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We all have our "aha!" moments at different times. Perhaps you've just discovered the correct usage of a common kitchen gadget, or maybe you've finally come to the realization that "espresso" shouldn't be pronounced with an "x" – whatever it is, we've got a list just for you!

What obvious thing did you recently realize?” – this web user invited folks to spill the beans on super obvious things they only just realized. The thread garnered 8K upvotes as well as 8.7K comments containing some pretty interesting answers. 

More info: Reddit

#1

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online My grandson just figured out I am his mothers mother. He just can't understand why I tell him we have to ask his mom to do some things. Why can't I just tell his mom we are going to do something? I am her mom therefore her boss!

Individual_Serious , Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas Report

#2

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online That when a cat comes running up to me when I'm out for a walk, they are seeing me with the same excitement and novelty as I'm seeing them!
That realization really made my day.

MallardCat , gostealahead Report

#3

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Growing up, my grandparents religiously had a 3:00 PM “Pepsi” time. Like Tea Time, I guess, but with Pepsi. Every time we were over there, it happened. We all enjoyed a crisp, fizzy, cold Pepsi.

At 43 years old, I was telling that story this week, when I suddenly realized theirs were most likely spiked.

Fire_In_The_Skies , billow926 Report

#4

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Despite their warm and friendly ourward appearance, Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult. I'm a raised JW and I'm fading out of the organization.

JubilantJayde , JCHaywire Report

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#5

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Stripper poles rotate and are not fixed. I always just assumed the dancers spun around the fixed pole through incredible body strength.

Working-Inflation-61 , Pixabay Report

#6

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online That birds don't live in nests. Nests are just where they keep their eggs. Birds just sleep in trees.

Rey_Reddits , Tambako The Jaguar Report

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andyfrobig avatar
Andy Frobig
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, ok, but if a parent bird or surrogate elephant doesn't spend at least some time in the nest, the eggs won't hatch

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#7

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online I didn’t realize that in the song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, the DAD was in a Santa costume…and Mom wasn’t committing adultery with a magical, fictitious old man…

FabulousCallsIAnswer , Pixabay Report

#8

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Soft drinks are called soft drinks bc they don’t contain alcohol. Hard drinks do.

heres-to-life , Janine Report

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#9

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Even after hitting rock bottom, you can still keep digging.

satalfyr , Dexon Dave Silva Report

#10

That if I put my phone in a bright yellow case I’ll spend significantly less time wandering around my apartment muttering “where the f**k did I set my phone”

BitterOldPunk Report

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#11

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online The reason Lead is Pb on the periodic table is due to the Latin word for lead which is the same root of the word for plumbing, because the Romans made pipes out of lead.

Stormygeddon , Hi-Res Images of Chemical Elements Report

#12

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online I spend too much time choosing to be negative when I could really be happy. After a vacation I had a major attitude adjustment and applied to school in the town I visited. Suddenly debt doesn't depress me, cause I'm accumulating it for reasons I know are worth it. In the past few weeks I've journaled mostly optimistic things, and today I realized I had spent over half of the journal talking myself into a deeper hole. I can't unwrite it now, but that just makes me value the pages I have left so much more. I don't want my life to be a journal full of sad thoughts. I want to be happy.

Flat_Bodybuilder_175 , Bekka Mongeau Report

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Stardust she/her
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m having a hard time thinking positively these days because it feels like I’m encountering problems everywhere I go and I’m starting to regret being born

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#13

That worms don’t come onto the sidewalks when it rains because the wet concrete is irresistible to their squishy bodies. It’s because they’re drowning in the grass. This was a few years ago, but at that time, I had a masters degree and was walking into my full time engineering job. A bunch of worms on the sidewalk outside my building and an “oh” lightbulb that clicked on in my head

RedWasatchAndBlue Report

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Mama Penguin
Community Member
10 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was a former school soccer field near where I live. Everytime it poured, worms would crawl all over the sidewalk. Being a high traffic area, the worms would get squished. I never knew earthworms smell "fishy" until then.

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#14

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online That my doctor was right. I need to start using a cane and stop being stubborn.

SVS_Writer , Karolina Grabowska Report

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LK
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mobility aids are utterly fantastic! The same applies to glasses, hearing aids, etc. If you need then, use them. It will make life better.

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#15

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online that my glasses were on my the top of my head the whole time I was looking for them.

TrailerParkPrepper , Lisa Fotios Report

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Child of the Stars
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've done similar things. Once I freaked out because I had to leave and couldn't find my phone. I said out loud that I couldn't find it, and my friend goes, "Um...you're talking to me on it." 🤦‍♀️

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#16

I can actually do certain things differently than I’ve been doing my whole life, and often the new way is better.

