People acquire different knowledge depending on their age. You start to realize that the sun still exists even when the night comes and you can’t see it, and that the moon is also always there, so it’s not surprising to sometimes see it during the day.
You learn these kinds of facts by experiencing them, reading about them or talking about them with someone else. But sometimes they just don’t come up and you end up not knowing what is obvious for everybody else. It is never too late to learn, but you can’t help but feel embarrassed when you’re the last one to find out something.
Reddit user PralineStriking wanted people to remember that embarrassment and asked what things they learnt at an age that seemed too late for them and the thread got over 18k answers. We collected some of the best ones and we would like to know if you found anything that you experienced as well. If not, share your own facts you learnt at a late age that you should have known about earlier in life in the comments!
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That narwhals are real. I thought they were cute mythological creatures, until I saw a brooch a friend had and asked if it was part of the companies mythological line. She asked me if I thought narwhals were myths, like unicorns. I laughed and said of course they are.
I was 35.
They're marketed as the unicorns of the sea, so I can see why people would think this.
And in the middle ages people belived that narwhal teeth were unicorn horns.
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I can understand this, narwhals are just so wonderfully strange and beautiful. I thought those glass butterflies were an art project or something for the same reason. Life can be very boring and mundane, so when I see something so out of the ordinary it's difficult to believe that it's real.
Apparently a lot of people think both narwhals and reindeer are mythical creatures. It's astounding to me that people grow up not knowing anything about animals but then it appears many people grow up without any sense of curiosity at all and just never learn much about the world.
Me too. It's how they look, how they are described (unicorns), and how they're named. Honestly, Narwhal sounds like something out of the Hobbit!
I mean they don't look real, to me they are like the closest thing to a Pokémon
I think I was also in my 30s when I learned they were real, too. I saw a picture. I can't explain to you how badly my mind was blown.
It's okay, I didn't know that Axolotls we're real until about a year ago. I'm 20 lol
Same but it was when I visited a museum that housed the royal artifacts of the Holy Roman Empire. They have a staff with a narwhal horn in it and I stood there blinking thinking, this cannot be real.
I got it very backwards. I thought that narwhals where myths too, but somehow I believed that griffins were real until a few months ago.
i’ve gotten into so many arguments w people who are convinced narwhals aren’t real
And I Justin found out about them at 48. Never heard of them. Wow.
Well i think u less u study sea life - this is an easy thing to do. Ive never even heard of it til now.
Ye a lot of people think they arent real. They are theu only animals we know of that have a long spiral tooth
I was 62 when I found out naturals were real. My 2 1/2 y/o grand daughter informed me! I thought that was great!
That is a lovely story. That is something my son would say.
Yes they truly are and I have wondered what they use their horns for..
This exact thing happened to me when I was probably 29. Up until that point I had only seen drawings and cutesy stuffed animals of narwhals so I definitely thought they were a mythological creature (like a unicorn). The day after I learned of their existence I got a 'save the narwhals' fundraiser email 🙃
My mom has been trying to convince her friend (he has a daughter and is married) that they're real. He keeps on denying it
I was today years old when I learned narwhals are real. Also known as 35
I had never heard of Narwhals until the movie Elf. I learned a few years ago they were real.
I had never heard of them until a friend showed me Weebl's video. Be warned this is an addicting song. https://youtu.be/ykwqXuMPsoc
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Well... Some people think it was Narwhale horns that people believed were unicorn horns, and that they were believed bring good luck, so you're not that far off.
I hadn't even heard of a narwhal until I started seeing them on my son's cartoons a few years ago. I'm 36 now so I was in my early 30s before I had ever even heard of one. They never taught me about them in school
I'm 48 and I'm embarrassed to say this but I just found out that there real!
My daughter thought the same thing, she learned the truth wh😂en she was home from doing research for her PhD
Oh goodness! I've never heard of a narwhal until reading this. Had to look it up.
Yeah, my sister in law is in her 30's and we had to break the news that they are real animals - not just something made up for the movie Elf. LOL! I'm never going to let her live that one down. :)
I read somewhere recently about a woman who thought unicorns were real, but had just become extinct, so I guess the narwhal thing makes sense too.
What's harder to believe: that a single-horned equine isn't real or an aquatic one-horned arctic sea cow IS?
