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We go through life being continuously reminded of our limits. But instead of trying to hide them, we should stay humble — it's what allows us to remain open to new ideas, perspectives, and experiences, all of which are essential for personal growth.

So in an attempt to remind you that no person is born all-knowing, we present a discussion we found on the subreddit 'No Stupid Questions.' It began when a platform user CelesteAvoir asked others to share the facts that they've "learned embarrassingly late" and has blossomed into a fascinating collection of stories, adding some levity to the universal quest for knowledge.

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Until 2018 I thought Elon Musk wasa kind of truck stop bathroom cologne, from the makers of Jovan Musk. I really wish it was true.

Longjumping_Choice_6 , SpaceX Report

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G A
G A
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Elon Musk. Leaves a lingering odour of b******t.

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#2

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life My uncle once told me if I got a thousand bee stings I’d die. He meant all at once. For years, I thought he meant cumulatively. And I kept count.

isaacgunson , Pixabay Report

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G A
G A
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You'd have to be the crappest bee keeper ever.....

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#3

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Can I point to something that other ppl were wrong about? I was in a room full of ppl discussing a cruise some of them took to and around Alaska. I asked if they saw any narwhals, and they all - the entire room looked at me dumbfounded, and some started laughing. Every single one of them thought narwhals were mythical creatures. I still can’t believe it. I guess they should be embarrassed bc I don’t think many of them even looked it up and I guess I should be a little embarrassed that ppl actually don’t think they’re real.

One-Winner-8441 , Jessica Simpson Report

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PattyK
PattyK
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why should OP feel embarrassed? The people who didn’t know that narwhals are real are the ones who should be embarrassed. And ashamed.

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#4

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life I'm from Belgium and I was nearly 30 when I found out what really happened in congo. We just casually brushed over that part in high school history as "it was the fashion at the time to colonise. We left when they were self-sufficient enough to run their own country, and then they effed it up".

Evening-Dizzy , Ron Lach Report

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Samuel Pelatan
Samuel Pelatan
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah kinda hard to run a country when your colonisers left with your hands

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#5

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Hump day is referring to the middle of the week, like over the hump, and not the day everyone humps. I always found it weird at my office job when someone would say happy hump day, like, dude, I’m pretty sure you can’t say that here. I was 27 when I realized.

Paranoid_Orangutan , RDNE Stock project Report

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#6

Oh, another one. Not me, but a friend of mine. She didn’t realize that (U.S.) military members got paid. She thought “an all volunteer military” meant they worked for free. When we explained it to her, it was hilarious. She goes, “You mother f*****s got PAID!?!?!? What the hell have I been thanking everyone for their service for!?!?!?”

We laughed for weeks.

anon Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
TotallyNOTAFox
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The word "Soldier" has it's roots in the latin word soldarius (one having pay). We in Germany call the payment "Sold" (soft S) and the people receiving it "Soldaten" based on that, too

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#7

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That the bad moon is on the rise, not the bathroom on the right. I ruined that song for my mom when I told her what I heard lmao.

Conscious_Abroad_877 , Ron Lach Report

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SBocker78
SBocker78
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A friend in HS ruined The Bangles "Manic Monday" for me when she started singing it "Just Another Man To F**k Me". I still can't listen to it without laughing.

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#8

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That a quart is a **quart**er of a gallon. Duh.

thamonsta , Meruyert Gonullu Report

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Annik Perrot
Annik Perrot
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

TIL, and I'm not embarrassed in the least. How much is that in liters? /j

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#9

I once accidentally shouted 'I love necrophilia!' during my class in 10th grade. I had just read a book about a young teenage necromancer and got the words mixed up. We can cringe together.

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#10

Oh my gosh, my time to shine.

So I was in like 5th grade when Pluto was declassified as a planet and demoted to dwarf planet. Heard about it in science class, wrote in an assignment that it was sad, yada yada yada. Well my brother at that time was 4 years older and told me that the reason it was declassified was because it imploded and was now the size of like a basketball.

