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We all might have more in common than we think, especially when it comes to getting embarrassed over something we thought we knew (but really didn't). Reddit user LightningCole asked the members of the online community to share some of the things that they learned embarrassingly late. With over 18.6k comments in the thread, we can say for sure that it’s one of those universal secrets that nearly everyone can relate to. What’s obvious to you might not be obvious to us!

Remember to upvote your fave answers as you chuckle your way down this list. After you’re done, let us know in the comments what things you learned embarrassingly late in life, dear Pandas! Did you think that chocolate milk comes from brown cows until you were 30? Maybe you thought that the European Council and the Council of the European Union were one and the same at some point in your life? We can’t wait to read what you have to share.

Bored Panda spoke about embarrassing knowledge blind spots and why they're, well, embarrassing with Vanessa Bohns, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University. Bohns also explained what the healthiest way to react to embarrassment is. Scroll down and have a read.

#1

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That not every woman who's nice to me is interested in me, they're just being friendly. Wished someone made that clearer when I was younger, would've saved me a lot of embarrassment and stupid moments in high school and early college.

Err0rbot , unsplash Report

#2

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late When I was 20, I was presented with a really wonderful promotion. It required me to fly to a nearby state for a week of training. I was super ecstatic about the whole thing... until I remembered a friend of mine complaining about her struggles with getting a passport. So, I promptly declined the promotion. My superiors were really stumped as to why I turned down the promotion.

Me: Unfortunately, I don’t have a passport.

Manager: Boringberry... you’ve never flown before, have you?

Me: No. I have not.

Manager: You don’t need a passport to fly within the country.

And then it hit me- my friend was going to Mexico. I was just going to a neighboring state. Once the realization hit, my superiors all erupted in laughter.

The story itself followed me when I went to training. My trainer personally greeted me and asked me if I had any difficulties getting a passport before laughing.

boringberry , piqsels Report

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Adam C
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"You just won 1 million dollars." "Bummer,I can't take it, wallet is too small"

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#3

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late When I was little my Dad told me the big cooling towers that are often found beside electricity generating plants were in fact cloud machines and the prime minister of the day had a switch on his desk to turn the big machine on when it got too hot.

This made complete sense to me as they did produce big clouds of white cumulus-like exhaust when operating.

Fast forward to when I was around 11 years ago and the teacher asks if anyone knows why some days are dry and some days it rains, some days have blue sky and some days have clouds.

Of course at the mention of clouds I knew immediately where clouds come from and stuck my hand up to tell everyone about the prime minister and the cloud machines.

Luckily the teacher picked someone else for the answer and I was most confused to hear someone go on about evaporation and rainfall and so on.

Martin_Birch , i_yudai Report

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Stimpy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So nice! Since this is the era of "choose your own (alternative) facts" anyway, I am now treating this as a fact

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"We spend a lot of time and effort presenting an ideal version of ourselves to other people. When something happens that contrasts with the image we’ve been projecting—when we say or do something that shows we actually aren’t as graceful or as smart as we’d like people to believe—we feel embarrassed," Bohns said.

"Discovering you were wrong about something most everyone else around you has long known to be true is one of those moments. In that moment we learn, 'Wait a minute, maybe I haven’t been presenting the image of being smart or worldly that I thought I was presenting all this time,' which is embarrassing."

#4

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That Hawaii was a country before the U.S. annexed it. Unsurprisingly they do not teach us that in high school history class...

seegruyere , Erik Cooper Report

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Pseudo Puppy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And California was part of MEXICO until the US government bought it from Mexico. Also, "America" is actually 2 continents (north america and south america), not a country. "America" as "Americans" call it, is a PART of the continent "North America", and is actually called "The United STATES of America" ie it's referring to a group of 'states' that united, rather than try to declare themselves as individual countries, when it was being invaded by the British (& other countries).

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#5

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That the world owes you nothing.

You can be a good person and that's fine but it won't lead to you being blessed with nice things; people can use you if you're too nice to them

I grew up thinking that my life was special and that I was destined for greatness but I'm now just another fish in the sea

Norfolkwegian_8991 , Ricardo Moraleida Report

#6

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late I have a cousin who quotes Yogi Berra on a fairly regular basis, and it wasn't until last Thanksgiving that I realized he's a real person, and that my cousin hasn't been admiring the words of Yogi Bear all this time.

hellothereitsanna , Baseball Collection Report

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Bohns pointed out to Bored Panda that embarrassment has its positive sides—it’s not all bad like some of us believe.