Don't feel bad, I was older, MUCH older. It was my 10 year old granddaughter that "educated" me! 😆
That I needed glasses. At age 21 my friends were hassling me about being dyslexic because I kept getting words mixed up (second year at Uni). Until then, I had just been reading by looking at the shape of words and guessing the words based on the context and wider story. I had been reading this way for years and survived Uni before finding out my prescription was +1.50. The optometrist said it was amazing I hadn’t noticed. When I put the glasses on, everything was in 4K Ultra. I can now see individual letters.
"When I put the glasses on, everything was in 4K Ultra" We all who wear glasses felt that
That the more work you get done at work, the more they will pile it on. I could have saved a lot of my mental health in my 20’s
“Paradigm” is pronounced “pear-uh-dime”. It is definitely NOT pronounced “pear-uh-dig-um”.
…I learned this at age 19. In college. While delivering an oral report.
I try not to think about.
That Abuela and Abuelo were not my Cuban grandparents actual names
My mum's name is not 'Mum' That broke my heart when I was 2 yo 💔
I thought everyone’s mouth got itchy when eating bananas. Almost 40 years old and find out I’m somewhat allergic to them.
It's called oral allergy syndrome. It really sucks, at least it's only bananas for you. My list of fruit and veg that affects me gets longer every year.
The Lion King is basically Hamlet. That was Monday. I'm 41.
The the longest time I always heard of sports teams “Drafting” people. And I am tall, so as a kid I was constantly afraid I’d get drafted for the state basketball team just out of the blue, I thought it worked like a military draft.
I learned this wasn’t the case when I was like 10-12.
That if you wear a white bra, you can see it through a l white shirt, but if you wear a nude colored bra, you can’t. I was 40 when a coworker shared this with me.
The same thing holds for wearing white panties under white slacks. You need to wear nude coloured ones under those.
That sodas were called soft drinks because they had no alcohol lol
That you can flush used toilet paper. Parents taught us as kids to throw away the paper in the trash can for fear of backing up the toilet. Wasn’t until college that I realized my parents were accustomed to that method because they had s***ty plumbing where they grew up in Central America
Wasn't until I was 21 when I drank Lactose Free milk and DIDN'T go sit on a toilet for an hour that I realized I am lactose intolerant. I thought it was normal to s**t constantly after drinking milk.
It’s “for all intents and purposes” not “for all intensive purposes”
That our next door neighbors were lesbians and not just “good friends”. Lovely people. Didn’t figure it out until I was in college
Womens pads stick to their underwear and not themselves like a band-aid.
I learned how to ride a bike at the ripe age of 24
It's okay...we all learn something new everyday, it's not mandatory for you to learn this when you're a kid.
Baby carrots are just shaved down big carrots. I was devastated a few years ago.
At roughly 37, I learned pineapples grew from the ground. Not from a tree.
Corned beef wasn’t made by cattle that were strictly fed corn. My mom couldn’t stop laughing.
That sea horses are not roughly the size of penguins. In fact, they are incredibly tiny. Stupid Saturday morning cartoons!
Omg, you should see the pygmy seahorse, it is super duper teeny tiny, it's just so damn cute.
That puffer fish don't use air to inflate.
I was today years old.... Actually, it's obvious (cause where would they get the air), but who stops to think about it? At least I didn't.
That puffins are in fact NOT extinct. I had a 3rd grade teacher misinform me. I found the truth as a teenager in an embarrassing group setting where I was quite confidently wrong.
For a moment I was like "Where are the legs of that bird in the picture!?" Then I put my glasses on :)
Washington state and Washington DC are two different places.
That cows are female and bulls are male. I thought they are two different species
Technically, a cow is a female that has given birth. Before birth they're called heifers.
At 42 years-old, I realized there is no donkey in Donkey Kong.
That Flo Rida spells Florida. Also will I am was William. Realized this last year. I’ll be 42 in a month lol
That C.R.E.A.M by wu tang stands for cash rules.everyrhing around me
I was 20 years old when I learned that salt lamps are indeed made of salt.
I always thought that it was plastic carved into a rock-like shape
Reminds me of a recent post about putting the salt lamp in the dishwasher to clean it...
I was almost 30 when I realized that travelling uphill does not always mean you're travelling north. And similarly rivers can run north because they aren't going "uphill".
I'm not normally that stupid.
That when i deposit cash in the bank, there isn’t a specific money locker just for me.
That menstrual fluid isn’t blue. The tampon and pad commercials had me fooled.
We started getting ads where the fluid they use was red. Apparently they got a lot of complaints saying its disgusting and not suitable for TV. F**k that noise, we need to stop periods being a taboo subject and something we need to hide.
