Nobody has all the answers. Not even Wikipedia. So, generally speaking, we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves if our lack of understanding of the universe takes center stage. In fact, acknowledging the limits of your mind instead of giving into your insecurity to always appear smart is a sign of intelligence.
To show you that we all have our moments, Bored Panda is taking a look at a discussion on Reddit, started by user Big_Piccolo_8369 where people have been revealing what things they found out embarrassingly late in life. From preserving veggies to making decisions when you're horny, continue scrolling and check out some of the most popular entries!
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Percentages are reversible. So 8% of 25 is the same thing as 25% of 8 and sometimes the reverse is easier to calculate.
We managed to get in touch with Big_Piccolo_8369, and they said this post was a result of a conscious attempt to create a viral thread.
"I kept on trying to think of questions that would blow up. Since everyone has found out something way too late, and Reddit users love answering questions about themselves, I decided to ask that question," they told Bored Panda.
"I was kind of expecting lighthearted answers, but I was met with random things to do if you get sued or if you buy a house or something. I did see some funny ones so it sort of worked out."
Being well-educated in one area doesn't mean that a person can't be a total idiot in other areas.
Dr. Adi Jaffe, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology and teaches courses at UCLA that address addiction, pointed out that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we actually know. But when we lack this awareness, we fall victim to the Dunning Kruger Effect (DKE) — a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area.
"Because the world is full of know-it-alls who don’t actually have any idea of what they are talking about—and the more aware we become of this phenomenon, the better we'll be at deciphering the trolls spouting fake news from the truth-tellers," Jaffe explained on Psychology Today.
Don't ignore bullies. That's terrible advice.
The only way they will leave you alone is through the sight of their own blood.
Taking medication for mental illness actually helps
And don’t let anyone tell you that “you should just get some exercise or go for a walk and you’ll feel better”. That may help some but not all. Instead, I suggest, kicking the person in the shins and then start running. That way they can’t be mad since they were the ones that gave you the advice to go for a run
Many tend to overestimate their capabilities."People will rate themselves as average or above average on essentially all tasks," Jaffe said. "If you understand how averages work, you know this is impossible (some people have to be below average, some are average, and some are above average for the whole thing to work)."
But the incompetent fail, through life experience, to learn that they are unskilled. Why?
"One reason is that people rarely receive negative feedback about their skills and abilities from others in everyday life. We can call this tact, being diplomatic, or respect for others, but the end result is the same: We typically shy away from telling people they messed up. But what DKE teaches us is that people need honest feedback."
You can’t get lazy with birth control just because you turn 40.
Signed, Middle Aged Mom of a newborn
There's another reason why so many of us may not accept that we are incompetent or lacking knowledge. We may be ignorant of an important form of feedback: social comparison.
"One of the ways we learn about our competencies is by observing the actions of others. Research shows that, compared with people who are experts in particular areas, people who are incompetent in those same areas are less able to identify the skills in others," Jaffe explained. "Consequently, they are unable to learn that they had less competence in the area and were more likely to overestimate themselves."
So when you think you're really good at something, finding an objective way to assess your expertise might be really useful.
Flushable wipes are not to be flushed ever.
I just found out that eggshells interior membrane clogs garbage disposals because they are sticky.
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You must be a man because you forgot the 4th p… Period 🙊😆😬 (before you downvote me off of boredpanda, I’m just being silly)
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Not true. Wipes like those pictured are not flushable, nor are they labelled or advertised as such; many others, specifically the wet toilet paper ones, are, as long as your sewage system is up to standard (i,e, not in those countries where TP should not be flushed anyway),
Most of the wet toilet wipes are not flushable, even though they say they are. Ask any plumber. They do not break down and will eventually cause a blockage. Same with tampons. NEVER EVER flush these things down a toilet in a home with a septic system.
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Fat burgs in the drains are caused by fats these wipes and the chemicals to clean up after doing these things. Fats plus alkali cleaners make soap which are what the fat burgs are made if.
The only thing that should go down the toilet is human waste and toilet paper. Or, you can set aside funds for the plumber you'll be calling.