“One thing that’s interesting about embarrassment is that, for as much as we might experience it as painful in the moment, it’s actually very socially adaptive. Being embarrassed signals to other people that you care about what they think. And that actually draws people in to you,” she said.

“So blushing, burying your head in your hands, laughing, acknowledging how embarrassing something was, are all totally healthy ways to react,” Bohns explained to us that we shouldn’t feel embarrassed about, well, feeling embarrassed.

#7

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Rottweilers are not just fat Dobermans.

JamesandtheGiantAss , John Mitchell Report

#8

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That truffles are a mushroom as well as a chocolate. When people talked about sending pigs in the forest to hunt for truffles I thought they’d buried chocolates in there to teach pigs how to dig food up

I was 21

hitmewithurbethshot , Ann Larie Valentine Report

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Astrid Nineor
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't like truffles, but chocolate-hunting with dogs? Sign me up! (Making sure the dogs cannot eat it of course)

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#9

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Riding a bicycle. I learnt it at 18, my parents believed in an astrologer who told them that I would have a terrible accident when I drive or ride. So I had to learn bicycle secretly from a friend.

hoodibaba007 , pxhere Report

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Pamela24
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow. That's actually really impressive; it must be so much more difficult to learn as an adult!

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“The unhealthy way to react is to pretend you’re not embarrassed, that you didn’t make a mistake, or to get angry. Those things undo the positive effect of embarrassment typically has on other people by conveying insincerity and pushing people away rather than drawing them in,” Bohns said.

Knowledge blind spots are something that we’ll always have. To some extent. We’ll never be able to get rid of all of them but we should do our best to improve ourselves constantly.

However, the problem isn’t so easy because you don’t know what you don’t know or what you’re wrong about. It’s not like we spend every single second of every day analyzing every bit of knowledge in our minds. Nobody’s got that kind of time—we’ve got other things to do!

#10

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late It's hard to explain this one and I can't google it to find pictures. Everyone has bought a tube of "cream" at some point (antiseptic / steroid / eczema) for example. On some of these "creams", have you noticed that the lid is circular but in the centre of the lid it has a sharp pointy end? Typically, these tubes of "cream" have a seal and I used to remove the lid and break the seal by finding anything sharp and pointy nearby (pen maybe). It took my 23 years to realise that the pointy end in the centre of the lid has a purpose...

Bored-To-Reddit , Sprogz Report

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#11

Thought an orgasm and an organism were the same thing.

Gave an entire speech to my class at 13 years old, first month at a new school, about how I wanted to be a marine biologist and work with marine orgasms. Everyone was laughing and I didn't know why. The teacher didn't say anything just laughed along as well. A girl I'd just made friends with had to fill me in after class.

Turns out, they are definitely not the same thing.

JKell18 Report

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Foxxy (The Original)
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was laughed at in class for asking to borrow a rubber (eraser) coz it is another name for a condom.

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#12

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late I only recently found out that ponies are not baby horses, but full-sized ponies.

Booknerd13 , fen-tastic Report

Some blind spots are related to a lack of education and worldliness and can be corrected by actively seeking out new information and perspectives, bit by bit. Reading new books, watching films, going to lectures, meeting new people—all of these things slowly fill in any gaps in knowledge that we might have. It’s a long and involved process but it might just be the easy part.

Other blind spots that we have are related to our assumptions and preconceptions about the world which might not always be right. However, we’re so emotionally invested in holding on to these ideas that we don’t want to let go. Because it feels like we’re losing a part of ourselves.

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#13

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late I thought the phrase 'mix by hand' meant to literally shove your hands in the batter and mix, not use a spoon or a mixer. I didn't learn the truth until my mother found me wrist-deep in brownie batter.

jvisc930 , Nenad Stojkovic Report

#14

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That Washington D.C wasn't in the state of Washington...

3311gojw , wikimedia Report

#15

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late You know when the doctor hits your knee to check your reflexes? I honestly thought you were supposed to kick your leg up high. Like you felt it and you kick. It wasn’t until I was 23 and moved to another country and had to do a physical that the doctor was like what are you doing?!

rainiejain2 Report

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BusLady
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That makes me wonder how many doctors you saw who didn't' bother to tell you.

