People Are Sharing The Things They Believed As Kids (Which Turned Out To Be Untrue)

When you’re a kid there are lots of things you believe that aren’t necessarily true.

Most of the time this is down to what your parents have told you (like the police will tell you pull you over if you don’t turn the light off in the back of the car), but other times it’s just what you’ve made up in your head – and nobody has questioned it, so it’s taken as gospel.

In an amusing thread posted on Mumsnet, user @Carryonrunning asked the masses: “What do you remember from your childhood that you now realise you really misunderstood?”

Cue, a hilarious thread of eyebrow-raising confessions… (If you’re a parent reading this, it’s a useful reminder that kids take things very literally.)

I thought you got given an actual sack when you lose your job

“My dad came home from work one day with a hessian sack he’d acquired from somewhere. He then told my mum, ‘I’ve been given the sack’. It took me years to realise that a) he was joking and b) you don’t get given an actual sack when you lose your job.”

– BlossomCat

I thought you became an adult at 100 years old

“As a young child I thought you became an adult at 100 years old. Imagine my shock when someone at primary school told me it was just 18. I had a full on existential crisis when I realised most people don’t even live to 100!”

– Flustration

I thought you were meant to drive with one wheel either side of the central road line

“My family didn’t have a car, so my main experience of driving when I was really young was my grandad. He only drove us occasionally and from these rare experiences I worked out that the white line in the road was a guideline to keep you straight – a wheel each side of it. When I got to about 8 I began to wonder how cars going in opposite directions could both straddle the centre line without crashing. As I got older I realised my grandad was a really bad driver.”

I thought ‘cash back’ was free money

“In the shop when my mum and dad answered that they didn’t want cash back I always wondered why they turned down free money.”

– EdithGrantham

I thought it was the last day of the world

“I remember leaving primary school one day and I heard the teacher say to a friend’s Mum, ‘It’s the last day tomorrow.’ I must have been about five. I actually thought she meant that it was the last day of the world. I remember laying in bed that evening and worrying and worrying… In the end I went downstairs, crying to my Mum and asked her if it really was the last day of the world the next day.

“To my amazement, she looked at the calendar. I remember thinking, surely the people who make the calendars wouldn’t know when the last day is?! In reality she was just checking that it definitely was the last day of term. She hugged me and explained that the next day was just the last day of term, not Armageddon!”

– Feelinghurt2

I thought my mum’s heart would miss a beat and she would die

“I heard my mum talking on the way home from picking me up at school, to some of her mum friends. She said something like ‘my heart missed a beat’ and from that moment on for YEARS I was afraid that hearts could do this. I worried that my mum’s heart would miss more beats and she would die, or that my heart might miss a beat and something bad would happen. I’d lie in bed listening to my heartbeat and wondering if I’d notice if it missed one…”

– Vroomfondleswaistcoat

I thought giving the middle finger meant ‘up and over’

“I remember my dad giving the 1 finger salute when driving and me asking my mum what that meant. With a rather frosty look at my dad she said it meant up and over. I then got confused as to why I got into trouble doing it.”

I thought the olden days were actually black and white

“I thought that the ‘olden days’ really were black and white and there really was no colour – just like the photographs. I thought that at least they had grey and different tones of black and white.”

– Whatthechicken

I thought To Let signs meant public toilet

“I used to think that when you saw a ‘To let’ sign on a building, it was a polite way of saying there’s a public toilet in there.”

– MathsMum3

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How David Schwimmer And Matt LeBlanc Marked 30 Years Of Friends

David Schwimmer has claimed he couldn’t let Friends’ recent milestone anniversary go past without commemorating it.

Towards the end of last year, the beloved sitcom celebrated 30 years since it first aired on US television and became a global phenomenon, winning a string of Emmys and running for 10 years in total.

Speaking to the Australian radio station Nova, David – who played Ross Geller in all 10 seasons – was asked by host Smallzy: “Do you reflect when you hit a milestone like 30 years? Do you think ‘wow what a great run’? Or do you go, ‘god, I feel really old, don’t say that’?”

“All of the above,” the Emmy nominee admitted with a big laugh, before revealing he “happened to be back in Los Angeles around the day that marked the 30th year of when we aired”.

“I took [Matt] LeBlanc out to dinner, actually,” he shared. “We reminisced and toasted to the 30 years.”

Reflecting on Friends’ continued success, David added: “It’s amazing to me that people are still watching and finding it funny and comforting, and I feel nothing but gratitude.”

In 2021, the entire cast came together for a star-studded reunion special looking back at what made the show such a success.

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14 Things You Probably Never Knew About The Christmas Classic The Grinch

In the last two decades, the 2000s big-screen adaptation of The Grinch has become an undeniable festive classic.

A surefire annual rewatch once cosy season rolls around, the live-action film depicts just how the frosty green heart of Jim Carrey’s character is thawed by the inhabitants of Whoville.

As familiar as you are with the tale, though, you might not know these behind the scenes facts about The Grinch, The Whos and even Mount Crumpit.

Here are 14 behind-the-scenes facts about The Grinch…

1. Jim Carrey underwent torture endurance training to help him tolerate the Grinch prosthetics

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According to an interview on Graham Norton’s BBC talk show, the actor was trained by the actual CIA to help him endure the hefty costume required to transform him into the green meanie.

In 2022, the Canadian star said filming The Grinch was like “being buried alive every day” due to the heavy prostheses, and he could often be found smoking in full costume (complete with an oversized cigarette-holder to avoid anything going up in flames) to help him through the process.

2. Director Ron Howard became The Grinch on set for a day

Jim Carrey and Ron Howard on set
Jim Carrey and Ron Howard on set

Melinda Sue Gordon/Imagine Ent/Kobal/Shutterstock

So intense was the costume, that director Ron Howard finally decided to give it a whirl to see what all the fuss was about – and he also directed the production decked out in it for a day.

“It must’ve been very confusing for everyone else,” he said.

3. The Grinch is actually an Oscar-winning film

When you think “Grinch”, you don’t necessarily think: Academy Awards – but you should.

The film won an Oscar in 2001 for best makeup and hairstyling, which actually makes sense when you consider what Jim Carrey was put through on set.

4. The film almost featured a cameo from another Dr Seuss creation – The Cat In The Hat

The author’s widow, Audrey Geisel, actually put a stop to an Easter egg referencing another one of his creations, the sartorially advanced feline.

She spoke to Newsweek, and revealed that the Grinch nearly had a stuffed version of the Cat In The Hat on his wall – but she vetoed it.

The Cat In The Hat was later adapted in a similar style to The Grinch starring Mike Myers in the title role, although it was far less well-received.

Mike Myers as The Cat In The Hat
Mike Myers as The Cat In The Hat

Moviestore/Shutterstock

5. Bryce Dallas Howard appears in the film

Bryce Dallas Howard is credited as Surprised Who – and when you realise her dad was the film’s director, it makes sense for the then-19-year-old to have a cheeky cameo.

Bryce Dallas Howard
Bryce Dallas Howard

Rodin Eckenroth/GA via Getty Images

6. Eddie Murphy auditioned for the role of The Grinch

Though the role went to Jim Carrey, multiple other actors auditioned, including Jack Nicholson.

7. Welcome Christmas was written to mimic Latin

The song Welcome Christmas was written in gibberish, but it was made to mimic the sounds of the ancient roman language Latin. Producers did this so well, in fact, that some fans asked for translations of the jingle.

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