14 Things People Thought Were Normal Growing Up, But Later Found Out Were Strange

"I grew up in the country and firmly believed that ice cream trucks were myths that only existed on TV shows."

We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us something they thought was normal growing up, but later found out was strange. Here are the results…

1. Bananas

NBCUniversal

"Growing up, whenever I would eat bananas my mouth would always hurt and sometimes go numb. Kind of similar to how it feels if you eat too much sour candy. It wasn't until I was 18 years old that I say to my mom 'Man, I hate the way bananas make your mouth hurt.' She then brought me to understand THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN. So yeah, turns out I'm allergic to bananas." – kels369

2. Herrera

Focus Features

"When I was younger and my parents wanted me to take a nap, they always drove me to 'Herrera'. It wasn’t until I was 12 that I figured out that Herrera wasn’t even a real place." – luken4b6dbefbe

3. The Christmas Fairy

MGM

"It took me far too long to find out that the Christmas Tree Fairy isn’t an actual tradition that people do. Every year for as long as I can remember, the ‘Christmas Tree Fairy’ would hide a gift in the branches of the tree, usually a board game or something for the whole family to open in the evening on Christmas Day. I thought she was just as common as Santa and the Tooth Fairy, it wasn’t until I was at university that I realised no other families did this!" – paigef45ef1ae8e

4. Eeerie wig

Footloose

"We always used the phrase 'come back on an eerie wig' to mean being unsure how we'd get home. When I said it to my husband he laughed for days. I have a memory of the phrase being used in a nursery rhyme but found no evidence of its existence on Google." – roserodent

5. Leaking phone

CBS

"When I was growing up my dad would always yell out 'the phone’s leaking!' whenever the landline rang. I did not realise that this was not a common phrase until I yelled it across the room at work one day to a coworker. Everyone was so confused and worried about the phone." – k42cfc146d

6. Microwave storage

Warner Bros. Pictures

"I thought it was normal to store baked goods like bread and cookies in the microwave because my mom always had. I didn’t realise it was weird until college when people started making fun of me." – hannahtravellerm

7. Ice cream trucks

20th Television

"I grew up in the country and firmly believed that ice cream trucks were myths and that they only existed on TV shows." – samanthakylef

8. Spider traps

E!

"When I was little I was terrified spiders would eat me while I was sleeping on the top bunk, so my parents had this cool contraption that was a 'spider-trap-setter'. They’d bring it in at bedtime, I’d point it around the room, and click the handle to set a ton of spider traps each night so I could sleep.

"Fast forward to my fiancé and I registering for wedding gifts – he scanned a wine bottle opener (with the corkscrew and the arms that go up and down) and I immediately recognized it as a spider-trap-setter. It only then dawned on me that I’d been LIED TO." – jennyp4b17105ef

9. The car light

Interscope

"It seems this has been a common misconception, but up until a few years ago, I literally thought that having a light on in the car while someone was driving was illegal. I don't know if I heard it from my parents or on TV, but pretty much my whole life I feared turning a light on in the car if I, or someone else, was driving. Not just the interior dome light either, but any light at all." – Mikayla Black, Facebook

10. Apple cores

TV Tokyo

"I used to see my mom eating the core of the apple, so I used to eat it. Then in high school my friends saw me eating it and made a huge deal out of it. I still do it though because I ain't gonna let the haters stop me from doing my thang." – allegrachloe4

11. Drunk santa

Paramount Pictures

"My parents put out scotch and cookies for Santa instead of milk and cookies. They told me that they didn't put out milk so that Santa wouldn't get bloated. When I discovered Santa wasn't real I immediately put it together that my dad just wanted to drink scotch instead of milk." – katieb4d779ca5d

12. Potty training

Warner Bros. Television

"For the first two or three years after I was potty trained, I thought that everyone peed standing up. So there I was, a little girl with impeccable aim." – lizzyw4961ae5c5

13. Gonculator

Walt Disney Studios

"We were raised to believe the technical term for a remote control was a 'gonculator'. I didn't realise that it was a made up word until I was about 15/16 at a high school movie party. 'Hey, where's the gonculator?' was followed with blank stares and a whole lot of questions." – toniaheatherw

14. Dads don't eat

20th Television

"My dad never used to eat at normal times. It's been like that since I was little so I always thought it was weird when I went to a friend's house and their dad ate with them. Like, 'your dad eats?? Dads don't eat.'" – audreybeaar

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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