I'm not looking for philosophical, religious, or political beliefs of the sort that people disagree about, where you shifted sides — such as realizing that God does/doesn't exist, that free markets are good/bad, or the world is real/unreal.
I'm looking for facts that turned out not to be facts, such as believing that Jacques Cousteau and Jean Cocteau were the same person.
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«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 239 of 239Oh, and another one: In a Ngaio Marsh mystery, a character who is, at the moment, stoned to the gills, when asked how he's doing, says "Box of birds." I took that for delirium, random-speak. But it turns out that it's a common New Zealand expression (Marsh was a New Zealander) for "full of pep and vitality."
Oh, yeah, incorrect beliefs:
I believed a great many things Baptist preachers said about church history, all Western church history. Then I decided to read about it.
I thought there was a singer on the radio named Bob Dillon. And a poet/lyricist I only ever read about named Bob Dylan (pronounced Die-lan). My husband finally told me they were the same person.
Also, there was a street near me named Doral, which was pronounced to rhyme with coral. Then I had some friends who lived in an apartment building named Doral, and they pronounced Dor-AL. I made fun of them for pronouncing it that way. Then I found out about the tournament golf club. That made me feel kinda stupid.
That the past tense of "to lead" was spelt l-e-a-d.
I was surprised when I learned the words "surprise" and "turmeric" both had 2 r's and "sherbet" had only 1.
I think it dawned on me when I was about 24 that Mount Rushmore was not a natural phenomenon. Not kidding.
Ann Althouse: "Banal does rhyme with anal."
I would love to hear Ann pronounce Arendt's famous "banality of evil."
" A kid I grew up with thought his mom was in the army when she was younger because she'd say, "This is a little trick I learned in the army." He was probably 10 or so when he mentioned it to someone who started talking "army talk" back to his bewildered mother. Hilarious."
You reminded me of something: A former boss of mine, a woman of Italian descent with olive skin who tanned very deeply in the summer, told me her little boy was very upset one day when he came home from school. The teacher had told them about MLK and the Civil Rights movement, and the boy said, "It's so sad, mom, what Mrs. Jones told us. I feel bad that you couldn't ride in the front of the bus like daddy could." Startled, my boss said, "Joe, I'm not black."
Joe looked confused and said, "But Mrs. Jones is black and she's lighter than you are!"
My boss said Mrs. Jones was surprised to meet her at the next Parent Teacher conference, since Joe had told her "my mother is black." She was indeed, darker skinned than the black lady.
I grew up believing that I was 1/32 native American.
"I assume 'could of' comes from 'could've.'"
Yes, because "could've" sounds like "could of."
However, anyone who is reasonably literate should know this is wrong, that it is a one word contraction of "could have" and not two words "could of."
Fortunately, I never used the word "nonplussed" before I learned that it meant the opposite of what it sounds like.
"'Ann Althouse: "Banal does rhyme with anal."'
"I would love to hear Ann pronounce Arendt's famous 'banality of evil.'"
The only ways I can imagine "banality" can be pronounced are "bay-nowlitee," "bah-" or "buh-nowlitee," or "ban-nowlitee." None of these seem comical or strange. Do you have other possibilities in mind?
Not so much mine but I have a brother-in-law who is Baptist. He had informed me that fornication was having sex outside marriage but if you were not married and neither was the other person it was not fornication.
Well he was in church with me and the priest (yes catholic) railed against fornication... including those having non-married sex.
I looked at him and he surged his shoulders like 'News to me, I didn't know'.
Haha, exile.
Until a few days ago, I thought Wonder Woman and the Amazonians were from Brazil. I love this thread. It makes me feel so silly.
roadgeek said...
I'm embarrassed to admit that I was in high school before I learned that marshmallows don't grow on bushes, where marshmallow pickers conducted routine harvests.
Back in the 1950s the BBC broadcast a straight-faced documentary film showing the annual spaghetti harvest in Italy with happy peasants cutting long strings of pasta off of grove trees.
The responsorial at mass 'Thanks speedy God.' I mean he's God. So he's fast right? Made sense at the time.
"I think it dawned on me when I was about 24 that Mount Rushmore was not a natural phenomenon. Not kidding."
How did nature know to make our four greatest presidents (well, three, TR is debatable) and not four random presidents?
How did nature know to put the beard on Linclon and not on Jefferson?
Actually a typo. Was advisorial role vs. advisory role. Checked on the word after I posted to find it's actually advisory. I still have to check on the word judgment.
Burl Ives - narrator/host of sweet Rudolph Christmas special, sings once or twice.
