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Leg pulls you believed as a child!

(95 Posts)
Kiwigramz Sun 24-May-20 20:32:30

My lovely dad was in the Home Guard during the war. I was about 7 when he told me about the time they were doing drill and marching. He told me out of all the men marching he was the only one in step. I was very impressed. Next day at school I rushed to tell my friends about my clever daddy being the only one in step. I was so proud. It was a very long time before the penny dropped. grin

Espes Sun 24-May-20 20:54:26

My mum told me babies came out of a lady's belly button! Well it was the 1960s ?

agnurse Sun 24-May-20 21:09:34

I once observed my late grandfather taking some liquor out of the cabinet. I asked him what it was. He replied, "That's Santa Claus juice."

For a long time after that, I thought whiskey was Santa Claus juice!

MissAdventure Sun 24-May-20 21:16:22

Well, it certainly makes people jolly and red faced.

Glorybee Sun 24-May-20 21:22:54

When the ice cream van came round we had lollies or ordinary cornets. 99’s were very special as our mother told us they were only for grown ups.

BradfordLass73 Sun 24-May-20 21:26:49

My Dad had a 'magic fist' ! Definitely not as bad as it sounds.

Bear in mind I was probably about 4 or 5 at the time.

He would extend both index fingers and slowly advance them towards my eyes. Of course, as soon as they got near, I closed my eyes and then felt his fingers gently on my eyelids.

He then tappen me on the tummy and I, well primed, imagined he had a third hand hidden away somewhere.

Of course what he did, as soon as I closed my eyes, was put two fingers from one hand on my eyelids. grin

MissAdventure Sun 24-May-20 21:27:36

smile very good, that one.

Welshwife Sun 24-May-20 21:30:57

That eating parsnips would give you curly hair! But it was during the war with little choice of what you could buy.

seacliff Sun 24-May-20 21:39:23

My Dad had sherry in a nice decanter, and told my boys it was his special medicine. They believed it when young.

MissAdventure Sun 24-May-20 21:43:18

My dad asked me to check his ear as it felt blocked when I was playing at being a doctor.

I prodded around a bit and had a look, and he said "oh, hang on....."
Put his hand up to his ear and produced a screw. smile

He said all sorts of things went in his ears at work, and produced some more things.

Witzend Sun 24-May-20 21:48:19

Not me, but my mother and her sister once sent a much younger sibling on a long walk to the shop, to buy half a pound of elbow grease. ?

Sadgrandma Sun 24-May-20 21:50:19

My husband's mum often said 'you eat a peck of dirt before you die'. As a young child he constantly worried whether or not he'd eaten a peck's worth yet!

Grammaretto Sun 24-May-20 21:50:39

Burnt toast makes your hair curl.......doesn't it?
If you cross your eyes and the wind changes, they stay like that forever.
Sticks and stones can break your bones but words can never hurt you.
If you have a baby before you are married, no-one will ever marry you.
If you eat tomato pips you'll get appendicitis.

I must have been a gullible child.

Chewbacca Sun 24-May-20 21:52:27

My grandad used to pull a penny out from behind my ear. And I always got the penny!

Jane10 Sun 24-May-20 21:58:10

We lived in fear of bursting if we'd eaten too much!

FarNorth Sun 24-May-20 21:59:47

My brother and I were by the sea, on a visit, (aged about 9 & 7).
We saw two men pulling a rowing boat up the beach. They told us they had just arrived from Australia.
We weren't sure about it, though, as they spoke just like the locals.
(We weren't daft grin )

Grandmafrench Sun 24-May-20 22:07:56

welshwife grammaretto it was the crusts of bread in our house that gave you curly hair! Sugar gave you worms (but that thought never slowed me down, strangely!)

Parsnips (which I love, roasted) only started to be sold in France around 15 years ago, and I remember buying some in a market and Mums in the queue asking me how to cook them. One much older lady explained that when France was occupied, since the Germans ate all of the decent food, the locals were left with only root veg., like turnips and swede and parsnips. After the war, they stopped buying them and these were normally grown later only to feed cattle. They're back finally - and the younger generation know how to recognise them and cook them too.

HillyN Sun 24-May-20 22:22:56

My Dad used to do the 'Two Little Dickie Birds' rhyme with the 2 bits of paper on his fingers. I was always convinced they 'flew away' behind his back and couldn't work out how they came back!

Jane43 Sun 24-May-20 22:49:30

HillyN my Dad used to do the Two Little Dickie Birds rhyme for me Too and I was also convinced they flew away and came back again. My brother is five years older than me and for the first eight years of my life we lived in Malvern. He used to tell me that just over the Malvern Hills was the end of the world and when we walked to the top we should be careful or we would fall off. My Dad was very sociable and when he went to the pub he would say he was ‘going to see a man about a dog‘ and I always used to ask when we were getting the dog. Happy days!

TrendyNannie6 Sun 24-May-20 22:53:21

My dad sent me to the ironmonger to get a bubble for his spirit level I was 7 at the time

Coconut Mon 25-May-20 09:10:20

The seaside town that I grew up in had 2 distinct hills, East and West with the Old Town in the middle. I was on the West Hill with family and we spoke to a man who had a large telescope on a stand, and he let us have a look. He then said to me “ if you were on the East Hill you could’ve seen yourself very clearly” ..... so I started berating my Mum as to why we couldn’t have gone over there today, then I could’ve seen myself ! It was a while till the penny dropped !

Froglady Mon 25-May-20 09:13:33

I remember a cousin who put me in one of the large wicker baskets on wheels that Woolworths used to take away rubbish and I really thought that I wouldn't see my family again and was so upset! Cruel thing to do to a small child.

Boolya Mon 25-May-20 09:14:32

My uncle told me that he grew sweet rhubarb by pouring a bag of sugar around the roots!

sandelf Mon 25-May-20 09:30:15

Not sure if this counts, but I had a friend who was very organised and great with managing her 2 boys without them knowing it. Regular times for everything, they were taught how to read the clock at an early age. However, we all have our limits and on days when she or they had just had enough the kitchen clock would be surreptitiously moved forward an hour - so tea and bath happened at 5 and not 6. I don't think the boys know about it to this day.

Patticake123 Mon 25-May-20 09:30:59

My cousin had me and his own sister hold onto a transparent electrical flex that he’d just used to rewire a lamp and to tell him when we saw the electricity go through - we sat for ages , patiently observing this piece of cable!