Childhood, everyday life and shared memories · 2004–2005
A childhood misunderstanding, a game played in the street or a loss remembered for years: in a conversation begun in 2004, forum members gathered small but unforgettable moments from their past.
A book of memories begins with one sentence
On 29 March 2004, moderator Prince of Night, whose profile location was Antalya, recalled believing as a child that two politicians had invented rakı and cigarettes. He also confused sour and sweet cherries. What looked like a small joke grew into a conversation about the members’ childhood worlds.
Buket, writing from Germany, admitted she could not distinguish spinach from leeks. Caesarius had thought Turgut Özal was the country’s only politician and that adults also had to attend school all the time. Such misunderstandings showed how children explain the world through their own rules.
Street games and the sounds of the neighbourhood
dupduru, who listed the Netherlands as a location, remembered marbles, bottle tops, nine stones, istop, dodgeball and hide-and-seek. There were wooden carts rolling on bearings, trees to climb and apples to reach in a neighbour’s garden. The contribution ended with a longing for childhood.
Prince of Night recalled bread with margarine and sugar, the disappointment of being sent out of a secondary-school playground and tadpoles mistaken for fish. figane described a toy car made from a beet root and named Karaşimşek. The details differed, but the street was a whole world of play.
Sadness among the cheerful memories
Efsun described adding fenugreek to soup after mistaking it for red pepper. Alive had only later discovered how her sister used to leave the room quietly after putting her to bed. Stories like these were greeted with laughter.
Not every memory was happy. baba_sultan wrote about a final day with his grandfather and the guilt he had felt as a child after the death. Alive comforted him by saying a child could not be held responsible for such a loss. The conversation showed that childhood memories also contain grief.
Growing up elsewhere, longing differently
Alive, who lived in Belgium, remembered iğde fruit brought from Türkiye as an annual gift carrying the taste of the country of origin. When she said she did not know the stick game çelik çomak, members who had grown up in Türkiye tried to explain its rules. Shared cultural roots did not mean everyone had the same childhood memories.
abd explained that the short stick was called the çelik and added a neighbourhood adventure. baba_sultan felt that old street games were being pushed aside by new technology. MithrandiR remembered summer days cycling, repairing bicycles together, ball games and snow forts in winter.
What an archive preserves
This discussion has no single hero, outcome or shared opinion. An exchange begun from Antalya expanded with voices from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and other places in Türkiye. Each member left a small piece of childhood. Together they reveal the games, family relationships and everyday life of a period.
Perhaps that is the strength of “When I was little…”: nobody knows what story will follow, but everyone has something to tell.
The original discussion contains 35 messages, from 29 March 2004 to 8 December 2005, in the İtiraflar section. This translation follows the Turkish editorial compilation; the memories are participants’ personal accounts.
Sources and original messages
Original discussion — 2955 (Turkish)
Message 13347 · Message 13348 · Message 13357 · Message 13359 · Message 13367 · Message 13370 · Message 13376 · Message 13455 · Message 15960 · Message 15975 · Message 16239 · Message 16240 · Message 16294 · Message 16314 · Message 16319 · Message 16377 · Message 16500 · Message 16507 · Message 16582 · Message 18861