When Jimmy Fallon says “It's Hashtags time!” we know we are about to chuckle, cringe, laugh and blow raspberries because the responses have an entertainment value unlike anything else.
“Tweet something funny or weird that you used to think and tag it with #IUsedToThink,” Fallon announced on Twitter before sharing his own story. “I used to think that if I turned on the light in the back seat while the car was moving, we would get pulled over by the police and my parents would go to jail for 50 years,” he recounted.
Now, the relay is on to the people on Twitter, who, inspired by the comedian’s challenge, are now sharing their most embarrassing, unstaged, and plain hilarious stories about things they were one hundred percent sure about (which they weren’t).
Scroll down through the responses below, upvote your favorite tweets and be sure to share your own contributions in the comment section below!
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Jimmy Fallon’s hashtag challenge is a phenomenon that has kept its appeal and engagement throughout the years. “It’s Hashtags Time!” announces the presenter of a legendary American late-night talk show and sooner than you know it, the responses start flooding in. People are sharing their genuine responses about pretty personal things like their worst dates, silly things that happened to them, embarrassing stories and everything you can think of.
While social media has made constant exposure a common experience, you may wonder what it is about expressing yourself on there which is so appealing and almost irresistible. It seems like we don’t have a solid filter for things we share (and sometimes overshare) and tweet about on a daily basis.
aww, this is the sweetest thing I ever heard, giving you a bit of magic~ yet a slightly evil prank with mom to share with when you are older! "remember how you used to think they grew hahaha!"
It shouldn't really make a difference, they should all want the best for our country, but when half the country is stupid enough to vote for a sleazy reality tv host with zero political experience who brags about sexually assaulting women, it's time to adjust that expectation.
“Through social media, it is certainly more possible for movements to gain traction, especially with the use of hashtags,” Dr. Audrey Tang, a chartered psychologist and author of multiple books, including "Be A Great Manager Now", "The Leader's Guide to Mindfulness," and "The Leader's Guide to Resilience” told Bored Panda via email.
I used to make sure each toy was tucked into a little bed. Yes it did take me a long time to go to sleep at night.
Aww, poor dear. If only you’d had the courage to tell your adult relatives at the time; as (unless your fam love pranks) they surely would’ve put your mind to rest. 🥺
Dr. Tang argues that “Unfortunately, with the limited characters to write a Twitter post, or the limited attention people give to social media in general (because of the extreme wealth of information available), this can mean posts that are ill thought through, or the so-called 'fake news,' because of their 'drama,' may get more initial attention.”
According to her, catching attention is immediate, though, and not necessarily thoughtful. “Unless we take the time to process what we are reading, it is all too easy to share something which then influences the next person who has not taken the time to consider their true views either.”
On some occasions, the mistakes we make on social media by sharing something we haven’t thought through well can make people rethink their behavior. “At a low level, it can humble people – examples of this are perhaps Victoria Beckham doing a u-turn on using the furlough process when other celebrities such as Ed Sheeran were using their own funds to support their employees,” Dr. Tang argues.
“Alternatively, have we now reached the extent of the fallout from JK Rowling’s transgender comment – with no real shift?” she added.
I think I would die if this was real. IMAGINE IF YOU WERE OUTSIDE IF A @&#$% WORM FELL ON YOUR HEAD
I had a friend in School who got a summer job at a greenhouse as a teenager. His job was to pluck tomatoes. Got fired within days cuz as it turns out He cant see the difference between red and green lol
OMG Me too!! But I learned about being colorblind way much later than five! I just thought 'green light' was an expression :)
Which is why green and red traffic lights should always be in the same positions.
I learned this as a teen when my best friend died. My group of friends were so kind to each other, stopped gossiping, really put effort into letting each other know we cared. That lasted a few months and it slowly dissolved back to how it was before. I slowly pulled away from all my friends then picked a college none of them were going to. My friend dying did change me and it wasn’t a temporary thing. I picked different friends at college.
I used to tell my ex that the only "common cents" she has was the family change dish.... She never got it lol
Here’s something for our German speaking pandas: I lived in Germany for a few years as a child and teenager. One day, in primary school, the teacher prepared us for our first trip to the library. She explained that “die Bibliote Karin” will show us around. 7 year old me deducted from this that clearly “Bibliote” meant librarian and that her name was Karin.
