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.
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
In Moscow ,too. Because of the tiny size of pipes
Load More Replies...These days you can buy toilet paper that is designed for sensitive plumbing systems. That's why in USA most public bathrooms has very thin toilet paper. (Not because the systems are sensitive, but because of the amount of people that uses it makes it much heavier load to break it down)
A lot of countries is not just the septic, it's also a difficulty in obtaining water to flush. So by putting tp in trash, the bowl doesn't have to be flushed unless it's #2 or a lot of #1 had been collected. Most of the Caribbean, Central, and South America does this especially away from city areas because they collect the water from rain water so water isn't always a guarantee and must be used sparingly and reused when you can. Lots of places the sinks, washers, and showers would then collect into "grey water" tanks that was then used in toilets or to water plants. I grew up in the Caribbean in a territory and that's what we all did. Even when visiting someone else's house or public bathroom.
Load More Replies...This is standard in a lot of countries in the world. Pretty much the entire Caribbean and Central America. Especially with septic tanks and not public city plumbing. It doesn't smell like anything. Tp with poo on it would be the only tp to go in the bowl and be flushed, everything else goes in the trash. Even more "drastic" -- in places with limited fresh water sources you wouldn't flush for #1 either until it got really yellow (so basically once or twice a day total). "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." As long as the toilet is cleaned frequently, it doesn't smell any different than a USA bathroom. This is the way I grew up doing it and continue it in my household in USA to this day. Just because people don't flush or put the tp down the bowl with every use doesn't mean they're being dirty and smearing things on the walls. You still wash hands and stuff. It's no different than not removing your kitchen trash every time you put something in it.
Load More Replies...It is usually the practice for poorly working septic tanks. I am in FL where there are a lot of those, but they're slowly being replaced. I have a new system, and I still buy the special quick dissolving TP they make for boats and RVs.
I was today years old when I learned there was quick dissolving tissue for RVs!!
Load More Replies...Where I grew up this was standard practice for the whole island. Plus it was standard to ONLY flush when it was #2. So it was very common to go in and find yellow (or green because of those blue tablets mixed with yellow pee) water in the bowl. You add your pee and leave it there and put the tp in the trash. It's a cultural thing - everyone did it so it was understood. Hotels and restaurants would leave up signs that said "if it's yellow, let it mellow and if it's brown flush it down."
Load More Replies...Yesssss this!! My mom is from South America and so i grew up the same way op did, and in grade school my teacher (1st grade) pulled me aside and asked me if it was me who kept putting tp in the class's restroom trashcan. In front of the whole class. I know it wasn't ill-intentioned, she was genuinely confused and asking because i think the custodian had mentioned it to her. But goddamn was that humiliating, especially as i realized my eight-year-old self didn't actually know why my family did that 😅
You'd be surprised to find out how many places actually do that.
Yes, I'm shocked by these comments! Having visited a few of the countries mentioned, I'm sooo happy I stayed in hotels where this wasn't an issue. My OCD wouldn't have mixed well with putting used toilet paper in the trashcan.
Load More Replies...And in Texas. But to be fair it's just common sense when you have a septic tank, you don't flush your paper cause it just fills up the tank faster.
This is true in many rural areas where the tree roots bust through the pipes underground and clog them up.
Especially in an older home where there are giant trees and older weak pipes. Even cast iron pipes can be damaged by an old oak tree.
Load More Replies...My friend invited friends who were originally from rural Mexico to her house in the U.S. She understood that they threw the toilet paper in the garbage can and why, but she didn't want them to do it in her house. So she hid the garbage can in the shower and closed the shower curtain. She went back later and found they had hunted down the can to use it anyway.
How about just being mature and asking them politely to flush it down? I'm sure if things were discussed instead of hiding bins, it wouldn't be a big deal. I'm from the Caribbean and we would never flush for #1, plus we would throw tp in the trash, but if someone asked me to please flush I'll go ahead and do it. Since I've moved to USA mainland, I'll follow the customs of my host, which is to flush it. In my own home (especially since it's 100 years old and rural), I still follow what I learned growing up because my pipes can't handle much and I try to conserve water.
Load More Replies...thos is standard at my f1 riends house. her pipes r really old, and jer parents cant afford to replace them.
I traveled to non-touristy part of Mexico and they didn't flush toilet paper either. I honestly had never heard of it. I gather it is quite common around the world.
I lived in SE Asia. A lot of toilets there don't even have toilet paper. The have a hose with a hand held held squirter (like the kind on some kitchen sinks). If there's no running water for a flush type toilet there's a cistern and scoop and a floor level toilet that you squat over.
A friend grew up in Japan with a military father. When he came back to USA as a teen it weirded him out to have an actual bowl to sit on. He also was surprised to learn in USA, bath houses were more kinky. Growing up it was just a cultural thing to do to go to a public place for a bath. The squatting toilet though is actually very good for our colons - apparently it makes everything line up inside for easy exit.
Load More Replies...Yeah, in South America it's also a no no to through the paper in the toilet
Some countries don't have sewer systems to handle toilet paper, so toss it.
if you have a house septic tank, the paper will be blocked by the filter. It's a shitty job to have to open up the cover & clean out the filter. Yuck. Lots of incentive to throw the dirty paper into a trash can...
We have had a septic tank for over 40 years and always flush toilet paper without any issues. We do maintenance on the tank every year, but it works just fine. Same with all the neighbors. I'd rather not have s**t remnants in my trashcan.....
Load More Replies...My son in law's family came from Mexico. He literally grew up in a hut with a dirt floor & it took my daughter FOREVER to get him to understand that you could flush TP here. I was thoroughly grossed out when I went to their house and saw "shitty" TP in the garbage can.
