Some people like to think that they're wiser than others. But even Socrates, one of history's greatest philosophers, doubted his omniscience and famously said, "All I know is that I know nothing."
So let's remind ourselves that learning is a never-ending endeavor in this world, shall we? There's a Reddit post that's perfect for this task. Created by user u/TikiTC, it asked everyone on the platform "What's a little-known but obvious fact that will immediately make all of us feel stupid?"
Folks came through with plenty of insightful replies from a variety of topics, ranging from basic physics to human anatomy. Here are some of the most interesting ones.
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Cats, dogs, and other similar animals can't see directly below their faces.
Because their snout gets in the way.
(That's why you have to point out the treat a million times, they're not stupid, the damn thing is just in their blind spot)
If you touch a baby bird, the mother will not reject it. I don’t even know who came up with it.
Percentages are reversible. 8% of 25 is the same as 25% of 8 and one of them is much easier to do in your head.
Okay I don't usually take things personally here because I just laugh it off, but this whole downvoting thing is getting annoying as hell. Bored Panda used to be a place where people had fun and would only downvote trolls or offensive stuff, now we're getting downvotes for commenting how we are dumb enough to not understand math. I won't erase my comment because I genuinely don't think I said something that deserved to be hidden, I just wish some people here remembered this is not like/dislike. Anyway, I'm just venting...
911 operators have no f*****g clue where you are instantly unless you're on a landline.
You HAVE to say where you are. It's not our fault movies made you think we have a spy level video of you in your car.
Know your location.
Yes, amen 1000% . I do not know where you are when I'm dispatching unless you call from an old school landline. Sometimes if you call a lot I can guess where you may be by looking through old calls but that takes time. If you are in an emergency you do not want me taking my time.
Most cats are like super lactose intolerant, and drinking milk is really really bad for them.
you don't give a person free REIGN, you give them free REIN.
a queen REIGNS over her queendom, but you REIN in a horse, which is where this comes from.
i see this mistake constantly, even in professional journalism, and it drives me nuts.
So many phrases get misused, which annoy me. Common ones are "off your own back" instead of *bat*, "could care less" instead of *couldn't*, and "have another thing coming" instead of *think*
Words that are spelled the same but pronounced with emphasis on different syllables is actually indicative of the part of speech it is.
Stress on the first syllable is a noun. Stress on the last syllable is a verb.
Examples: CON-tract and con-TRACT. The former is a noun ( sign this contract) whereas the latter is a verb (the muscles contract).
Same with record, address, impact, object, and a few others.
A couple of examples given, but there are many others that don't behave like this. Even with those they're not consistent. Address is only stressed on the first symbol in American English, most of the rest of the world doesn't pronounce it differently whether used as a verb or a noun, same in reverse with impact.
It was never mentioned that Humpty-Dumpty was an egg.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, but he had a lousy summer.
Pufferfish are filled with water, not air. It wouldn’t even make sense, yet a lot of people are like *what??*
Covered bridges are designed with roofs to protect and preserve the wooden structure from the elements. Without the cover they'd last about 20 years, with the cover they can last up to 100. They're not built that way just to look charming.
Antisocial means that you are hostile or harmful to organized society. As in being or marked by behavior deviating sharply from the social norm.
Asocial is rejecting or lacking the capacity for social interaction.
There's a 'd' in fridge but not in refrigerator. It really bothers me...
When a nurse gives you an IV - they aren't leaving the metal needle inside your arm - they actually remove that and only a soft plastic tube remains - so you don't need to keep your arm that straight, relax.
But I swear to god, if it's in your acf (front part of your elbow) keep it straight because a kinked hose will make the machine beep at us every time! lol but no. No metal.
You don't actually bite down. You bite up because of your lower jaw.
The little piggy didn't go to the market for shopping
to 'fast' means to abstain from eating. you do this every night when you go to bed.
The first meal of the day is called 'breakfast' because you're breaking your fast.
Fake, breakfast is called breakfast because back in the 1600's they had a breakdancing battle before eating and they had to do it fast or they would starve
World Wide Web contains fewer syllables than its intended short form - WWW, thus making the shorter version longer to say.
Yeah but the short form is intended for writing not for speaking. And in German and probably other languages it's just veh-veh-veh ;)
Cocunut milk is not the liquid inside the coconut, that's coconut water, coconut milk comes from the white flesh inside. The white flesh is pulped or diced and left to soak in warm water, this pulp is then squeezed through a cloth giving you the milk.
The words Laser and Scuba are actually acronyms and they stand for:
Laser- Light Amplification (by) Stimulated Emission (of) Radiation.
Scuba- Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
ATM stands for automated teller machine. So saying ATM Machine is like saying "automated teller machine machine"
Same with your PIN number. PIN stands for personal identification number
a chipotle pepper isnt its own type of pepper. its just a smoked jalapeno pepper.
the plural version of cul-de-sac is culs-de-sac
Vikings did not wear helmets with decorative horns.
Weren't all berserkers, worked most the time as farmers, craftmen and traders - and according to others were seen a bit as snobs for bathing a lot
Thee and Thou were actually the *informal* forms. The King James Bible used them so that the relationship with God would seem more personal.
Just like a dormitory is a place where you sleep, a laboratory is a place where you labor.