Good thing you have a lot of breaks on American television or the house would have been in shambles. ✌️
This is a family joke. All the photos of when my parents were young are in black and white. So if something happened a long time ago, we say "back when the world was in black and white". There doesn't seem to be much evidence that things were in colour as they have very few possessions from back then. The 60s and 70s were definitely in colour as we have photos to prove it, plus I remember the (hideous) orange carpet that they had in the kitchen!
Mythbusters declared it pausible. It confirmed you could get electrocuted if you answer a landline during an electric storm.
As a kid, I used to think I was born before my parents were married because they were married in June and I was born in May (of the following year). It was so confusing...
LOL! Why was Madge having women soak their fingers in dish soap? What purpose did it serve?
Note: this post originally had 99 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.
I used to believe I was a freak, as I grew “unladylike” bodily hair when I began puberty & people who weren’t my loving relatives would suggest that I wasn’t a real female, because quote “that’s not normal for girls”. Years later, I was diagnosed with PCOS & I started to believe that I wasn’t the one who should feel shame. Now, I no longer care if people are of the opinion that I should be shaving everything just to please others. I’m comfortable in my own body & my legit fam support me all the way … so, if other people are uncomfortable; that’s their problem, not mine. 🤷♀️🙂
I used to think that banks kept your money in a drawer with your name on the front. So when you paid in money, they’d take it and put it in your drawer and lock it. This was way before internet/phone banking and I had no concept of credit/how money transactions worked. I was only about 5. We had drawers at school with our name on where we kept our books, that’s where the assumption must’ve come from!
I'm with you. When I was 5-6 I went with my mom to deposit a brand new $2 bill in my savings account. I didn't want to give it up because it was so beautiful. I said, "well, I can always come back and look at it sometime, right? RIGHT?"
Load More Replies...I used to think that if the world was ending (according to Dean’s Big Book of Answers it was in however many billions/trillions of years) and of course, I didn’t understand that timescale or basic geography. I thought it would be okay if we all went to Japan, I mean it’s far enough away, right?
I used to think that commercial breaks during tv shows were for the actors to learn their next lines.
As a kid I used to think that Vladimir Lenin and John Lennon were the same person.
I used to think that Martin Luther King, Jr., and Martin Luther were the same person...
Load More Replies...I used to think if you ripped the tag off of the mattress the cops would automatically show up at your door to arrest you
Load More Replies...I used to think that after we bought eggs from the grocery store we had to eat them as soon as possible before the chicks started to grow in them.
Copied From Jerry Mathers (#22): I always thought that despite our political differences, when things like the pandemic and the need to wear masks came, the American public had a base line decency and was tough enough to come together for the good of everyone. Boy was I wrong. I guess to me, the pandemic was a good thing as it showed just how weak and selfish my fellow countrymen are. I also think it striped off the mask and we can see how truly rotten some of our businesses and the political right is. When I listen to people like my folks, it is sad to see how intentionally delusional they are. They have learned to simply ignore all the ugliness their guys do while complaining that "this one liberal person did this one thing (possible but likely untrue). It has made me question whether the country has changed or if it has always been this way. The thing I am certain of is the right will not stop until they squeeze the life out of everything decent. Unless they are made to stop, insanity will prevail.
I remember being VERY disappointed the first time we went to a "ghost town" and there weren't ghosts floating around everywhere.
When I was a kid I used to think that there was a little man like a foot tall, was in a box with all the cords and controlled all the traffic lights, I figured out by myself around age 10 that's never going to be possible so it's just lights on specific timers, but a good 6-7 years I really thought I was onto something glad it wasn't loo much longer to find it was timers
I used to think the witch in Oz was hiding under my bed. If my foot came out from under the cover or I got up to pee at night she would grab my ankle. That witch was really scary. I saw the actress on Mr. Rogers years later and it helped to get me over it. Also saw her in other movies. And those monkeys! Gad!!!
I loved watching that movie as a kid but the monkeys always scared me.
Load More Replies...I first heard Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” in 6th grade. Didn’t realize it was about sex until I was 30. 🤦🏻♂️
I used to think that before a baby was born, the mother would keep it in her pocket for about nine months, when she would just take it out of the pocket. This was because of a photo I saw of my mom when she was pregnant with me. In the picture, she was wearing a dress with a pocket on the stomach region and I just assumed it was sort of like a fabric kangaroo pouch!
