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What did you discover relatively late on in life that everyone else had known for years?

(192 Posts)
Newquay Sun 01-Dec-19 21:55:06

Well, promise not to laugh(or cry!) but, been driving for years, no probs at all. Just lately, having trouble with neck, when backing out of our drive, instead of turning to look. . .i used my wing mirrors to pass end of drive. It was much easier!! Sigh!

Callistemon Sun 01-Dec-19 21:52:16

It was quite a long time before I learned that koalas are not bears

Callistemon Sun 01-Dec-19 21:45:18

muffinthemoo grin the same with tubes of ointment (I knew)

Callistemon Sun 01-Dec-19 21:43:48

Bananas are plants, herbs, not trees

I didn't know that Brazil nuts are seeds

MissAdventure Sun 01-Dec-19 21:40:40

I didn't find out until my 30s that oxtail soup was made with an actual oxes tail.

Chewbacca Sun 01-Dec-19 21:39:11

That the lyrics in the Dire Straights song are actually "Money for nothing and your chicks for free".
I thought it was "chips for free".

blush

AyjayF Sun 01-Dec-19 21:34:40

That Banoffee pie was banana + toffee. I thought it was the name of a place!

MissAdventure Sun 01-Dec-19 21:09:56

smile

muffinthemoo Sun 01-Dec-19 21:04:09

That the outside of a tomato purée tube has a pointy bit in it that you use to break the foil when opening the tube for the first time.

SirChenjin Sun 01-Dec-19 21:03:33

Love these!

I also didn’t know — until recently— that Cleopatra lived closer to us time wise that she did to the building of the Great Pyramids.

EMMF1948 Sun 01-Dec-19 20:59:46

I never knew that water was referred to as "council pop" until about 3 years ago.

It was 'corporation pop' when I was a child in the North West.

MissAdventure Sun 01-Dec-19 20:55:12

I didn't know that an anchovy was a fish until I was in my late 20s.

WeekendVisit Sun 01-Dec-19 20:29:43

That the world map was not a correct representation of country sizes and that Africa is substantially larger.

grannyrebel7 Sun 01-Dec-19 20:16:38

I never knew that water was referred to as "council pop" until about 3 years ago.

welbeck Sun 01-Dec-19 20:10:19

i didn't know the abobe either, and frankly i don't even understand the first two.
doesn't impact me, so I don't mind.
the third reminds me that I've heard peanuts are not really nuts but ?legumes, and the ground-nut scandal in east Africa. suppose they call peanuts ground-nuts there. so even they've got it wong.
I do remember from school, having to learn the table of fruits, that a tomato is a berry. not sure how far that gets me. also something about grasses and di-coteledons and mono-coteledons. zylum and floem channels in trees.
I did find it strange that in the late 1990s, people referred to the realm by an antique term, cool Britannia. it was many years later, hearing something on tv that I realised it was to rhyme with and reference the patriotic song, rule Britannia.
I din;t know that one was allowed to have a deposit account as well as a current account at a bank. or that I could have claimed housing benefit when at college, or even what/ that h,b. was. not did I know that I could claim unemployment benefit after a-levels, as I'd not paid any N>I>, so assumed I was not entitled to it. as I'd not been employed yet, officially, how could I claim to be unemployed.
more recently, I'm quite annoyed that I've read twice recently that full-time, unpaid, resident carers could get a council tax discount. I specifically rang the council and asked about this, but was assured by a woman from that office that I had to pay the normal rate.
anyone know about this. guess its too late now anyway. changed situation since over a year. feeling low,

Iam64 Sun 01-Dec-19 20:02:06

That you can't please all off the people all of the time grin

SirChenjin Sun 01-Dec-19 19:53:23

Come and confess at the Alter of How Did I Not Know This - no judgments made here! grin

1. I didn’t know that the Earth was tilted on its axis - I thought we just moved further away from the sun in winter and closer in summer, which of course makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

2. I thought gravity was a sort of magnetic force emanating the centre of the Earth that pulled every downwards.

3. I was fascinated to learn that Brazil nuts are actually seeds (that doesn’t make me sound quite so daft as the first two blush)