I thought women get pregnant at a random moment in their life until my friend told me you have to have intercourse in 7th grade.
I thought the D is Disney was just some random symbol, kinda like a backwards G. It took me until like 7th grade to realize it and even as an adult I still can’t unsee the backwards G.
I used to think the y in Disney was actually a p and called them Disnep.
"TP" stood for Toilet Paper. I thought to "TP someone's house" you just put toilet paper over it to look like a teepee.
I was 16 when I found out you're meant to spit toothpaste out after brushing your teeth, I had always just swallowed it and thought that's just what you do... Idk how tf I don't have flouride poisoning
I thought an armadillo was a reptile rather than a mammal
Those containers Chinese food come in unfold into plates.
Up until 15 I believed If I swallow a seed and then drinks water a tree is going to grow inside me.
That the game show Wheel of Fortune is named after the tarot card
They did a pilot for “Wheel of Suffering and Desire,” but it didn’t test well with non-Buddhist audiences.
There is nothing wrong with not knowing something. Learning is always, always a good thing. The problem only starts when you learn something new and then pretend it doesn't exist. I'm looking at you, climate deniers, flat earthers, racism deniers, misogynists-- okay, I'm looking at a lot of people, but you get my meaning.
And people should not stop trying to learn new things just because they finished school. There's always more to learn.
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My dad was a very smart man, he loved to learn new things and read, for me he was a sort of walking encyclopedia.. only one time I taught him something . There is an idiom in Italy "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca" "you don't look in the mouth of a gift horse" because you can tell the age of a horse by the teeth, but Donato it's also a person name.. he told me "I never understand this idiom , I thought that the horse's name was Donato!" We had the best laugh of our life... I miss you so much dad!!
I always assumed this idiom was to do with the Trojan horse - which never made sense to me, because if they had looked inside before accepting it things would have worked out very differently. So thanks Francesca, I learned something new there too!
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I was in my early 50s before I realized I was circumcised. I was stunned. 😂😂😂
There is a clip on YouTube for the Graham Norton show where Sir Patrick Stewart talks about the same confusion. He thought he was....he's not.
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A few of these are from people who didn't realize something about themselves, and I'm here to tell you that assuming everyone experiences life that way you do is an *extremely* common thing. We only have one perspective in life except where imperfectly translated into language, and there's so many questions we don't think to ask. If you're colour blind, or you lack a mind's eye, or whatever, you will most likely believe for a long time that everyone is the same way - until you randomly come across a colour blindness test or somebody talking about aphantasia and you go "Wait, people LITERALLY count sheep?" Same reason a lot of people take forever to realize their true sexuality, especially in previous generations where we talked about sex less - "you mean not every woman just PRETENDS to like sex?" A good reminder to have patience with people because what is obvious to you, is not obvious to everyone. :)
Up until last year, I always thought the Mars Rover was the size of a small children's remote controlled toy. Then I found out it's about the size of an actual car. Somehow it always looked small when I saw photos of it on Mars!
The banana thing is REAL I had the SAME THING happen during Organic Chem in college, we were talking about acidic foods and I was loud about how bananas must be as acidic if not more so than pineapples, since they wreck my mouth like eating too much pineapple every time. The entire class just stared at me, the prof explained how that makes sense for pineapples, due to their acidity and the rough texture, but bananas? nooooo Told me to check with my doctor about it, yep allergic to latex plants, could become a latex allergy, very important to know
I am embarrassed to admit that it was only last year that I realized pockets of air can get trapped underwater by a vessel. I was reading a book where a chamber was filling up with water, and the characters only had an air pocket from an upside down canoe to breathe. I didn't understand how they had any air at all. And it was a book for young adults! Durp.
I thought soda could only be drunk after someone was 7 years old. (Because of 7-up)
I believed in Santa Claus til I was 12. Overheard my aunt talking about it (not about Me). God knows how long it would have taken me to get it. There went Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Jesus, all in one fell swoop.
Like the saying "Don't let the bedbugs bite". I was in my 40's when I learned that bedbugs we're REAL. So now I suppose they're going to tell me that the Boogie man is real too.
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I grew up in Texas. I thought Whataburger was like Water Burger or something because the burgers were juicy. I was in my 20's when I finally solved the riddle.
The term comes from the fact that people who needn't work outdoors are often very pale, and you can see their veins through their skin. And because those veins appear blue... You get it.