That's a lavatory.....because that's where you lave (French for wash).
Load More Replies... because the ending -ory (latin: -oria) is a place where something takes place; and since the ending is latin, the stem should be latin. So, dormitoria vs sleepstead. -Stead, -hood, and -dom are the english equivalents. English (modern) is a mishmash of different languages but generally, latin suffixes/prefixes stick to latin stems, e.g. submarine (sub - under - marine - sea) vs undersea.
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I still remember the day this dawned on me. Everyone stared at me like my hair was on fire, but I was ABSURDLY excited as if I'd just caught a glimpse of something secret.
Tear ducts drain tears, they don't produce them.
Lacrimal glands make the tears that lacrimal (tear) ducts release/drain
My favorite thing to tell people: Penguins swim faster than Michael Phelps. Remember that discovery special that pitted a shark against him to see who was faster? Completely stupid, because even shark FOOD swims faster than he does! (Sharks eat penguins, to clarify)
Cold water cleans just as well as warm water does.
When using modern detergent, clothes will be equally clean whether warm or cold water is used. There is one major difference: warm water uses much more energy (about 75 percent of the energy used for a load of laundry comes from warming the water).
Not entirely true. Warm water can dissolve chemicals faster and with higher solubility. It can also improve enzymatic activity (up to a point specific to the enzymes) which is often in laundry detergent. Fat, for instance, is a lot easier to clean with hot water than with cold water.
Do you get mad that dictionaries add new words like "crunk" or "bling"?
They add them because people use those words and people need to understand what they mean.
That's why they are in a dictionary.
Oil paint doesn't dry, it hardens. There's virtually no water in it, there's ... well, oil.
The word "helicopter" has two components. They aren't "heli" and "copter". They are "helico" and "pter".
"Helico" (helix) and "pter" (wing, like with "pterodactyl")
When water boils it is the same temperature no matter how big the bubbles are.
The Los Angeles Angels is basically saying "The The Angels Angels" when all in English.
St John's, Canada is closer to Rome than it is to Victoria, Canada
Potatoes didn't arrive in Europe until the 16th century.
It's so ubiquitous, you'd think it would've been a part of English culture since 10,000 BC.
Life is short cosmically but its the longest thing you'll experience
if you paint your entire room with one can of paint your room is one can of paint smaller
The modern keyboard layout is designed to make you type slower. When typewriters were a new thing, they had did the obvious thing and put the most-used letters on the home row. Result? People typed too fast and got the hammers tangled.
You’re not an idiot, learning to type fast IS hard. It’s supposed to be!
Not true. The keyboard was designed to ensure that typewriter hammers don't clash and block one-another by separating and spreading out the most frequently used letters... It was therefore designed to allow you to type faster on mechanical typewriters.
You want to get ketchup out of a glass Heinz bottle? Gently chop the neck where the 57 sticker is. It's designed to pour when it's agitated right there. It sounds stupid, but it works. It's like black magic.
Every glas bottle, if you dap the sides, you will make the stuff run.
Most cars have a little arrow on the fuel pump symbol to show which side of the car the filling cap is. (UK at least)
As you go higher in the atmosphere, you don’t actually get hypoxic (oxygen deficiency) because of lack of oxygen; you get hypoxic due to the decrease in pressure the higher into the atmosphere you go. This pressure is needed to actually allow your body to process the oxygen, oxygen % is relatively constant throughout the lower levels of our atmosphere.
The saying "it is what it is" can be shortened to the equally correct, but much more confusing, "it's what it's".
A non-English speaking background manager I worked for in a language school did the opposite. He used to put sayings up on the foyer notice board, one of which was ‘Here is to you’ (cheers). It took me a long time to explain to him that no one ever says that, it’s always ‘Here’s to you’ in the short form. He just couldn’t understand it saying ‘but it’s the same thing!’
It takes 500lbs to crush a human skull and your jaw(your molers) exert 200lbs of force
El Paso TX is closer to San Diego CA than it is to Houston TX
Most likely was the full thing before they shortened it to the top whatever.
Load More Replies... 'A' and 'An' depend on how the 'H' is sounded. If it's silent, it's 'An' ('an honest person'). If it's pronounced, it's 'A' ('a high mountain'). So it's 'a historic event'.
Depends on what the second letter is as well. It has to be a vowel.
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#5 not always true. I called the cops on an abusive ex over 10 years ago. Grabbed and smashed the phone before I could say where I was. Cops showed up 3 minutes later 10 feet from me. Ex was shocked lol. Obviously still try to make your location the first thing you say. Not all systems may have that capability.
Most likely was the full thing before they shortened it to the top whatever.
Load More Replies... 'A' and 'An' depend on how the 'H' is sounded. If it's silent, it's 'An' ('an honest person'). If it's pronounced, it's 'A' ('a high mountain'). So it's 'a historic event'.
Depends on what the second letter is as well. It has to be a vowel.
Load More Replies... #5 not always true. I called the cops on an abusive ex over 10 years ago. Grabbed and smashed the phone before I could say where I was. Cops showed up 3 minutes later 10 feet from me. Ex was shocked lol. Obviously still try to make your location the first thing you say. Not all systems may have that capability.