When I was very young I used to think newsreaders would go to each house and climb into the back of the TV to read you the news. And when I was older I thought the song Golden Brown was about a woman with golden brown hair
Used to think that teachers lived in the school in which they taught.
When I was very young, I didn't know there were people in the other cars on the road since I couldn't see them.
When I was a kid I had this deathly fear of being around guys because I thought being near them was the reason for women getting very big stomachs and I thought it would get so big, it would explode and kill them. I didn't have boy friends until way later and always cried when one came near me. I somehow figured it out watching an animal give birth in National Geographic channel that I'd be okay.
When I was a kid, I thought that scenes in shows and movies were actually filmed in those places, so if I movie was set in France and the people traveled to London, they actually filmed in France and London (for example). I hadn't yet learned about sound stages and film sets.
I used to think until just a few years ago that corn flour was it's own thing, not made of corn. In my defense where I live it's mostly commonly called "polenta" flour, polenta being the dish we make with it and the word itself has nothing to do with corn (corn is "milho" in my language).
When one of my kids were little they decided they no longer wanted to be part of the family. My kid declared they wanted to go to a judge to be “masterb@ted”. I said oh really is that what you want? Kid responded “yup and a judge will masterb@te me because I can do life all by myself” kids dad and I looked at each other and laughed so hard and at facial expressions we were getting. We were accused of not loving them. I responded “you need an education first before you tell any judge to “masterb@te” you. I told kid that no judge would do such a thing. I then told kid to get a dictionary and figure out what was really wanted from the judge and if any judge dared to masterba@te my kid, I’d lock them up. In shock kid question why would I lock up a judge for doing their job. I then told kid what they wanted was to be “EMANCIPATED” I then told what the definition was of they were asking for where said, child turned bright red!!!
I used to think that my sister was adopted bc she had curly hair. My great-grandmother had curly hair. 😭😭😭
I used to think that the iPhone was the best phone in the world, it had to be, that's why it's so expensive! That lasted for 6 months until I dropped it and the screen cracked and became unreadable. Since I didn't have money for a new iPhone, I bought the cheapest LG/Android phone that my carrier offered, and was just going to keep it until I could get a new iPhone. Instead I kept that cheap phone for 3 years, and only upgrade it because I ran out of storage. It did everything the iPhone did(mostly), but hit the floor probably 1000 times an always worked, it even went to the bottom of the pool one night and stayed on long enough for me to find it without turning on the pool light. I will never pay top dollar for a phone again, I just upset that LG doesn't make phones anymore!
I used to believe I was a freak, as I grew “unladylike” bodily hair when I began puberty & people who weren’t my loving relatives would suggest that I wasn’t a real female, because quote “that’s not normal for girls”. Years later, I was diagnosed with PCOS & I started to believe that I wasn’t the one who should feel shame. Now, I no longer care if people are of the opinion that I should be shaving everything just to please others. I’m comfortable in my own body & my legit fam support me all the way … so, if other people are uncomfortable; that’s their problem, not mine. 🤷♀️🙂
I used to think that banks kept your money in a drawer with your name on the front. So when you paid in money, they’d take it and put it in your drawer and lock it. This was way before internet/phone banking and I had no concept of credit/how money transactions worked. I was only about 5. We had drawers at school with our name on where we kept our books, that’s where the assumption must’ve come from!
I'm with you. When I was 5-6 I went with my mom to deposit a brand new $2 bill in my savings account. I didn't want to give it up because it was so beautiful. I said, "well, I can always come back and look at it sometime, right? RIGHT?"
Load More Replies...I used to think that if the world was ending (according to Dean’s Big Book of Answers it was in however many billions/trillions of years) and of course, I didn’t understand that timescale or basic geography. I thought it would be okay if we all went to Japan, I mean it’s far enough away, right?
I used to think that commercial breaks during tv shows were for the actors to learn their next lines.
As a kid I used to think that Vladimir Lenin and John Lennon were the same person.
I used to think that Martin Luther King, Jr., and Martin Luther were the same person...
Load More Replies...I used to think if you ripped the tag off of the mattress the cops would automatically show up at your door to arrest you
Load More Replies...I used to think that after we bought eggs from the grocery store we had to eat them as soon as possible before the chicks started to grow in them.
