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People acquire different knowledge depending on their age. You start to realize that the sun still exists even when the night comes and you can’t see it, and that the moon is also always there, so it’s not surprising to sometimes see it during the day.
You learn these kinds of facts by experiencing them, reading about them or talking about them with someone else. But sometimes they just don’t come up and you end up not knowing what is obvious for everybody else. It is never too late to learn, but you can’t help but feel embarrassed when you’re the last one to find out something.
Reddit user PralineStriking wanted people to remember that embarrassment and asked what things they learnt at an age that seemed too late for them and the thread got over 18k answers. We collected some of the best ones and we would like to know if you found anything that you experienced as well. If not, share your own facts you learnt at a late age that you should have known about earlier in life in the comments!
More info: Reddit
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#1
That narwhals are real. I thought they were cute mythological creatures, until I saw a brooch a friend had and asked if it was part of the companies mythological line. She asked me if I thought narwhals were myths, like unicorns. I laughed and said of course they are.
I was 35.
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#2
That I needed glasses. At age 21 my friends were hassling me about being dyslexic because I kept getting words mixed up (second year at Uni). Until then, I had just been reading by looking at the shape of words and guessing the words based on the context and wider story. I had been reading this way for years and survived Uni before finding out my prescription was +1.50. The optometrist said it was amazing I hadn’t noticed. When I put the glasses on, everything was in 4K Ultra. I can now see individual letters.
DUN DUN (she/her) 3 years ago
"When I put the glasses on, everything was in 4K Ultra" We all who wear glasses felt that
#3
That the more work you get done at work, the more they will pile it on. I could have saved a lot of my mental health in my 20’s
#4
“Paradigm” is pronounced “pear-uh-dime”. It is definitely NOT pronounced “pear-uh-dig-um”.
…I learned this at age 19. In college. While delivering an oral report.
I try not to think about.
#5
That Abuela and Abuelo were not my Cuban grandparents actual names
DUN DUN (she/her) 3 years ago
My mum's name is not 'Mum' That broke my heart when I was 2 yo 💔
#6
I thought everyone’s mouth got itchy when eating bananas. Almost 40 years old and find out I’m somewhat allergic to them.
Foxxy (The Original) 3 years ago
It's called oral allergy syndrome. It really sucks, at least it's only bananas for you. My list of fruit and veg that affects me gets longer every year.
#8
The the longest time I always heard of sports teams “Drafting” people. And I am tall, so as a kid I was constantly afraid I’d get drafted for the state basketball team just out of the blue, I thought it worked like a military draft.
I learned this wasn’t the case when I was like 10-12.
#9
That if you wear a white bra, you can see it through a l white shirt, but if you wear a nude colored bra, you can’t. I was 40 when a coworker shared this with me.
Valerie G. 3 years ago
The same thing holds for wearing white panties under white slacks. You need to wear nude coloured ones under those.
#11
That you can flush used toilet paper. Parents taught us as kids to throw away the paper in the trash can for fear of backing up the toilet. Wasn’t until college that I realized my parents were accustomed to that method because they had s***ty plumbing where they grew up in Central America
#12
Wasn't until I was 21 when I drank Lactose Free milk and DIDN'T go sit on a toilet for an hour that I realized I am lactose intolerant. I thought it was normal to s**t constantly after drinking milk.
#13
It’s “for all intents and purposes” not “for all intensive purposes”
#14
That our next door neighbors were lesbians and not just “good friends”. Lovely people. Didn’t figure it out until I was in college
#16
Womens pads stick to their underwear and not themselves like a band-aid.
#17
I learned how to ride a bike at the ripe age of 24
DUN DUN (she/her) 3 years ago
It's okay...we all learn something new everyday, it's not mandatory for you to learn this when you're a kid.
#18
Baby carrots are just shaved down big carrots. I was devastated a few years ago.
#19
At roughly 37, I learned pineapples grew from the ground. Not from a tree.
#20
Corned beef wasn’t made by cattle that were strictly fed corn. My mom couldn’t stop laughing.
#21
That sea horses are not roughly the size of penguins. In fact, they are incredibly tiny. Stupid Saturday morning cartoons!
Foxxy (The Original) 3 years ago (edited)
Omg, you should see the pygmy seahorse, it is super duper teeny tiny, it's just so damn cute.
#22
That puffer fish don't use air to inflate.
Jo Johannsen 3 years ago
I was today years old.... Actually, it's obvious (cause where would they get the air), but who stops to think about it? At least I didn't.
#23
That puffins are in fact NOT extinct. I had a 3rd grade teacher misinform me. I found the truth as a teenager in an embarrassing group setting where I was quite confidently wrong.
DUN DUN (she/her) 3 years ago
For a moment I was like "Where are the legs of that bird in the picture!?" Then I put my glasses on :)
#25
That cows are female and bulls are male. I thought they are two different species
Eat Dirt Crow 3 years ago
Technically, a cow is a female that has given birth. Before birth they're called heifers.