I spent my whole life believing this. Then when I was like 21, I was lying in bed with my husband and just blurted out "Bro remember when we were kids and Pluto imploded and they declassified it as a planet? That was wild." You know trying to bond over our shared childhood trauma. My husband, shocked, was like "Wat." And I explained the whole thing to him and he was like "That did not happen, you are insane." I learned the truth then and there as a grown married woman. I was horrified. Talked to my brother and he didn't even remember, just that he used to tell me all kinds of made up s**t. It was one of the craziest realizations I've ever had.

Madi27 Report

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lovemy suffolk
lovemy suffolk
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My oldest sister did the same type of thing. Lol. She told me , when i was about 6 yo, that if i ever said aloud or even thought the words " damn the river styx" that hades would have me burn in hell for eternity. I spent a good portion of the next couple days in tears, until my dad coaxed out of me what was wrong. He then went and had 'a talk" with my big sister for terrorizing me. Of course, it never occurred to me...by her own testimony, she too would have been consigned to the fiery pits. LOL, Sibs. >.

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#11

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life A cup is a unit of measurement. I always wondered how you could have one cup of something in a recipe when everyone has different cups.

TheDemonMaker , Anna Shvets Report

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#12

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life The little arrow on my dash beside the gas pump icon points to the side of the car with the gas door. Rental cars were a 50/50 shot of getting it right if I forgot to look first before driving, so it was a good thing to learn. At 40 years old. Haha.

LemmyLola , Abdulvahap Demir Report

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Robert T
Robert T
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

* on some cars, not all. If it has an arrow, then yes it does, but not all cars have arrows, and the fuel hose may or may not be on the correct side to indicate it either.

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#13

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That the song 'The Macarena' is actually about a woman who was sleeping around while her husband was a conscript at war. The "one and a two and a three Macarena'!" lyric is actually counting outloud the amount of men she had sex with.

We sang that song and did that dance in gym class in middle school!!

InfernalOrgasm , LosDelRioVEVO Report

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Rebelliousslug
Rebelliousslug
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one and Who Let The Dogs Out really shouldn’t have been so heavily used in school

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#14

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That Rhode Island isn’t an Island. I learned that at 53 years old.

vanbrima , Mohan Nannapaneni Report

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Rob D
Rob D
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're not from the US understandable. If you are, get out.

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#15

I learned about Medicaid eligibility in my late twenties. I was unemployed due to untreated depression for about a decade. I didn't know there was medicaid and disability benefits for people. If I had known earlier my life could have been drastically different.

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ZombieMommy
ZombieMommy
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most people don't learn about it until they need it. Medicare is another one and it is WAY more confusing, learn about Medicare before you have to get it at 65 it will make your life so much easier. - caseworker

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#16

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life I thought the term "birthday suit" meant a suit you're literally supposed to wear on your birthday.

SteadfastEnd , Kampus Production Report

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#17

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Until I was 19, I thought fly fishing was fishing out of a plane or helicopter. I figured it just flew really low and slow and that they had really long fishing lines.

bananafishin , Tomasz Filipek Report

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René Sauer
René Sauer
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, what is it? I always thought you would use flies as bait. But then how would you get enough for that?

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#18

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That cattle is just the species name for cows and bulls. I thought it was a closely related but separate species until like grad school 😭😂.

AstroWolf11 , Mark Stebnicki Report

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#19

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life I've never heard someone say Yosemite out loud, I've been reading it as Yo sem ight lmao.

Asleep-Trifle-8645 , Mental Health America (MHA) Report

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#20

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That fallopian tubes aren't connected to the ovaries. They have finger-like appendages and float around over to where the egg is released to grab the egg. The egg just free floats in your abdomen void waiting to get picked up. Oh and if you only have one tube, it can make it over to the other ovary to get the egg there sometimes.