Copied From Jerry Mathers (#22): I always thought that despite our political differences, when things like the pandemic and the need to wear masks came, the American public had a base line decency and was tough enough to come together for the good of everyone. Boy was I wrong. I guess to me, the pandemic was a good thing as it showed just how weak and selfish my fellow countrymen are. I also think it striped off the mask and we can see how truly rotten some of our businesses and the political right is. When I listen to people like my folks, it is sad to see how intentionally delusional they are. They have learned to simply ignore all the ugliness their guys do while complaining that "this one liberal person did this one thing (possible but likely untrue). It has made me question whether the country has changed or if it has always been this way. The thing I am certain of is the right will not stop until they squeeze the life out of everything decent. Unless they are made to stop, insanity will prevail.
I remember being VERY disappointed the first time we went to a "ghost town" and there weren't ghosts floating around everywhere.
When I was a kid I used to think that there was a little man like a foot tall, was in a box with all the cords and controlled all the traffic lights, I figured out by myself around age 10 that's never going to be possible so it's just lights on specific timers, but a good 6-7 years I really thought I was onto something glad it wasn't loo much longer to find it was timers
I used to think the witch in Oz was hiding under my bed. If my foot came out from under the cover or I got up to pee at night she would grab my ankle. That witch was really scary. I saw the actress on Mr. Rogers years later and it helped to get me over it. Also saw her in other movies. And those monkeys! Gad!!!
I loved watching that movie as a kid but the monkeys always scared me.
Load More Replies...I first heard Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” in 6th grade. Didn’t realize it was about sex until I was 30. 🤦🏻♂️
I used to think that before a baby was born, the mother would keep it in her pocket for about nine months, when she would just take it out of the pocket. This was because of a photo I saw of my mom when she was pregnant with me. In the picture, she was wearing a dress with a pocket on the stomach region and I just assumed it was sort of like a fabric kangaroo pouch!
When I was very young I used to think newsreaders would go to each house and climb into the back of the TV to read you the news. And when I was older I thought the song Golden Brown was about a woman with golden brown hair
Used to think that teachers lived in the school in which they taught.
When I was very young, I didn't know there were people in the other cars on the road since I couldn't see them.
When I was a kid I had this deathly fear of being around guys because I thought being near them was the reason for women getting very big stomachs and I thought it would get so big, it would explode and kill them. I didn't have boy friends until way later and always cried when one came near me. I somehow figured it out watching an animal give birth in National Geographic channel that I'd be okay.
When I was a kid, I thought that scenes in shows and movies were actually filmed in those places, so if I movie was set in France and the people traveled to London, they actually filmed in France and London (for example). I hadn't yet learned about sound stages and film sets.
I used to think until just a few years ago that corn flour was it's own thing, not made of corn. In my defense where I live it's mostly commonly called "polenta" flour, polenta being the dish we make with it and the word itself has nothing to do with corn (corn is "milho" in my language).
When one of my kids were little they decided they no longer wanted to be part of the family. My kid declared they wanted to go to a judge to be “masterb@ted”. I said oh really is that what you want? Kid responded “yup and a judge will masterb@te me because I can do life all by myself” kids dad and I looked at each other and laughed so hard and at facial expressions we were getting. We were accused of not loving them. I responded “you need an education first before you tell any judge to “masterb@te” you. I told kid that no judge would do such a thing. I then told kid to get a dictionary and figure out what was really wanted from the judge and if any judge dared to masterba@te my kid, I’d lock them up. In shock kid question why would I lock up a judge for doing their job. I then told kid what they wanted was to be “EMANCIPATED” I then told what the definition was of they were asking for where said, child turned bright red!!!
I used to think that my sister was adopted bc she had curly hair. My great-grandmother had curly hair. 😭😭😭
I used to think that the iPhone was the best phone in the world, it had to be, that's why it's so expensive! That lasted for 6 months until I dropped it and the screen cracked and became unreadable. Since I didn't have money for a new iPhone, I bought the cheapest LG/Android phone that my carrier offered, and was just going to keep it until I could get a new iPhone. Instead I kept that cheap phone for 3 years, and only upgrade it because I ran out of storage. It did everything the iPhone did(mostly), but hit the floor probably 1000 times an always worked, it even went to the bottom of the pool one night and stayed on long enough for me to find it without turning on the pool light. I will never pay top dollar for a phone again, I just upset that LG doesn't make phones anymore!