade. Where was my teacher?
3. I remember telling my sixth grade teacher that farmers, of course, as we all know, are not very intelligent. He totally called me on it and let me know just how intelligent that made me.
Comment #24 by TaniFebruary 9th, 2011 at 9:03 pm1. my older sister told me when I was in 5th grade that they way you got pregnant was a boy spit in a cup and the girl drank it. I believed that for a few years till my biology teacher in Jr.high set me straight.
2. I was always afraid of the boogy man at night, and as long as I only had one foot uncovered he couldn’t get me.
3. My dad told me that the signs that said “watch for falling rocks” were really lost signs for an Indian boy who got lost. I think I was pretty young when I first heard that one and I totally believed it.
Comment #25 by dorriFebruary 9th, 2011 at 10:20 pm1. I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in the third grade and was scared enough to put a blanket around my neck every night for the next few months when I went to bed.
2. I once had a typing book from the library that was overdue by about a year. I couldn’t bear to go in to the desk to return it, so I slipped an envelope in the cover filled with loose change hoping that would cover the fine.
3. There was no gifted program at my school, so my mom subscribed to a “Gifted Student Newsletter”. I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to read it - it all seemed like jibberish to me.
Comment #26 by mormonhermitmomFebruary 9th, 2011 at 11:05 pm1. I thought I was dying of breastcancer for a full year because of the “lumps” of my newly emerging breasts.
Comment #27 by JunebugFebruary 9th, 2011 at 11:36 pm2. I crept in my parents bedroom one sunday aft. to sneak from my dad’s “candy drawer” only to hear them coming..get trapped under the bed..and then wonder why they bounced so much during their sunday nap.
3. I was also in gifted and talented but was embarrassed because none of the cool kids were, so I purposely flunked out.
**Dorri, My dad told me the same “watch for Falling rock” story!! I was alwasy sure we’d be the one to find the lost little Indian boy!
And the sign “Slides” he told me were because there was a park up ahead and I always wanted to stop and play, but we never got to.
And “I thought Shamenno was a word too!
And the Articles of Faith, why would we believe in being “chased by an elephant?”
and in primary sing songs about “Parents Kind of weird”?
And the little band in the radio, I believed that one, and was also sure that “The Little’s” lived in the walls of my house - to this day if something is moved from where I left it, I think of those guys!
Also - wayyyyyy before Toy Story, I was sure my toys came alive at night and played while I slept….apparently I’m not the only one since they made three blockbuster hits from that little fantasy!
Comment #28 by JenFebruary 10th, 2011 at 6:54 amPsst - I think Junebug won with her “Sunday Nap” story. I still can’t quit laughing……*gasp HAHAHAHA
Comment #29 by ScarehaircareFebruary 10th, 2011 at 10:18 amI thought when you were given the Melchezidik priesthood it meant you had to sit slumped over in your seat resting your head on your hands. It took me a few years to realize that the men were just sleeping through church.
Stupid gifted program.
Comment #30 by m2thehFebruary 10th, 2011 at 11:38 amWhen I was 4, I was certain that I could sing “I am a Child of God” in Chinese. See Mom? “Ching chong cha ching ching chong…”
When I was 14, I thought, “Hey I can do one somersault UP my stairs from the bottom landing and one UP onto the top landing. I bet I can do one down from the top landing.” Just about the time my feet left the top landing, I realized my error in physics thinking as I rolled over and over down the stairs crashing into the front door. At 14 years old. I was more embarrassed than hurt and was glad no one else witnessed my stupidity.
When looking for a box to wrap my mother’s homemade Christmas present in, I finally found an empty tampon box, so of course I used that. What 6 year old knows that that’s not the box to use??
I was terrified of getting shots, and I had this fear/recurring nightmare that there was a man hiding under my bed with a super long syringe that he was going to poke up through the mattresses into me when I layed down, so I checked under my bed every night before getting into bed. And yes, this went on until my teen years.
Comment #31 by StrollerbladerFebruary 10th, 2011 at 11:59 am1. I had never heard of anyone named “Ezra” so I figured Ezra Taft Benson was probably Japanese.
2. I played this elaborate fantasy game in which I was the owner of a saltine cracker factory in the sky.
3. I missed an answer on an eighth grade vocabulary list because I put “sanguine” meant “full of blood.” My reasoning was that sangre was the Spanish word for blood and Spanish was, like, basically Latin–so they had to be related. The teacher had wanted me to put “happy.” I challenged her. If you look it up we were both right.
4. I was not in the honors program. It was not until the very moment I described above that it had ever occurred to me that I might be smart. Although there are some who may still debate that point.