On the box: "tested by plumbers!" Not on the box: the results of those tests
Even if "flushable" wipes don't mess up YOUR plumbing, they'll clog up the treatment facilities further down the line.
No, greedy corporations who realized there's no regulations to stop them invented "flushable" wipes. Plumbers would rather do quick and easy jobs like clearing the drain trap in your sink, not remove massive blockages from your sewer line.
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Pictures is not a flushable…. Had my septic pumped and filled a 50 gallon trash can with nonflushable cheaper wipes! Spend the extra 50 cents to a $1 for cottonelle
Golf balls are flushable. Lots of things in the world are flushable if "flushable" means "will go down the toilet." It was the great conceit of marketing companies to add the word flushable to wipes.
The people you work with aren't your friends. Always keep your guard up. Any and all of them can throw you under the bus at any time.
That's a bit harsh. I mean, they could be your friends. And on that note, your "friends" can also throw you under the bus, so...
When it comes to trying to save someone from addiction: love is not enough.
Just because I hold an opinion on something doesn't mean that I need to share it. I spent WAY too much of my early adulthood inserting my viewpoint into discussions that I wasn't really a part of.
A crypto investor, a vegan, a Trump supporter and The Last Jedi hater walk into a bar. How do you tell them apart? No need to, you'll know within five minutes.
It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.
Just because they're older than you, doesn't make them more mature. Would've saved me from an entire marriage
“This little piggy went to market”.......the pig was not shopping.
That most people can actually see pictures in their mind. Growing up, I always thought 'counting sheep to fall asleep' meant using my head to think the words "1 sheep, 2 sheep, 3 sheep" etc, and so I was understandably puzzled as to why sheep, and not any other word?
Then, when I was 34 years old, so not exactly young, I actually figured out that I have aphantasia.
Turns out, nearly everyone can actually 'see' animals, or their family member's faces, or characters from a movie, in their head - whereas I've always built quite detailed descriptions, in words, because that's all I have in my head.
That's interesting. Like the people who have an inner monolog and those that don't
Never make an important decision if you are hungry or horny.
Both have a massive impact on your decision making abilities.
If you press Windows Key + V you can see a list of all the things you've copied
No one really cares about you. I don't mean that in a bad way. But everyone is so busy thinking about themselves, you are always an after thought.
The most embarrassing thing in your life, probably doesn't matter than much to someone else.
We live in an egoistic world. Everyone only thinks of themselves. I'm the only one who ever thinks of me! (I heard this from a teacher maybe 40 years ago)
Your brain isn't trying to make you happy or your life easier.
It's trying to keep you alive. Everything else is secondary.
In fact it's just trying to keep you alive long enough to breed and multiply your genes. Ideally by having grandchildren.
That gargling saltwater works way better than cough drops for colds and sore throats.
Do all the crazy stuff when you are Young. By the time you can afford it, you no longer have the stamina to.
Your oral health is just as important as your general health.
Life can literally change forever in the next second, hour or day and that when people say to enjoy every moment of life as if it’s your last, it’s actually good advice to maintain a positive attitude and feel like you have no regrets.
I’m speaking from personal experience - my SO has been diagnosed with a major issue and the good days are limited, so we are living our best life, just enjoying the simple things.
That’s why it makes me so mad when people make fun of YOLO, yea it’s become a stupid term now but it really is a good saying to live by, you shouldn’t get it tattooed on you but it’s made me realize i wasn’t going to get anywhere in several years and made me reconsider many bad relationships
Hard work isn’t always the answer.
When I worked a minimum wage job, I would work hard and not take breaks, so a great job, and always finish early. I just then got told to pick up the slack for the employees who spent their time goofing off. Never got a promotion, raise, or even a “Hey, good job”
Basic living skills
My parents were hoarders and neglected me growing up, we lived in filth and wore dirty clothes, rarely bathed etc. So I never learned what goes into keeping a house clean, or good hygiene practices, or the basic skills needed for normal life.
I know "in theory" how to do those things now, but the underlying core organizational, management, etc skills still aren't there. It's kinda hard to explain but it just feels like there will always be a gap for me.
