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The things you believed as a child.

Started by richerthanyou, 09 January, 2016, 10:54:02 AM

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Dandontdare

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 January, 2016, 01:31:33 PM
That the green algae sitting on top of the water in drainage ditches was a supernatural being called Jinny Greenteeth who would leap out and pull you in if you got too close.

That's proper folklore that is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Greenteeth

The Legendary Shark

Good Lord - that's amazing. I thought it was just a local village story to keep kids away from water. Now I feel all spooky, like part of an ancient global mystery religion. Thanks for that, DDD.
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Dandontdare

I like the way that it is a story to frighten children but with a purpose - like a medieval Public Information Film; similarly all the crazy lists of rules and laws in Leviticus often make sense when you think about managing a small population migrating across the desert

TordelBack

Quote from: Dandontdare on 12 January, 2016, 01:59:12 PM
I like the way that it is a story to frighten children but with a purpose - like a medieval Public Information Film; similarly all the crazy lists of rules and laws in Leviticus often make sense when you think about managing a small population migrating across the desert

If only that were so. Alas it's mostly just nasty bullshit about menstruation, shellfish, homosexuality and textiles, almost none of it approved by Ray Mears' Desert Survival Guide. Probably because the Israelites were never actually enslaved in Egypt, and thus never spent 40 years escaping it. Something else I believed as a child.

The Legendary Shark

Indeed. I sometimes wonder how many mythical monsters started out that way. As we got further away from real predators to threaten our children (with), we needed something else to keep them away from real dangers. Nothing is scarier, especially to a child, than our own imagination.
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I know this in no way an original train of thought but it is fascinating.
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Dandontdare

I'll admit it's more of an assumption than a piece of scholarship - when I realised that so many of the rules relate to what you can and can't eat, what crops should be planted in what fields etc, I thought that there was probably some practical rational behind some of them (mixed in with a large dose of superstition, ignorance and misogyny of course!)

Theblazeuk

I kind of believed that all plants might be from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I knew it couldn't be true but I was terrified whenever mum put plants on my window sill because it was the best place for sun. I didn't sleep but I never said anything because I knew it was just a plant (or was it).

Quote from: Tordelback on 12 January, 2016, 02:12:11 PM
Probably because the Israelites were never actually enslaved in Egypt, and thus never spent 40 years escaping it. Something else I believed as a child.

:o The More You Know!


The Legendary Shark

It's an assumption we share I think, DDD. People told stories long before we learned to write them down - and all the best stories still contain lessons.
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Of course, stories can also be used to control and subjugate people (a quick glance at the media is enough to confirm this) - but then, I guess you knew I'd say that with me being a suspicious curmudgeon!
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Dark Jimbo

Because I never once saw one that actually had flowers in it, I used to believe that those flower holders in front of most gravestones - those metal domes with the holes in - were air holes for the occupants below.

If the people in the graves were dead, why did they need to breathe? And if they weren't dead, what were they doing in the grave?! Either option seemed equally terrifying, to the extent I never dared ask an adult about it - I was happier not knowing.
@jamesfeistdraws

sheridan

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 January, 2016, 01:47:26 PM
Good Lord - that's amazing. I thought it was just a local village story to keep kids away from water. Now I feel all spooky, like part of an ancient global mystery religion. Thanks for that, DDD.
Beat me to it!  The thing having a name (and a fairytale-style one at that), made me suspect it was more than just a personal superstition.  I'd hazard a guess that you (or a close family member) were brought up in Lancashire or Merseyside.

The Legendary Shark

Yep. Lancashire lad, born and bred - strong in the arm...
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ZenArcade

That the Twin Towers collapse was caused by the US government.... Kidding Sharky, kidding. Z
Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

The Legendary Shark

Heh. I don't believe that either. I used to believe that "governments" were real, though.
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sheridan

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 12 January, 2016, 08:41:46 PM
Yep. Lancashire lad, born and bred - strong in the arm...
Had to google that - I guessed two of the four results I got back.
- thick in the head
- weak in the head
- woolly in the head
- good in bed

The Legendary Shark

The last one. Dephinittly the last one...
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