Comment #32 by DeniMarieFebruary 10th, 2011 at 1:00 pmI laughed so hard at all the comments! Made my day. The phrase “Be different, act normal” comes to mind.
I watched a Star Trek movie where the bad guys put these nasty parasites into the good guys ears to “get ‘em to talk.” The little bugs ate the man’s brains out. I was at a Sunday School party and had to have the teacher take me home. It took me several nights to get to sleep and then I slept with my blankets all tucked in around me and over my ears. I did that for years…still do sometimes.
I thought you could get pregnant by laying next to another person. My mom finally did explain that one to me when my girl cousin spent the night at our house and I wanted to sleep clear across the room from her.
I also did the summersault thing, but on a slide in our backyard. Ouch.
My dad told me that dinosaurs lived under the mountains. I didn’t believe him until he showed me how the valleys and hills looked like necks and legs. Passed that one on to my own kids. They didn’t believe me.
I thought I would somehow fit down the drain of the tub so I always hurried and jumped out before it started to swirl and suck everything down with the water.
Just a fun thought: ask your kids what they “used to think” about things. Pretty hilarious.
Comment #33 by CornMomFebruary 10th, 2011 at 3:38 pmWhen I was in 3rd grade I was convinced I was pregnant. Because 1) my tummy was round and not flat (??) and 2) when I ran really fast and then laid down on the bed I could feel a heartbeat in my stomach–this was obviously the baby’s heart beat. I had no idea HOW babies were made, just that it was really bad to have a baby when you weren’t married. So one night I summoned up the courage, got out of bed and asked to talk to my mom in private. Then I looked her square in the eye and said, “Mom (dramatic sigh) I think I’m pregnant.” I now realize it took an enormous amount of restraint for her not to bust up laughing. She then told me she didn’t think so, and explained that “you usually have to be in bed with a man to get pregnant. It doesn’t always happen in bed, but usually.” I didn’t ask anymore questions…I was just completely relieved not to be pregnant and went to bed.
Yep–gifted program.
Comment #34 by MiggyFebruary 10th, 2011 at 5:39 pmI can’t remember how old I was (though I was pretty old) when I figured out who said the two sacrament prayers. I mean, the pulpit was empty! I don’t remember who I thought it was, but I rarely closed my eyes during the prayers, just in case I could spot the speaker.
Comment #35 by Erin MarieFebruary 10th, 2011 at 7:16 pmI once told my older brother that if he blinked too hard, his eyebrows would fall off. I believed it!
Comment #36 by KTFebruary 10th, 2011 at 9:58 pm#18- Barb
Actually “a couple” means “2″, “a few” means 3-5, and “many” means more than 5. My husband still doesn’t get that one and it drives me insane! Makes life difficult, lol.
Comment #37 by OliveFebruary 10th, 2011 at 10:02 pmWhen I was little I believed that all the parents would go out at midnight Christmas eve to buy all the gifts, and then come home and wrap them…….I often heard my mom finishing sewing and wrapping gifts Christmas eve.
In kindergarten I told my dad I wanted to marry him. When I entered my 30’s a single woman, he became a little worried.
I also believed that my mom knew everything. When I would tell my friend something, they would ask how do you know, and I would say that my mom told me, she knows everything.
(she reads everything)
I earned two F’s my senior year, 1971 -’72, in Office procedures and Business Machines….and NO I’m not a secretary.
Comment #38 by Lisa SFebruary 11th, 2011 at 8:14 amDorri, the lost Indian Boy story made me laugh so hard I cried. I tried to read it to my DH for like 5 minutes, but I couldn’t stop laughing. It was late…and I’m sleep deprived, What can I say? But this whole post is hiliarous. I find it funny how many of us thought the same thing. I also thought it was ‘bishop brick’ and wondered who said the sacrament prayer, thought ’shallamenow’ was a word but got a big kick out of ‘parents kind of weird’ and ‘chased by an elephant’. Hahahaha.
I remember when I learned in Science that fog was clouds that had descended down I was convinced that’s how you could climb to heaven. I waited patiently for months for fog to come, and when it did I ran out into the street and began to climb. You can imagine how stupid I looked.
I thought the words to ‘What’s love got to do with it’ were, ‘What’s love? cock-a-doodle, cock-a-doodle’. I kinda wondered what a rooster had to do with love, but what did I know?
Comment #39 by HaybayFebruary 11th, 2011 at 11:04 amWhen I was a young teenager, my older sister told me that having hair on my toes meant that I wouldn’t be able to have babies. I didn’t believe her (much), but through all my infertility issues, I can’t say it didn’t cross my mind.