I grew up with a chronically sick mom. Same, it is hard for me to get motivated
That kitten's baby teeth also fall out. Found out when playing with my cat he was young.
Rollercoaster of emotions between it happening and me googling while holding a little ~~canine~~ fang in my hand.
Jeeezus, I almost made an idiot of myself. I was going to post "*Feline", then googled it just in case, and learned that corner teeth/fangs are called canine 🤣🤣🤣
Apparently you’re not supposed to rinse off your toothpaste.
Edit: Just Google it. Apparently it’s better to leave the toothpaste residue in your mouth so the fluoride can work on your teeth.
"Every action made in anger ends in sorrow."
An attorney, when I was 24
That when people ask to borrow money especially if it's a friend or family just expect to never see it again.
I tell people that I don't LEND money. If I have it to give I do but I never expect to see it again. I also tell them they can choose to return it if they wish (so far no one has lol). If I don't have it to GIVE I just say No.
If you're a parent of a child who has had psych evaluations done by their school district you need to read each and every single thing that's documented in those papers. Then ask yourself if your child may not have the correct diagnosis after all.
I went 32 years without knowing I was Autistic. I just found out last year. Who I'd be today if I had only known... I'm traumatized as hell from this.
The documents from my schools psych evals had loads of evidence to support this, but no one ever said a word to me! No one!
Take matters into your own hands and never EVER rely on the system.
That after high school it's incredibly hard to find real friends.
Team events are a good way to meet people and it doesn't always have to be sports. Maybe the local pub runs a quiz where you can join a team, or a dominoes team, or allsorts. Even a dog-walking club or down at the dog park? I think you probably need a dog for the last two but if you arrive before someone, talk only to them and then leave after them, they will never know. At the dog park, that is. They will definitely notice if you join a dog-walking club without a dog and they will think you are strange. And that hurts. Or so I've been told.
On Wednesday I learned that pancakes are so called because they are a cake made in a pan. smh
I’m 61yo
you can preserve fresh vegetables by getting plasting containers and putting paper towels on the bottom and the top. it absorbs the water. its the water from condensation that makes them go bad so fast. then just change the paper towels every few days and wipe out the container. Makes them last WAY longer.
i wonder how i am not dead that i did not know this. Especially as a single guy. My fresh veggies can last 3 weeks. I dont have to get little bits and keep going back to the store.
My name is Aaron. Turns out when you go to the bank, and the post office and the store, you are running Errands. Not Aarons.
A pony is not a baby horse.
Edit: the number of people who are responding to this saying that they didn't know this makes me feel so much better for having learned it last year from reddit. At 36 years old. Glad I'm not the only one it took a while for! Cheers.
That you can get pregnant the very first time you have sex.
Well, according to a high ranked member of the Greek Church, a woman cannot get pregnant if she doesn't participate (I really don't know what that means) and also she can't get raped unless she wants to (again... I have no words...)
Buy a plunger BEFORE you need one.
Goes for several "I need it NOW" things, from batteries to band aids and toilet paper
Here in the United States of America, I found out that being loyal to an employer, working my hardest, having an excellent attendance, and being the overall best employee I can be means...absolutely nothing, particularly to corporations.
Bullcrud...It mean alot to companies...It means you'll be getting more work and zero loyalty or compensation as a reward for all that hard work.
Bit late to this but a university lecturer once said "Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent."
Make sure you're learning the right way to do things as much as you can, because otherwise those bad habits will take longer to change.
That your relationship with your parents, and the relationship between your parents will, if not examined be the subconscious blueprint for your relationships too.
Man, I wish I had examined my childhood better - I spent the better part of my 20s wondering why my relationships never worked out, and then started noticing the resemblance to the worst aspects of my childhood. A hard, but valuable lesson to start to recognise those shitty childhood experiences reverberate so much stronger than you can imagine
Headaches, sluggishness, and crankiness are all signs of being hungry. I took medication that made me lose my appetite, and I am not very good at recognizing different types of hunger cues.
Feeling especially sad, anxious, or guilty late at night means I gotta go to bed. Didn't figure this out at all. I saw the phrase "Never trust how you feel about your life after 9pm" early this year, just before I turned 25.