Most of Egypt either use water jets to clean and not paper. You cannot put paper into the toilet the sewage system cannot cope with it.
Or maybe they had a septic tank? I wouldn't want people to flush paper, in a house with a septic tank.
Still happens in horrible housing in Los Angeles. This house isn't even this old and we get scolded (cuz we are female) when a toilet backs up... not because their son uses half a roll to sh*t... so my daughter grew up learning this too
I know some people will take this wrong, but I just think it's gross and unsanitary to put used tissue in a can...
My Turkish ex-roommate demanded all of us do this. I tried to explain to him that if poop goes down fine, toilet paper will, too. He looked confused. Not sure if he didn't get it or if he didn't realize girls poop, too
And because of that shitty plumbing, they became accustomed to shitty trashcans as well. Gross.
South Korea is the same and I've seen some places here not to flush tp down the toilet due to old sewer.
What about the poop ones though? Doesn't it make the bathroom stinky? Or is everyone just accustomed to this?
The garbage is collected daily or ever other day in most countries. It isn't a weekly occurrence like in most areas in the US.
Load More Replies...As the wife of a licensed plumber you should not flush it or sanitary napkins(it says on the package not to but we get sooo many calls to cable lines because woman don't listen your ignorance is my paycheck) it is best for you to throw it in trashcan even if your plumbing is new and NEVER use draino
Standard in Costa Rica, if memory serves. They had some of the purest water coming out of the tap because they didn't have chemicals that dissolve paper in them.
Yes, and the trash is collected ever day except Sunday. It isn't a weekly thing like in the US. - I think this fact is what is catching people. They see their trash collected weekly and the trash sits in the bins or garage until it is picked up. So they see that TP sitting in the house all week. That mind image however is incongruent with a society where the trash it taken to the curb daily.
Load More Replies...I can see the privilege and elitism coming out HARD with this one. OP didn't even mention that a lot of these places you don't flush for #1 either because of difficulty obtaining fresh water. A HUGE amount of the WORLD does it this way. No it does NOT smell if you keep your bathroom clean. Just like you can have a smelly bathroom in USA - it depends on the owner. Most places the really poo covered tp WOULD go in the bowl but any #1 or subsequent wipes for #2 go in the trash. That's what you use your grocery bags for - that way you can take it out every day or 2 days. I still do it this way once I moved to USA mainland and you wouldn't know it. It's no different than not bringing every piece of kitchen trash straight to the outside trash bins - your kitchen doesn't smell and people don't get freaked out. Please be respectful of other cultures and broaden your mind instead of insulting these places and people.
I think the biggest failure is that in the US, trash "sits" in their garage/house/community bin and is picked up weekly. In many countries that have this problem, trash is picked up daily. It is an employment tradeoff. Plumber are skilled tradesmen. Garbagemen aren't. It helps the country have more employed people.
Load More Replies...Flushable wipes do not break down. Cities spend millions of dollars fixing massive clogs every year. Cottonelle and those places know they're lying and they've admitted things don't break down as quickly as they've made people think. Ask any reliable plumber and they'll tell you how much money they make snaking drains that are clogged by so called flushable wipes.
Load More Replies...I'm almost afraid to ask, but what were you doing with the used toilet paper?
Put it in a trash bin lined with a bag. Just like a normal bathroom where you would throw your q tips and Kleenexes. Usually the very poo covered paper would be flushed but any #1 paper or #2 wipes that looked clean would go in the trash. That's what we would use our grocery store bags for - they were small enough and you just recycled them by using them to collect the bathroom trash. Then tie it up and put it outside every day or few days, depending on how many people used the bathroom. It's not as gross as people are picturing. A HUGE amount of the world still does it this way. Heck a huge amount doesn't even use tp and uses just water and their hand - that's why in certain countries you never do things with your left hand because that's the poo wiping hand.
Load More Replies...I guy I dated from Mexico took me to meet his parents at their house. They threw away soiled tissue as well. I was so grossed out by the garbage can I didn't stay for dinner.
I worked with a chick that didn't flush tp either Its just gross and it smells up the bathroom!😫
I grew up with a septic tank in the United States and we hardly ever flush toilet paper.
In Brazil we throw it in the trash can too, and I assume it's the same reason
TP isn't good for water treatment plants though, even in the US. We'd save a lot of costs and headaches if we all threw it away instead of flushing it.
Especially since coming out with those so called flushable wipes. That's big business boost for plumbers because those flushable wipes clog up house lines and need to be snaked. Plus cities have to send people down into the septic systems to remove wipe clogs because they do NOT degrade and and up in knotted up clumps (the size of SUVs) that block off septic. I don't know why people are down voting you for speaking the truth.
Load More Replies....... Here u only trash can it when u have septic tanks or whatever & even then i wouldnt id just have my swpric cleaned often. Yuck! My sisters kids trash it & everytime theyre over we have to tell them "where does tp go?" IN THE TOILET! Ya nasty. Lol not u.
As long as you can afford to clean it often... Kudos to you. The reality is that most can do so only every 5 years and not ever single year. So the trash is how they avoid making septic cleanup a yearly expense.
Load More Replies...I grew up in Central America(El Salvador) too for the 1st 5years of my life before immigrating to the shitty USA :D
I grew up in Central America too, for 5 years of the start of my life, but then immigrated to the shitty USA :D
I know of a place in the states where this happens today, in 2022. The United States!
I've lived in the US for 55 years, and in Germany for 2. Never been anywhere you did not flush it.
Load More Replies...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.
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...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.
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