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That the band is called "Bowling for Soup" not "Bullwinkle Soup" This was like a month ago. I'm 27
My son looked at his puckered finger tips in the pool and cried because he thought it was permanent water damage 😆
I was an adult before I found out that facade did NOT have two pronunciations. I had always thought that when referring to a building it was pronounced fa KA yd like arcade or colonnade and when referring to a person putting on a false front or face it was pronounced face-ad because they were being two-faced.
I dont think either of those are right. Its "fuh-sawd."
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Wolverines ARE real live animals! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine
Load More Replies... I remember my sudden disappointment as an older kid upon finally eating my first candy apple. Candy apples aren't entirely made of candy but actually have a real apple under them.
We don't have candy apples in Portugal, i've always wanted to try One and the fact that now i know it has a real Apple inside makes me want to try it more
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I think I was 20 when I learned that female nipples don’t just have one hole where milk comes out of… and I’m female. For some reason I also thought the word “prevent” meant the opposite — as in causing something to happen — until I was 8 or 9. Up until then, the Smokey the Bear sign my dad had was very confusing.
I think I was 20 when I finally figured out the tall man in Simon and Garfunkels’ video for You Can Call Me Al, is in fact Garfunkel and not Will Ferrell xD
That elected officials are not held accountable, nor do they actually have do anything.
I learned 2 weeks ago that pickles are cucumbers. My whole life is a lie 🥲.
Was in my 60's when it occurred to me what occupation Miss Kitty really had in the TV series "Gunsmoke"
I just learned some of these and I'm 32. I also have to care to question it.
A crockpot is so called because it is a pot you put your crock in to heat it up. That took me a while.
I was in my early 30s when i learned that New England is not, in fact, a state.
As a kid I thought the term drinking meants drinks overall. So when my parents taught us drinking was bad I thought they meant like juice, water, soda. Drinking and driving was another, I remember my dad had a soda and was driving I was like 'Oh no, my dad is doing something bad. It wasn't until I saw a PSA on tv about some guy drinking beer and then hopping into his car where it timeskips to him being bound in a wheelchair paralyzed that I learned 'drink' means Alcohol.
I think I was in junior high when I found out that not all poodles are girl dogs and all German shepherds are boy dogs!
When I was younger my dad told me that if I unscrewed my belly button my butt would fall off. When I tell you I tried so hard and was disappointed it didn't work, he finally told me to truth: I didn't have the right tool. *insertdisappointmenthere*
TIL that the fine constant (1/137) is called that because of the fine gaps in the spectral lines of atoms. How did I not get that amirite? Anybody?
Maybe you'll meet a woman this year. Maybe. Probably not.
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There is nothing wrong with not knowing something. Learning is always, always a good thing. The problem only starts when you learn something new and then pretend it doesn't exist. I'm looking at you, climate deniers, flat earthers, racism deniers, misogynists-- okay, I'm looking at a lot of people, but you get my meaning.
And people should not stop trying to learn new things just because they finished school. There's always more to learn.
Load More Replies... My dad was a very smart man, he loved to learn new things and read, for me he was a sort of walking encyclopedia.. only one time I taught him something . There is an idiom in Italy "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca" "you don't look in the mouth of a gift horse" because you can tell the age of a horse by the teeth, but Donato it's also a person name.. he told me "I never understand this idiom , I thought that the horse's name was Donato!" We had the best laugh of our life... I miss you so much dad!!
I always assumed this idiom was to do with the Trojan horse - which never made sense to me, because if they had looked inside before accepting it things would have worked out very differently. So thanks Francesca, I learned something new there too!
Load More Replies... I was in my early 50s before I realized I was circumcised. I was stunned. 😂😂😂
There is a clip on YouTube for the Graham Norton show where Sir Patrick Stewart talks about the same confusion. He thought he was....he's not.
Load More Replies... A few of these are from people who didn't realize something about themselves, and I'm here to tell you that assuming everyone experiences life that way you do is an *extremely* common thing. We only have one perspective in life except where imperfectly translated into language, and there's so many questions we don't think to ask. If you're colour blind, or you lack a mind's eye, or whatever, you will most likely believe for a long time that everyone is the same way - until you randomly come across a colour blindness test or somebody talking about aphantasia and you go "Wait, people LITERALLY count sheep?" Same reason a lot of people take forever to realize their true sexuality, especially in previous generations where we talked about sex less - "you mean not every woman just PRETENDS to like sex?" A good reminder to have patience with people because what is obvious to you, is not obvious to everyone. :)
Up until last year, I always thought the Mars Rover was the size of a small children's remote controlled toy. Then I found out it's about the size of an actual car. Somehow it always looked small when I saw photos of it on Mars!
