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No matter how smart we think we are, no matter how many degrees we might have, everyone (everyone!) has at least one embarrassing knowledge blindspot. You might be like Ted Mosby from the hit TV show How I Met Your Mother who pronounces ‘chameleon’ with the ‘ch’ like in ‘chocolate’ and the ‘leon’ part like the name Leon.

Or you might be like comedy writer Ariane Sherine who used to think that pigs would snuff out chocolate truffles from the ground like they do normal truffles. When Ariane shared this fun fact on the internet and added that one of her friends thought that Colonel Sanders’ bow on the KFC logo was a stickman body (we can’t unsee it now, by the way), she sparked an amusing thread about the most embarrassing misunderstandings that people have had. Scroll down, upvote your faves, and share your own embarrassing blindspots in the comments below! I’ll get the ball rolling by saying that I keep forgetting that New Zealand is to the Southeast of Australia—in my mind, it’s always to the Southwest! Whoops! Sorry, Kiwis.

"I share a lot of the knowledge blindspots other people have confessed to. For example, when I was young, I also thought the word ‘misled’ was pronounced ‘mizzled!’ And I’m sure I’m also guilty of hundreds of misunderstandings I can’t remember now," Ariane told Bored Panda. "I think that’s why the thread was so popular—everyone can identify with the idea of an embarrassing misunderstanding! Can’t help you with Colonel Sanders though—I fear that image is seared into your brain forever..." Scroll down for the rest of our interview with Ariane.

More info: ArianeSherine.co.uk | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

"I think some people think they’ll lose face if they admit to not knowing things. But no one can know everything! Having gaps in your knowledge is just a natural part of being human. And sometimes, as the thread proves, those gaps can be amusing!"

Ariane also revealed to Bored Panda what she's been up to during the Covid-19 quarantine. "I’ve been working on a really fun book for ages 8-12 set during the coronavirus lockdown. Unfortunately though, my agent has stopped work during lockdown, so if any children’s fiction publishers would like to read the manuscript, please hit me up! I’ve also been proofreading my next book, called How to Live to 100. It’s a funny health science book which tells you how to live a long and healthy life, and is out on October 1," she said.

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Peachikeen
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And that mummys had girl babies and the daddys had boy babies. Childhood is a strange time.

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39-year-old Ariane has many talents besides her talent with the quill: she’s also a comedian, campaigner, and a songwriter. But she’s best known for her writing skills. If you’re a fan of British TV, then you’ve probably enjoyed some of her work without even knowing it. She’s written scripts for BBC shows like My Family, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, The Story of Tracy Beaker, and Space Pirates, ITV1’s The New Worst Witch, and jokes for Channel 4’s Countdown.

She’s incredibly energetic and also a regular on TV and radio programs like BBC Breakfast, Sunday Morning Live, The One Show, Victoria Derbyshire, iPM, Woman’s Hour, Sunday, and Night Waves.

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Shea Briggette
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3 years ago

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Ariane’s a seasoned journalist, too. She has written over 90 columns for The Guardian and The Spectator, a few travel pieces for The Sunday Times, book reviews for The Observer, album reviews for NME, and features for The Independent, Independent on Sunday, and Esquire. That’s the sort of experience that any journalist would be glad to add to their CV.

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So if someone as talented and hard-working as Ariane can talk about her embarrassing misunderstandings openly, there’s no reason for us to hide our own knowledge blindspots. Don’t you think so, dear Pandas?

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Denise Ghilino
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember the first time I saw "The Wizard of Oz." I almost fainted when Dorothy's farmhouse landed in Oz and she opened the door and everything was in TECHNICOLOR!!! Whaaaaaaat?????

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Casey Logan
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When my son was younger, he asked me when did I start seeing in colour.

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B
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I still picture my grandparents (when they were young) living in a black and white world and moving around really fast with manic piano music playing.

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Untitled_Goose_Man
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My old Social Studies teacher tricked a high schooler into believing that..

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Up All Night
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess it's a good way to find out which one of them has critical thinking.

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Thenatural
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And for those of you watching in black and white..it's the team wearing blue shirts

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Elaine Mattingly
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Did you think God left the TV on when you woke up and saw color everywhere?

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Kimberley Thomas
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was a child in the 80s all I had was a black n white tv. When I watched "I Love Lucy" & "The Honeymooners" I knew they were b&w, yet anything else I strained to imagine what the actual colors were. The rest of my family had color TVs, while I was stuck in the 1950s. Even my younger brother got a color tv to play his video games while I continued to suffer with mine until I was 17 which was in 1995. Then not only did my mom die, but once I was able to, I bought my own. "Welcome color, here I am." To this day I'm not a fan of b&w. Not even as a filter for pictures. I need my colors. I feel b&w hides the truth.

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Sarah Poutre
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought same exact this i literally asked my grandmother when she started seeing color

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Robin Weeks Pagliasotti
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought this same thing. I thought that something BIG changed in the world, and that suddenly, something had made the world colorful.

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Up All Night
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How do you invent color, anyway? How do you color the planet, every blade of grass, every particle of sand, the inside of things, every... well, everything? These questions would've haunt my childhood.

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columbokateUK
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought this too! I can remember ehen I was about 6 asking my mum if she saw in colour when she was my age 🤔😅

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Mieke Fabry
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

my dad told me this and i asked my teacher if it's true... never feld so ashamed

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Bettye McKee
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Alas, you're so young. When TV was black and white, I never considered that it could ever be in color.

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TigerLily Peterson
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

see I think it so funny that depending on where you're from its either spelled color or colour

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Dilly Millandry
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Colur, culoure, and coolor were some of the various ways of spelling colour/color before the modern British spelling colour gained permanent prevalence in the 17th century. The American preference for color took hold in the middle of the 19th century.

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Shea Briggette
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

me too I thought i could prove it by showing a black and white film and say " see they had to film in black and white!! Why else would they be like that!!!"

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Jane Thorne-Gutierrez
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You never had a box of crayons before that, or parents who taught you your colors??

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Sasha Kuleshov
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3 years ago

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That's why we don't feel empathy towards old war photos y__y

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Jon S.
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think that's a valid point. The recoloured footage from WW1 and WW2 makes it seem way more real. Suddenly the people in them stop being generic characters from history and start seeming like real people, start feeling like 'us'.

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Bastette Cat
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

E erroneous thought that! There’s even a band called Youth in Asia.

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Pseudo Puppy
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, if your parents weren't into retro music when you were a kid, and didn't listen to the Beatles... logically speaking, this is actually a very reasonable assumption to have as a kid.

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Whatshername
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please don't take this the wrong way. Things like this honestly always make me wonder if people in the USA (not saying Mr. O'Neill is American) get taught topography of the world in school? Maybe it's just that there's so many Americans and in Europe we hear a lot from you. Maybe that's why things like this get noticed. It is not my inention to be rude, I am honestly wondering. As to me this is unimaginable. We get taught stuff like this when we're about 10-12 years old.

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