#27
That Flo Rida spells Florida. Also will I am was William. Realized this last year. I’ll be 42 in a month lol
Tucker Ramsey 3 years ago
That C.R.E.A.M by wu tang stands for cash rules.everyrhing around me
#28
I was 20 years old when I learned that salt lamps are indeed made of salt.
I always thought that it was plastic carved into a rock-like shape
Jo Johannsen 3 years ago
Reminds me of a recent post about putting the salt lamp in the dishwasher to clean it...
#30
I was almost 30 when I realized that travelling uphill does not always mean you're travelling north. And similarly rivers can run north because they aren't going "uphill".
I'm not normally that stupid.
#31
That when i deposit cash in the bank, there isn’t a specific money locker just for me.
#32
That menstrual fluid isn’t blue. The tampon and pad commercials had me fooled.
Foxxy (The Original) 3 years ago
We started getting ads where the fluid they use was red. Apparently they got a lot of complaints saying its disgusting and not suitable for TV. F**k that noise, we need to stop periods being a taboo subject and something we need to hide.
#33
I thought women get pregnant at a random moment in their life until my friend told me you have to have intercourse in 7th grade.
#34
I thought the D is Disney was just some random symbol, kinda like a backwards G. It took me until like 7th grade to realize it and even as an adult I still can’t unsee the backwards G.
Foxxy (The Original) 3 years ago
I used to think the y in Disney was actually a p and called them Disnep.
#35
"TP" stood for Toilet Paper. I thought to "TP someone's house" you just put toilet paper over it to look like a teepee.
#36
I was 16 when I found out you're meant to spit toothpaste out after brushing your teeth, I had always just swallowed it and thought that's just what you do... Idk how tf I don't have flouride poisoning
#37
I thought an armadillo was a reptile rather than a mammal
#39
Up until 15 I believed If I swallow a seed and then drinks water a tree is going to grow inside me.
#40
That the game show Wheel of Fortune is named after the tarot card
sofacushionfort 3 years ago
They did a pilot for “Wheel of Suffering and Desire,” but it didn’t test well with non-Buddhist audiences.
What do you think ?
Jo Choto 3 years ago
There is nothing wrong with not knowing something. Learning is always, always a good thing. The problem only starts when you learn something new and then pretend it doesn't exist. I'm looking at you, climate deniers, flat earthers, racism deniers, misogynists-- okay, I'm looking at a lot of people, but you get my meaning.
Jyndaru 3 years ago
And people should not stop trying to learn new things just because they finished school. There's always more to learn.
Load More Replies...
Francesca Annoni 3 years ago
My dad was a very smart man, he loved to learn new things and read, for me he was a sort of walking encyclopedia.. only one time I taught him something . There is an idiom in Italy "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca" "you don't look in the mouth of a gift horse" because you can tell the age of a horse by the teeth, but Donato it's also a person name.. he told me "I never understand this idiom , I thought that the horse's name was Donato!" We had the best laugh of our life... I miss you so much dad!!
Wondering Alice 3 years ago
I always assumed this idiom was to do with the Trojan horse - which never made sense to me, because if they had looked inside before accepting it things would have worked out very differently. So thanks Francesca, I learned something new there too!
Load More Replies...
Mark Richards 3 years ago
I was in my early 50s before I realized I was circumcised. I was stunned. 😂😂😂
Urbangirlatl 3 years ago
There is a clip on YouTube for the Graham Norton show where Sir Patrick Stewart talks about the same confusion. He thought he was....he's not.
Load More Replies...
Jo Choto 3 years ago
There is nothing wrong with not knowing something. Learning is always, always a good thing. The problem only starts when you learn something new and then pretend it doesn't exist. I'm looking at you, climate deniers, flat earthers, racism deniers, misogynists-- okay, I'm looking at a lot of people, but you get my meaning.
Jyndaru 3 years ago
And people should not stop trying to learn new things just because they finished school. There's always more to learn.
Load More Replies... Francesca Annoni 3 years ago
My dad was a very smart man, he loved to learn new things and read, for me he was a sort of walking encyclopedia.. only one time I taught him something . There is an idiom in Italy "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca" "you don't look in the mouth of a gift horse" because you can tell the age of a horse by the teeth, but Donato it's also a person name.. he told me "I never understand this idiom , I thought that the horse's name was Donato!" We had the best laugh of our life... I miss you so much dad!!
Wondering Alice 3 years ago
I always assumed this idiom was to do with the Trojan horse - which never made sense to me, because if they had looked inside before accepting it things would have worked out very differently. So thanks Francesca, I learned something new there too!
Load More Replies... Mark Richards 3 years ago
I was in my early 50s before I realized I was circumcised. I was stunned. 😂😂😂
Urbangirlatl 3 years ago
There is a clip on YouTube for the Graham Norton show where Sir Patrick Stewart talks about the same confusion. He thought he was....he's not.
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