Exercise actually does make you feel better overall and increase your energy and in fact you may not realize how much you feel like s**t until you get moving and can make the comparison.
People have been saying that my whole life. I simply did not believe them. Unfortunately they were right
Exercise doesn't have to mean doing something you hate/find painful. If you hate to run, try swimming, cycling, or exercise classes. I was never able to run without joint pain, chest pain, and feeling like my throat was closing up and filling with phlegm. Walking, cycling, karate, pilates, swimming, stair climbing, elliptical, rowing machine, all much more pleasant than running.
Not sure if common knowledge but win+left or right snaps window to half the screen. Handy when you are referring to 2 different documents or websites at the same time.
I learned that last month.
How much truth there is to the phrase "You'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it".
You can just buy towels and pillows. I thought they were handed down over the generations. I also thought pillows were naturally a dull brown and went looking for brown pillows.... until I realized mine were brown with bodyoil stains from 40-60 years of use.
For the love of all things holy, trust your gut feeling!!!
Don’t be suspicious, but your gut feeling is the best advisor you’ll ever have!!!
"Netflix and chill" does not mean watching something on Netflix and chilling.
Going too long without sleep can impair your ability to drive the same way as drinking too much alcohol.
People it's not worth driving impaired in any way. Also the one comment by Circa isn't worth their account potentially being banned. Stop downvoting this isn't reddit. (Also BP stop doing something as dumb as banning accounts for negative scores)
People can break your trust quickly, even when you thought you knew them well.
Yep this happened to me. My old friend was fine then we got into an argument one night and she abandoned me for weeks. Then I realised she didn’t want to be my friend anymore even tho she didn’t tell me 🥲
My gf found out at age 15 that you can breathe out of your nose. She has a lot of alergies and has never been able to
Lungs aren’t bags that fill up, they’re like a spongy meat.
buy cheap - buy twice
I thought islands were floating landmasses for way longer than I am proud to admit.
Sometimes regardless of how good a person you are, how hard you try, and how sincere you feel. There are people who will mistreat and take advantage of you. And more importantly them doing that usually isn’t your fault. It’s more often a product of who they are and wasn’t as personal or important of a choice for them as it will feel for you.
I didn't know my urethra was separate from my vagina until I was like 18. Sex Ed failed me.
If you’ve been chopping chillies, wash your hands WELL before you touch anyone's genitals!
Also wash those hands well after touching genitals before u chop my chillies
That you need to regularly check and top up the fluids in your car. I bought my first car at 16, a cheap old beater, and knew nothing about cars other than gas makes it go. Found out the hard way that it had other required fluids that I had neither checked nor filled. Broke down on the highway and f****d up my engine.
Simply asking "how are you" once in awhile is all it takes to not fall apart from old friends.
Never lie to
1) your lawyer
2) your accountant
3) your psychologist
Edit: full disclosure to your doctors
That hens can produce/lay eggs without the help of roosters
Life doesn’t get easier, you get stronger.
Sometimes life does get easier. That's one of its ways of being unreliable.
The ratio of laundry soap to water is lower than you think, and using more soap than you need can make your clothes stink and promotes mold.
There’s no rules to doing chores. You can make it more fun if you want to. For no reason I forgot that I could watch a tv show while I fold laundry and I didn’t have to just sit there and do it.
The direction of the arrow next to your car fuel indicator lets you know what side your filling point is.
I wish i didn't think sex was so important into my mid-late 20s. I wish someone told me that going out to bars and clubs wasn't all about hooking up. That the nights success isn't gauged on whether you met someone, got a phone number, made out or took someone home. I didn't even have any chick friends on my teens. Non of us in my group and other groups i knew had. Girls and guys were separate. I moved to France from Ireland and was so surprised that you could just be friends and hang out and have a good time. So much pressure growing up and such time wasted
I didn’t know there were “Top/Bottom” tags on the insides of most bed sheets until I was 25 when my bf pointed it out to me. Before that, I had just picked a side I thought was shorter and hoped for the best, but I was usually wrong, lol.