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If we’re truly sincere about wanting to get rid of our blind spots, then we have to put our points of view out there and be prepared to learn that we’re wrong. Over and over again. It’s a painful process (it’s bound to bruise our egos) but it’s the quickest way to learn.

So if you’re prepared to take the temporary hits to your self-esteem, even learning new things embarrassingly late doesn’t have to be embarrassing!

#16

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Not me but my husband.

He didn't know that meat is the animals muscles. He thought every animal had a bodypart named "meat".

He had a bit of an emotional crisis when I told him. He is actually a very intelligent man, but this fact had eluded him as his mother had not wanted to upset him as a child.

Ellatomica , Luis Tamayo Report

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Pseudo Puppy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this is what happens when you prioritise "protecting" you child, rather than 'teaching' them... :o :/

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#17

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That Houston is not the name of the guy astronauts talk to.

walden12 Report

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BusLady
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes it is. He's been working with the space program since 1958. He's now 102 and thinking about retirement.

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#18

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Pickles are pickled cucumbers. Took me over 30 years to figure that one out.

drewkawa , Christine Report

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Sethurama Iyer
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's even more interesting is that Indian pickle is just spiced cooked sour things (like unripe mango and lemon)

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Mona Vine
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

what did you think any pickle is! pickles and chutneys are just cooked sour things with spices sugar and vinegar.

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George-Florin Constantin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kind of inaccurate. Pickles are cucumbers in the US, maybe, but in the rest of the world many vegetables and fruit preserved using the same method are generally named pickles. Tomatoes, red peppers, cabbage, carrots (yummy!), pears, apples, colliflower, eggplant stuffed with paprika, hot peppers and garlic paste (a total delicacy). Pickled cucumber is probably the most common but there are amazing alternatives out there.

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SoozeeQ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Australia, pickled cucumbers are called gherkins. Also, pickles is known as more of a spreadable thing, like chutney or relish.

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Morgan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the US. In the UK we call them gherkins and pickled stuff can be loads of food, but just pickle is most likely to refer to mixed pickled veg (e.g. Branston pickle) or a pickled onion

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Jessica Cifelli
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, that not all pickles are cucumbers. They are just the most popular in Western culture. Eggs, onions, tomatoes, beets can all be pickled

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Peko
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most popular in American culture, at my small local grocery store I can find pickled beets, small onions, cabbage, fish, and mixed vegetables. And that store has a pretty paltry range. Pickled things are very popular in large parts of Europe.

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BusLady
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And pickled pigs feet are...Oh, never mind, I just lost my appetite.

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Tequila4Two
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A pickled cucumber is still a different kind of cucumber. They are smaller, have a different skin and when raw they don't have the cucumber taste.

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Monika Rhodes
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They still start up as a normal cucumber. The pickling is the thing that changes it's taste and look.

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cassiushumanmother
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, they still got the same scientific name since it was the same species at first but with human selection based on the purpose (pickles or cucumbers) they are very different now. Each one having a lot of variety now.

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Doggo Georgia
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, pickle juice is basically vinegar, took me extremely long to find that out too. It was only when I asked a friend about my shower thought "How was the first pickle made if it had to be pickled in pickle juice, how was the pickle juice made to pickle the cucumber?" I always knew pickles were cucumbers, but yeah.

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Stannous Flouride
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But they're made from a variety of cucumbers that are bred to remain crisp after pickling. They have MUCH less water than the big ones you see in most markets. Those become soggy when brined.

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hellesage
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They are actually not, however, they are from the same cucumber family.

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Cindy White
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had to explain where pickles come from to a co-worker. She was about 50 years old.

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Meyer Weinstock
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A pickle is when two infielding basemen keep throwing the baseball back and forth in order to tag the runner whose is in-between two bases. (We Americans use baseball metaphors to confuse others.)

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GirlFriday
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the US, what we commonly refer to as a "pickle" and used for hamburgers or sandwiches is a pickled cucumber. There are lots of things that we "pickle". I have pickled watermelon in my fridge right now.