Charles Ives - composer of modern music, not particularly melodic.
I thought Burl was Charles. And wondered why he was singing perfectly nice pop.
I used to know for a fact that Grace Kelly (Princess Grace of Monaco) was killed in a car crash in the early 1960s. Just recently I saw a documentary which corrected me-she really died in 1982. Them that don't know, don't know they don't know, as the song says.
Advisorial Role vs. Advisory Role. There's room, isn't there ?
mark reports: Burl Ives - narrator/host of sweet Rudolph Christmas special, sings once or twice.
Charles Ives - composer of modern music, not particularly melodic.
Charles Ives was my husband's and my least favorite composer. He wrote nothing but rubbish.
Burl Ives' Big Rock Candy Mountain is a classic and I often play it in my vehicle when starting out on a trip. He was also a phenomenal Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
I think it dawned on me when I was about 24 that Mount Rushmore was not a natural phenomenon. Not kidding.
Good grief. That was Sonny Bono's "Cher's so stupid..." joke.
For the longest time I thought fellatio was sex. Bill Clinton set me straight about that.
I grew up believing that I was 1/32 native American.
Was it your cheek bones?
Many years ago I had a friend who was a citizen of Barbados and had relocated to the US. When I was looking at her passport one day I saw that the Barbados officials had stamped her passport "Reason for Leaving: V.D." I was terribly embarrassed for her and consequently never brought it up. Years later I found out it meant "voluntary departure."
I thought that John Galt Blvd in Omaha was named after a local developer. Turns out a local developer was an Ayn Rand fan and was able to get it past the Omaha City Council in the 60s or 70s.
"I grew up believing that I was 1/32 native American."
Now that's a threadwinner.
Of course, I thought thread winner was one word until autocorrect insisted it wasn't. Screw him.
I believed it was impossible to have a camera F stop less than 1.
I encountered drawing rooms only in my reading. I thought a drawing room was where the light was good and you went to have your portrait done. It turns out that the drawing room was the withdrawing room. This was the room where the men went after dinner to smoke cigars and drink bandy. This is far and away the most inconsequential mistake I have ever made.
When I was looking for something I had lost, my mom would say, "You will find it in the last place you look." I was 40 before the ironic truth of that sunk in.
I believed Donald Trump was serious.
Robert Cook
Many people would incorrectly think you're wrong that 1999 was the penultimate year of the 20th Century, and believe that 1998 was the penultimate year of the century.
That is of course why I used it given the spirit of the thread. It may be one of the great incorrect facts of all time, 1999 the last year of the 20th century I mean. A friend and myself declared that December 31 1999 was the Ultimate Penultimate. Meaning that it was the last day of the next last year of the 20th Century. Ultimate is a great word making the common sound grand. One could say that the Cleveland Browns were the ultimate team in the NFL. (i.e. in last place) You have made failure sound like success.
When I was a boy, a science teacher, during the course of a lesson, said that urea is the most soluble substance there is.
I believed it without thinking about it for at least forty years, and would even have quoted it if asked. Then one day I suddenly thought what does that even mean.
Since then, it has been my reference factoid for when I make a pronouncement or someone makes a pronouncement to me.
I don't know if it's true, nor do I ever intend to look it up, but I still ask myself "what does that even mean"?
I have believed ever since I was a youth that when one is finished with one's plate, one crosses one's knife and fork across the plate. I have various authorities for this including the Nero Wolfe novels of Rex Stout.
Meanwhile, though, I recently saw a diagram on the internet - is it the same to say on Facebook as it is on the internet? - that shows that you put the knife and fork side-by-side across the plate when finished.
I still don't know what to believe. But my faith is shaken.
Also, two spaces after a period, the hell with those who disagree.
I thought the words to the old Christmas carol were "Away the Lone Ranger, no place for his head." I don't remember when or how I discovered they were really, "Away in a manger, no crib for His bed."
>>The responsorial at mass 'Thanks speedy God.'
"And lead us not into Penn Station."
I'm pretty sure that's true about ketchup not going bad. We found some in our pantry that was very old and had darkened; tasted fine.
Hamill and Hamilton do look quite a bit alike.
For a long time I thought 'opaque' meant semi-transparent. I still think the word OUGHT to mean that. I must have heard it used that way when I was young.
Ha! I just had one of those "wrong about something" moments today!!
I was listening to the 60's station on XM, and heard a great Moody Blues song. The XM display shows the artist and title while the song is playing.
For the last 40 years (!!), I thought it was "*Knights* in White Satin"!
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