If you are really committed to making a relationship work, you have to stop worrying about who's right. Winning arguments just isn't important. Stop. Walk away, breathe. Ask yourself if who loaded the dishwasher more times last week is really worth arguing with someone you love over. I bet its not but you may not think that way if you just lash out at any critical comment.
lefty loosey, rightie tightie. That made my life so much easier
I always thought that putting a lid on pots and pans when cooking was some unnecessary gourmet chef s**t. Turns out that it can massively improve your cooking with basically no effort when food gets hot faster, it heats more evenly, and stays warm for longer after turning the stove off. Now I can finally do sunny-side up eggs without one side being burnt and the other side half-raw. This is especially important now with increasing energy prices.
Heat the pan before you put the egg it, but on low/medium, and then cook it low and slow. The yolk and white have different protein structures and will naturally cook at slightly different temps/times so lengthening that gap by using low heat helps gauge when the white is set and the yolk is still runny.
The workplace is not a meritocracy. That incompetent moron is going to get promoted before you get promoted, deal with it.
Most of the arguments over text makes things worse! If it was face to face, most of the arguments would seem like it's nothing
your ABCs and twinkle twinkle little star are sung to the same tune
All of the associated costs of being a homeowner versus renter.
Stripper poles themselves spin. Got drunk ended up having a stripper bet me I couldn't spin on the pole so dumb me climbs up there grabs the pole and flings myself as hard as I could. Well I ended skidding across the stage... Been a long running joke now. Don't drink then bet a stripper when they are bored. It was like 3 in the afternoon and me and my friends were the only ones there.
I just learned this now...I always wondered how they could hang on yet spin around it so well. Thought they had Hulk level grip or something.
The plastic top on a new stick of deodorant comes off easily if you just give it another turn or two. My teeth appreciate no longer being used to pull it off.
Pickles are cucumbers. I found this out at age 25.
They're gherkins, which are a specific small variety, not the same as cucumber you might use in a salad. Only in the US, I believe, are they generically referred to as 'pickles'. In the UK and many other English-speaking areas they're generally just called gherkins, with or without the 'pickled' prefix, whereas 'pickle' on it's own refers to a type of chunky relish.
My wife just found out that the ocean tides are caused by the moons gravitational pull…she was under the impression that tides where caused by wind. She is 37 years old.
I'm afraid your wife is still wrong. Tides are caused by the Earth's rotation. The moon's gravity is just a force multiplier. Think about it: if tides were caused by the moon, you'd get high tide all the time the moon was full and low tide every time it was new, not two tides a day.
If you’re not wearing a tie, you don’t button the top button of a dress shirt. Let’s just say I looked like an idiot at my first internship lmao
You can, if you want to. Don't let "rules" get in the way of dressing how you want.
It's "up and at 'em" not "up and Adam." Said up and Adam until I was 23. I always make jokes to people and say "up and *insert their name*" and have done so since I was single digit and NO ONE stopped me until I said it to my now fiance the first time he stayed over and embarrassed tf out of myself first thing in the morning.
Also, not something that lasted super long obviously, but my fiance and his dad would the chip shortage all the time when it first started happening and I deadass thought they were talking about chips that you eat, not computer chips. In my defense, it started at the beginning of COVID and we had nationwide toilet paper shortage so I thought "oh okay, people are buying more chips to eat since they'll be home!" Embarrassed tf out of myself making a joke in the chip aisle and they were both like "excuse me?"
my moms a Chemist so she always said “Up and Atom” like everyday and she made a point of telling us she was saying Atom, even after 21 years, she still has the driest sense of humor of any person i’ve met
It's not Duck Tape....it's Duct Tape :)
That “court” in an address means it is a cul-de-sac.
Wait, when Americans write an address they use court, even tough when they say it it is cul-de-sac? Where I live we say court as well as write it. I thought Americans would write the same word they said too.
Most probably, if you hate someone or maybe strongly dislike them you do end up having 1 or 2 traits similar to them.
When tying your shoes, the direction of the loop before you knot matters. Most of my life my laces were constantly getting loose throughout the day until well into adulthood.
A spendthrift is the opposite of a thrifty person. This still feels uncomfortable to me.