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Hanis K
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In malaysia,we have all sort of fruits pickles called 'jeruk' , rarely vege types. Try google "Jeruk Madu Pak Ali" for quick view. We sell them in plastic bag by weight. If you planning in going to Penang,Malaysia, its one of a must food to try. Sweet,sour,crunchy,soft- different fruit bring different flavor and texture.

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Craig Reynolds
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not completely without merit since it's oddly named, as you can literally pickle anything. Heck, you can even get yourself or someone else into a pickle! (sour life situation)

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Abby Parker
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Learnt this watching the Magic School Bus a couple of years ago. I was 28 and it was on Netflix and I was feeling nostalgic. Somehow this episode had eluded me as a kid.

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Kantami Blossom
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Only in America. In the UK it's onions in some countries like Japan it's a mix of vegetables.

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Anne Mitchell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not necessarily so. Pickles can be anything that has gone through the pickling process.

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Neill Powell
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Half-Correct: in South Africa you can either get pickled gherkins, or pickled cucumbers. They're not the same. Related, kind of... but not the same.

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Quazmodic
Community Member
3 years ago

What ??!! Just LOOK at them! Have you figured out what sultanas and currents are yet? LOL

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Jade Drew
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah took me ages to figure this out too and I was so adamant I hated cucumber 😂😂😂

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1337
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow. Glad I have a grandma who did these by herself all my childhood.

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Steve Cruz
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I grew up with Watermelon Pickles -- the rind with skin removed, pickled in vinegar, onion, garlic and hot peppers. Same with green mangos or papaya. I thought store-bought cucumber pickles were lazy -- someone didn't remove the skin.

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hellesage
Community Member
3 years ago

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Demi Zwaan
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, not really. They are two distinct types of fruit of the same species. The ones used as pickles are tasteless (no cucumber taste), smaller and thicker than normal cucumbers.

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Steve Barnett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn't realise that mangetout, petit-pois, garden peas are actually all the same thing. Just depends when you pick them.

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Quazmodic
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3 years ago

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#19

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late When I was in 4th grade i was in love with Chris brown. He was 16. I told my mom when i was 16 we would start dating.... she proceeded to inform me that when I was 16 he would no longer be 16. That’s when I realized everyone was also getting older, not just me

Bigdaddydria1 , chrisbrownofficial Report

#20

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Martha's Vineyard isn't just some land that rich people went to that was owned by Martha Stewart.

ughdrunkatvogue Report

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#21

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That K9 stands for "canine"... Like K9 unit in police is dog unit.

Okhy Report

#22

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late I thought buffalos were birds, and buffalo wings were from said birds.

AussiePickle27 , pixabay Report

#23

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That limes weren’t un-ripe lemons.

JagerKitteh , publicdomainpictures Report

#24

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Glass objects should not be put on the stove. Guess how I learned that.

yarrowsparrow , Ervins Strauhmanis Report

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Foxxy (The Original)
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I learnt that the hard way by accident. Glass exploded and ended up with food and glass everywhere. Worst thing was we had friends over for dinner. It was a disaster.

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#25

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Thought guerilla warfare was humans in a war against gorilla's

Tonymush , wikipedia Report

#26

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late I thought the 'do not pass' road sign literally meant 'do not die here.' I had to ask my grandpa what would happen if someone got into a car accident and died there.

ashb4cb0c8483 , pxhere Report

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DforDorothy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hopefully this was before you got your driver's license...😏

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#27

The expression "You can't have your cake and eat it too" I'm like... wat? of course you can eat your cake if you have it wtf are all these people talking about? took me til my 20s to figure out it was actually meaning you cant both have the cake on the counter and have eaten it.

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#28

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Ambulances don’t patrol around like police cars.

21st_centuryfox , pikist Report

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SoozeeQ
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Dear Bored Panda, would be great, if you could flip your photos before publishing, so that they read correctly. Thanks.

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#29

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late That I do better on my own. Took three divorces before I got a clue.

madtrippinfool , banjo d Report

#30

30 Casual Things That People Learned Embarrassingly Late Pilot and co-pilot actually has the same hierarchy. I thought that co-pilot is some kind of assistant to the pilot

onikoko , Steve Jurvetson Report

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Wyn Williams
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't true, the co-pilot IE the first officer answers to the captain who is in charge of the flight and legally responsible for it

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