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Article created by: Ilona Baliūnaitė
As clever as we might think we are, we all have gaps in our knowledge. After all, it’s impossible to know everything about our world. You might live your whole life believing that dolphins are land mammals who swim just for fun. Or assuming that a "birthday suit" is a specific set of clothes people wear when they turn another year older. Then, when someone points out that it's completely not true, you can’t help but wonder whether others thought the same as you.
Well, negan2018's post on Ask Reddit revealed that there are plenty of people who have also experienced these embarrassing moments. The user asked fellow community members, "What really obvious thing have you only just realized?" and thousands started sharing their stories.
As they say, the more you read, the more you know. So get ready to take a deep dive into some of the best answers we have collected from this thread. Make sure to upvote the ones you enjoyed most and share your own little misunderstandings in the comments below!
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#1
I recently realized I was allergic to carrots. I just thought they made everyone's mouth numb, you know, just like almonds.... I also learned recently that I have an almond allergy.
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#2
The first time I visited the USA I was on my own and in NY and going to all the museums. I kept seeing signs that said "No strollers" and thought, because we call strollers prams in the UK, that you guys are super strict about the proper amount of attention required to visit a museum. I actually pretended to show more interest than I had in order not to be thougth of as some deadbeat out for a casual stroll.
It wasn't until about day three that I saw a "No strollers" sign that included a graphic for idiots.
#3
I must've been around 11-12 years old, when I realized that "in order of appearance" during the end credits of a movie doesn't list the actors/actresses by who is the most good looking.
#5
This girl I know has a dog named Deoji. Two years into knowing her and being around Deoji, I was having a conversation with her sister in law and I said "I love the name Deoji, how did she come up with that?" Her sister in law responds, "Deoji" and I said "yea, it's a neat name". She started laughing and said "No, D.O.G. ...the way you spell dog"
I'm still mindblown about this lol.
#6
Saw a place labled as "Public house" when I moved nearby recently. It was at that moment I realized "OH thats why they call them PUBS. Its short for public house"
#7
VERY LATE BUT it's called the alphabet because the Greek "Alphabet" starts with the letter alpha, beta....
#8
The piggy in 'This Little Piggy' didn’t go to the market to go shopping. ... I’m still horrified
#10
I regret to inform you all that it just occurred to me the other day that the game is called Sims because they’re in a simulation. I’m 26.
#11
That parents have children write letters to Santa so they can figure out what to buy them for Christmas. I can’t believe how I never put that together after 32 years on this earth I just thought it was fun little tradition..
#12
I realized that to be in one's birthday suit it means to be without clothes. I thought for the longest time it was a specific set of clothes you would wear on your birthday each year. I found out when I asked, "what happens when you don't fit in your birthday suit anymore?" Lol
#13
I was playing Monopoly, and someone owned a load of properties all clustered together. I said, 'You’ve got a bit of a monopoly on that part of the board. Hey that’s funny, because we’re playing Monopoly, and you got a...oh, I see now.
#14
That they put measurement stickers next to gas station doors so if a robber is running out of the store you can get a better estimate of their height. I always thought they were just there for something fun to do on road trip stops....
#15
A screensaver has a purpose and it literally saves your screen from an image being burned into it. I'm 37
#16
Raincoats typically have bright colours so you're easier to spot during heavy rain, not because raincoat designers have bad taste
#18
Thought that raw hazelnuts don't taste good, because they give this weird tingle in your mouth. Found out I had a nut allergy when it suddenly turned from "tingle" to "anaphylaxis" and I ended up in hospital for eating nut chocolate
#19
My mom used to make my sisters and I “belly-buttons” for dinner. I was 27 when I realized that they were actually tortellini, but she knew we were dumb kids and would refuse something named so strange even though they were delicious.
#21
I live in a part of Chicago called Greektown for 8 years and never realized the blue and white Christmas lights were meant to represent the colors on their flag. It just dawned on me today.
#22
I'm in my fifties. I grew up in a rural area north of New York City, I'm a veteran, I'm reasonably intelligent, reasonably well-traveled. I've been hearing (and repeating this expression on and off for all of my life: Friend/acquaintance 1: "Hey, man see you soon!" Friend/acquaintance 2: "Not if I see you first." smirk It's just within the last few years that I realized that's a -almost always joking, kind- jab at Friend/acquaintance 1. It was so ritualized as a way to say goodnight to a buddy, that it never occurred to me that it meant that the friend would choose to avoid the other person.
#23
The mommy in that Christmas song wasn't cheating with Santa but instead, it's the dad dressed in a Santa Claus costume. That's why 'I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus
#25
When I was little for some reason I hated toast. Just hated it. My parents always tried to make me eat it but I always refused. My grandma decided to try something different. She took toast, cut it up into tiny squares, put some butter on them and called them “Little Pillows.” I ate them all the time. Only now, at 22 years old, did I realize it was just freakin toast.
#26
When I was little we had an Australian shepherd named Sydney. I didn’t understand why her name was Sydney until 18 years later.
#27
I live in Denmark so english is not my native language and I just realised that weekend means the end of the week.
#30
The song "it's getting hot in here" isn't actually talking about here temperature
I felt very, very stupid
#32
My friend (22 y.o) only realized last year that dolphins have to swim and live in the water to survive. He thought they're land mammals but they just really like to swim for fun.
#33
That to take off the plastic piece on top of deodorant you just simply twist the bottom a few times lmao
#34
That the phrase mint condition means like new because it's the condition coins leave the mint in
#35
I kept seeing the same Chinese characters on restaurant's signs and I always wanted to know what it meant. A week ago I found out: they mean restaurant.
#37
My whole life I thought "Pay-per-view" was actually "paper view" because I had only ever heard people say it, and only recently saw it written out.
#38
I was 28 before I realized the meaning to the why is 6 afraid of 7 joke. I always just thought it was dumb, 7,8,9, like you’re just counting.......the electric bill wasn’t paid until later in my life.
#39
The houses in Bikini Bottom are car mufflers...
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