When I was a small child, my OTHER older sister talked about a horror movie she saw where the killer was hiding UNDERNEATH the bed, and stabbed his victim THROUGH the mattress. Is it any wonder that I slept in my parents’ bed practically every night until I was 10?
In the song ‘Love one Another’, I thought the words “One to another” were the numbers “One two”, and that they were supposed to represent beats of the measure and rests, and we weren’t supposed to sing them. I mean, you can see the logic. I thought the words, ‘If ye have loved one to another’ didn’t make any sense and that the words ‘If ye have loved another’ must be correct, and that the “One two” must be just my mother counting out the beats (she is a musician, and the primary chorister at the time).
Compliments of my older brother, I was fully, FULLY prepared to see a goat the first time I went the temple. And I was 23.
Sometimes being the youngest sucks.
Comment #40 by Heather O.February 11th, 2011 at 2:29 pm“If ye have LOVE one to another”. It is NOT past tense. Sorry you had to be 35 before you learned that, Heather.
Comment #41 by The WizFebruary 11th, 2011 at 3:08 pmSuch a good laugh reading this morning! Makes that 103 fever seem a little lighter today!
1 - I once told my family that “Richell’s mom got laid at Albertsons.” In actuality, Albertson’s was experiencing cuts and was laying off people. I was 7. They laughed, but no one would tell me what was so funny. I thought it was sad that my friend’s mom no longer had a job! I thought from then on that my family was just rude and insensitive!
2 - I actually thought God was giving the sacrament prayers, and that is why we needed to close our eyes. I didn’t want to be the one who scared Heavenly Father away, so I NEVER opened my eyes. Not sure where I came up with it, but…
3 - When my older sister (7 yrs. older) told me that our unmarried 15 year old cousin being pregnant was her fault, I argued incessantly that God just makes us pregnant when he wants to send us babies. I really had no idea it “took two to tango.”
4 - I believed that when I was as old as Grandpa, I could start swearing at cows and drinking pepsi, but I had to be a grandparent first. Those rights were reserved for grandparents, and sometimes parents, but were totally off limits to children. (Before I knew what a swear word was, I just thought that S.O.B. was the name he gave to his cows, and he just liked his horses better whose names were Strawberry, Candy, and even Old Dumb - he was a dumb horse.)
5 - I entered the honors program in Junior High. In grade school I was in low reading group, but high groups for everything else. I could sound the living daylights out of a word, but couldn’t have cared less about comprehending anything. What do you expect when your teachers pull you aside, give you something to read, and write a little red check next to any word you mispronounce? I was so focused on saying everything just right, I never thought I needed to understand what I was reading! Grammar and phonics rocked my world, and 7th grade English was grammar galore. I was awesome at that! And yes, as an AP Senior English teacher, my students diagrammed sentences often! I seriously loved teaching the differences between direct objects and predicate nominatives so my students would know the difference between I and me! Good times!
Comment #42 by RenaFebruary 12th, 2011 at 8:48 amWe had a black and white picture of my grandfather whom I had never met but was told I had his exact eye color. I couldn’t understand why my mom didn’t take a picture of the picture, but using colored film, so I could see what his eyes really looked like.
Comment #43 by TiffanyFebruary 14th, 2011 at 8:49 amI believed that when actors had to kiss someone they weren’t married to, they put clear plastic wrap between their mouths. No one told me this, I figured it out for myself and even tried to convince my friend of it in 2nd grade. She wasn’t buying it. I do remember doubting myself when I saw the actors on General Hospital french kissing and I wasn’t sure how the plastic wrap adhered so well without being seen, but I was positive that they couldn’t kiss someone in a show and stay married to someone else. Now that I think about it, most of them can’t.
I didn’t even know we had a gifted program in elementary until I was in high school and someone mentioned that another student had been in the gifted program. I can’t remember what it was called, Eagles or something. The student from my grade who was in it dropped out of high school and I graduated as valedictorian.
Comment #44 by KimarieFebruary 15th, 2011 at 9:10 am1) At the age of 10 I figured out why women would want to have babies–they couldn’t handle college and got pregnant as a way to get out of it.
2) I believed only the ’stupid ones’ got married at an age younger than, or equal to, 23.
3) Someone told me rocks were angel poop and the “Falling Rocks” signs were just the location those with diarrhea were told to go to.
4) I’m down to my last semester of my Associates, pregnant, and got married when I was 18.
5) Made the Dean’s List this past semester. Never was in the gifted/honors program but believed, and still do to an extent, that I was smarter than my teachers.
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Comment #46 by mommy blogMay 8th, 2012 at 10:38 pm