DWright_5 Report

#17

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online The Royal Family is named after Windsor Castle, not the other way around

Catastrophist89 , Diliff Report

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Fat Harry
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because their family name is German and we'd been at war with Germany twice in living memory, at the time.

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#18

That pets dies.

Of course you are aware of it as a pet owner from day 1; that our furry friends are not immortals. But it always hits you like lightning from a clear sky when it actually happens, especially when it happens too early.

Bqckground: Our family cat fell down in an old well and drowned... 😭
A stupid and tragic accident.

Much_Cantaloupe8957 Report

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#19

Cows only produce milk because they are mothers.

I mean, I genuinely just thought cows made milk all the time until not that long ago. They have to have babies and have a 9-month pregnancy just like humans. Then we take their milk from their babies :(

Saltyseabanshee Report

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Lil Miss Hobbit
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not enough people know this. But there are nice ways to do it. Our cow had a calf and we split the milk 50/50 with him. She will produce as much as is needed (up to around 4 gallons, I think), so he gets enough and it doesn't hurt either of them.

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#20

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online You do not have to make the entire box of pasta all at once

PM_Me_UrRightNipple , Engin Akyur Report

#21

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Eminem calls himself Eminem because his name is Marshal Mathers

djskunkybeerz , eminem Report

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scag$y
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His full name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III. So he calls himself 'Eminem' in order to keep focus on his music, rather than to pledge his allegiance to the chieftain and offer his sword to Scotland. Or it could be the two 'M's thing.

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#22

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online Pipe cleaners aren’t just for arts and crafts.

They’re also for cleaning pipes.

Im 35 and oh so ashamed of myself.

GozerDaGozerian , Justice Ender Report

#23

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online That Alucard from Castlevania just means Dracula backwards ..

Felt so dumb for not seeing the extremely obvious

dershmoo , netflix Report

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Asher Tye
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And that is why the vampires can sneak amongst us so effectively. /jk

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#24

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online When getting an eye exam you are asked which looks better 1, or 2. If they are identical or too close to call, you have a 3rd option. The same. They never told me that.

No_Lecture9474 , Ksenia Chernaya Report

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LK
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've just had my eyes tested, and optometrists are keyed into the hesitation when answering this question. The greater the hesitation, they assume the harder it is for the person to decide. With one lens, I had to ask for clarification. It was better without, the first lens made dots sharper, but gave them a tail, the second wasn't as sharp, but they retained their shape. Instead of saying '1' or '2', I explained what I was seeing, and left it up to the optometrist to decide. :o)

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#25

I first realized only a couple of years ago that Elvis sings about the “whole cell block” in Jailhouse Rock, not the “wholesale block.”

I’d imagined there being a Costco and a Petsmart and a Super Cuts and an AT&T store and maybe a Jimmy John’s and all the people shopping there were doing the Jailhouse Rock.

It took me a solid 25 years of knowing that song to clue in.

ToBeReadOutLoud Report

#26

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online That the phase “bottom of the hour” means 30 min past the hour because the hand is at the bottom of the clock.

Sasquatchboy16 , Old White Truck Report

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Cara
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’d never heard that phrase before, every day is a school day.

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#27

That the phrase ‘agree to disagree’ means agreeing to simply both disagree with eachother and end the argument, until yesterday I thought it meant the person who says it is agreeing with your point just to end the argument, meaning I thought I’d won every argument that people have said this in

Egboxerpro Report

#28

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online A couple years ago I realized pickles were just pickled cucumbers. Not sure why, but I never realized this and always thought pickles were just pickles.

TsakalidisTzatziki , mariko Report

#29

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is referring to distance and not depth

Edit: Yeah, sorry I meant horizontally and not vertically…it’s all distance

xfadedxgloryx , Kellie Churchman Report

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Russell Bowman
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just for fun a league, from the Celts and adopted by Romans, was the distance a person could walk in about one hour.

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#30

30 Times Folks Were Blind To The Obvious And Just Recently Realized What’s Up, As Shared Online That the pilgrims from the American Thanksgiving were called pilgrims because they were on a pilgrimage of sorts.

It took me seeing a news report while I was in Portugal last November and I said to my wife "oh you use the same word for pilgrims and pilgrims like we do in English"

"Yes" she replied "because they were pilgrims on a pilgrimage"

RaggamuffinTW8 , Ayşenur Sağlam Report

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sofacushionfort
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey I just realized that when the grizzly hunter tells Jeremiah Johnson “That’ll be far enough, pilgrim” Johnson has reached his goal of seeking a source of wisdom to live in the wilderness.

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Note: this post originally had 44 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.