But it makes perfect sense. They spend your thrift, i.e. what you have saved through being thrifty
You can actually download the entirety of Wikipedia.
That people are saying “quote unquote” when quoting someone and not saying “quote on quote”.
I was thinking while driving about a month ago and it suddenly hit me. It took 30 years…
Never use water on a gas fire. If I hadn't recently learned this from reddit, something might have happened some day
Watermelons don’t grow on trees
Else if Newton was sitting under a watermelon tree...instead of an apple...
People come and go. From a random stranger you moshed with at a concert to a female friend you've known for many years (10+ years) that said she loved you as a friend multiple times then just suddenly ghosts you and may have changed because she is completely devoted to her significant other. But I guess you have to learn sooner or later. Not much I can do honestly.
Live Christmas trees require water in their base or they die and turn brown.
I mean, they're still gonna die. Just prolonging the inevitable. Uh... merry Christmas everyone!
That a Dachshund is pronounced 'Dax-hund' not 'dash-hund'. Totally changes the softness of the name!
Dachshund needs to be a scary sounding breed name, i feel like people assume they are nice because they are cute. mine absolutely hates men (for some reason) and kids, in general you need to ask before touching a dog, but especially small dogs.
That "Jim" is a shortened/nickname for "James".
Up until about 20, I just thought they were two entirely separate names.
The tongue thats part of dispoable paper toilet seat covers in public restrooms should be in the front & folded over the seat, not the back, when putting it on the seat before use.
Its to protect against splashing urine and splashes from large s**t drops. Im in my 40s and learned this a month ago.
That red orange and green peppers aren't different types of peppers, they're just at different stages of ripeness🤯
Not true! I grow peppers. A green pepper will never go full yellow, then orange, then red, but it will eventually go all red. There actually are different varieties of pepper plants. This one is just silly.
Gorillaz is the guy from Blur
Just because it usually doesn't work out doesn't mean it never does. 15 happy years so far with my first boyfriend, thank you very much. 21 if you count the years spent dating. Just.... think carefully. Be sure you're sure. You're both likely to change much and divorce is expensive (financially and mentally). But don't throw a good relationship away just because everyone thinks they know better than you, either.
Load More Replies... That doctors are not superhuman. Yes, they went to school for many years are they know more than you do - but they make mistakes, too. Don't trust blindly, listen to your body, question them & get second opinions as necessary. And especially, if you have a bad allergy, always ask the pharmacist to double-check. I have been saved by that TWICE when the doctor assured me that they were not prescribing me a beta lactam antibiotic but in fact they were.
If the doctor says probably the pain is indegestion or whatever comment to get you to leave, then ask them back what evidence they have. Unfortunately, we all make mistakes but to disregard a patient with no evidence is lazy. Because the person might have stage 4 cancer by the time they decide to run any tests.
Load More Replies... When you get paid, pay your bills before you spend money on anything else. If you have money after that, save a good chunk of it.
In the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side", 'the Other Side' is death. The chicken crossed the road because it wanted to die.
Just because it usually doesn't work out doesn't mean it never does. 15 happy years so far with my first boyfriend, thank you very much. 21 if you count the years spent dating. Just.... think carefully. Be sure you're sure. You're both likely to change much and divorce is expensive (financially and mentally). But don't throw a good relationship away just because everyone thinks they know better than you, either.
Load More Replies... That doctors are not superhuman. Yes, they went to school for many years are they know more than you do - but they make mistakes, too. Don't trust blindly, listen to your body, question them & get second opinions as necessary. And especially, if you have a bad allergy, always ask the pharmacist to double-check. I have been saved by that TWICE when the doctor assured me that they were not prescribing me a beta lactam antibiotic but in fact they were.
If the doctor says probably the pain is indegestion or whatever comment to get you to leave, then ask them back what evidence they have. Unfortunately, we all make mistakes but to disregard a patient with no evidence is lazy. Because the person might have stage 4 cancer by the time they decide to run any tests.
Load More Replies... When you get paid, pay your bills before you spend money on anything else. If you have money after that, save a good chunk of it.
In the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side", 'the Other Side' is death. The chicken crossed the road because it wanted to die.