The banana thing is REAL I had the SAME THING happen during Organic Chem in college, we were talking about acidic foods and I was loud about how bananas must be as acidic if not more so than pineapples, since they wreck my mouth like eating too much pineapple every time. The entire class just stared at me, the prof explained how that makes sense for pineapples, due to their acidity and the rough texture, but bananas? nooooo Told me to check with my doctor about it, yep allergic to latex plants, could become a latex allergy, very important to know
I am embarrassed to admit that it was only last year that I realized pockets of air can get trapped underwater by a vessel. I was reading a book where a chamber was filling up with water, and the characters only had an air pocket from an upside down canoe to breathe. I didn't understand how they had any air at all. And it was a book for young adults! Durp.
I thought soda could only be drunk after someone was 7 years old. (Because of 7-up)
I believed in Santa Claus til I was 12. Overheard my aunt talking about it (not about Me). God knows how long it would have taken me to get it. There went Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Jesus, all in one fell swoop.
Like the saying "Don't let the bedbugs bite". I was in my 40's when I learned that bedbugs we're REAL. So now I suppose they're going to tell me that the Boogie man is real too.
Load More Replies... I grew up in Texas. I thought Whataburger was like Water Burger or something because the burgers were juicy. I was in my 20's when I finally solved the riddle.
The term comes from the fact that people who needn't work outdoors are often very pale, and you can see their veins through their skin. And because those veins appear blue... You get it.
Load More Replies... That the band is called "Bowling for Soup" not "Bullwinkle Soup" This was like a month ago. I'm 27
My son looked at his puckered finger tips in the pool and cried because he thought it was permanent water damage 😆
I was an adult before I found out that facade did NOT have two pronunciations. I had always thought that when referring to a building it was pronounced fa KA yd like arcade or colonnade and when referring to a person putting on a false front or face it was pronounced face-ad because they were being two-faced.
I dont think either of those are right. Its "fuh-sawd."
Load More Replies... Wolverines ARE real live animals! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine
Load More Replies... I remember my sudden disappointment as an older kid upon finally eating my first candy apple. Candy apples aren't entirely made of candy but actually have a real apple under them.
We don't have candy apples in Portugal, i've always wanted to try One and the fact that now i know it has a real Apple inside makes me want to try it more
Load More Replies... I think I was 20 when I learned that female nipples don’t just have one hole where milk comes out of… and I’m female. For some reason I also thought the word “prevent” meant the opposite — as in causing something to happen — until I was 8 or 9. Up until then, the Smokey the Bear sign my dad had was very confusing.
I think I was 20 when I finally figured out the tall man in Simon and Garfunkels’ video for You Can Call Me Al, is in fact Garfunkel and not Will Ferrell xD
That elected officials are not held accountable, nor do they actually have do anything.
I learned 2 weeks ago that pickles are cucumbers. My whole life is a lie 🥲.
Was in my 60's when it occurred to me what occupation Miss Kitty really had in the TV series "Gunsmoke"
I just learned some of these and I'm 32. I also have to care to question it.
A crockpot is so called because it is a pot you put your crock in to heat it up. That took me a while.
I was in my early 30s when i learned that New England is not, in fact, a state.
As a kid I thought the term drinking meants drinks overall. So when my parents taught us drinking was bad I thought they meant like juice, water, soda. Drinking and driving was another, I remember my dad had a soda and was driving I was like 'Oh no, my dad is doing something bad. It wasn't until I saw a PSA on tv about some guy drinking beer and then hopping into his car where it timeskips to him being bound in a wheelchair paralyzed that I learned 'drink' means Alcohol.
I think I was in junior high when I found out that not all poodles are girl dogs and all German shepherds are boy dogs!
When I was younger my dad told me that if I unscrewed my belly button my butt would fall off. When I tell you I tried so hard and was disappointed it didn't work, he finally told me to truth: I didn't have the right tool. *insertdisappointmenthere*
TIL that the fine constant (1/137) is called that because of the fine gaps in the spectral lines of atoms. How did I not get that amirite? Anybody?
Maybe you'll meet a woman this year. Maybe. Probably not.
Load More Replies...