Stunning_Patience_78 , cottonbro studio Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
TotallyNOTAFox
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Statistically 1/3 of women also get cramps during ovulation

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#21

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Pumpkin spice does not actually taste like pumpkin :/.

MAMidCent , Pixabay Report

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leendadll
leendadll
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pumpkin Spice is the spices that go into american pumpkin pie - clove, cinnamon, nutmeg.

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#22

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life It’s chest of drawers and not Chester drawers.

Jwalkinworm , Keegan Checks Report

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Lesley Relph
Lesley Relph
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those drawers are the wrong way round, it should make a Union Jack!

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#23

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That Jessica Rabbit wasn't actually a rabbit and that "Rabbit" was her last name because she married Roger. I was in my 20s when I figured it out.

ThePhiff , Kay Pike Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
TotallyNOTAFox
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Didn't stop her from playing "Petty Cake" with somebody else though

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#24

Women don't urinate out of their vaginas. There's a small hole called the urethra opening.

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TotallyNOTAFox
TotallyNOTAFox
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also if women squirt it's not from the urethra (common misconception, too), it's liquid from the Skene gland with the openings located on 4 and 8 o'clock around it.

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#25

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That the ABC song and twinkle twinkle little star song have the same melody. I was 27 years old when I realized it. Blew my mind then 😂.

khitanona , Wellington Cunha Report

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Molly Whuppie
Molly Whuppie
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

they are all loosely based upon a french melody "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" from the mid 1700s. Mozart also wrote some variations of it.

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#26

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life The crust of the bread does not in fact contain all the nutrients.

ergonaut , Geraud pfeiffer Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
TotallyNOTAFox
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would it? It's just dough that got exposed to the heat the most

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#27

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life A girl I knew thought roadside memorials were actual graves.

Midlifetoker , chb1848 Report

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#28

All I knew is when I turned 21 is wine is red or white. I tried to order white wine and the waiter asked which one. I asked what they had and picked the one I felt most confident pronouncing.

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Ross “Sarcastic Dad”
Ross “Sarcastic Dad”
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Best thing I ever learned was the word, "house". Can bail you out of a lot of dinner date situations where you're at a fancier place then you're comfortable with. "I'll take the house white wine/whiskey/whatever".

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#29

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Carrot cake is really made with carrots. I thought because they usually pipe a little carrot on the top and the fact you ate it around Easter they just called it that for no other reason.

Garden_Circus , chudesabyvaut Report

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Francois
Francois
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why on earth limit eating carrot cake to Easter?

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#30

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Its coleslaw not coldslaw. I just... never looked at the menus to hard. Coldslaw makes sense its cold. Who is Cole???

ArchDragon99 , Shameel mukkath Report

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#31

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life I thought everyone got vacation for their birthday. Dec 28. No school 20 years. 1st job I went to boss and complained they scheduled me. I was so surprised.

AffectionateSun5776 , cottonbro studio Report

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#32

Ummmm....what the clitoris is for.

I'm past 70 now and when I was a young'un we didn't have sex ed classes.

I was lucky, my first sex partner was patient and taught me. But oh boy, did I feel like an idiot afterwards.

amerkanische_Frosch Report

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Sky Render
Sky Render
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Western society at large seems to be a bit sketchy about female anatomy, I've noticed. It's to the point that men not being able to find the clitoris is so common that it's used as humor. Even though it's the homologue to the penis and is in about the same spot.

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#33

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life I didn't know pickles were cucumbers until I was about 18. Tbf I didn't like pickles and never gave them much thought.

1helluvabutlah , Karolina Grabowska Report

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Francois
Francois
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now hold on. There are various types of cucumbers, some are used for pickling and some are eaten fresh. The ones that are pickled are usually not the one you eat fresh.

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#34

That you should throw out the garbage even if its not completely full. No need to minmax garbage bags. Spent two days removing all the fruit flies in my apartment, not a pleasent memory.

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Iampenny
Iampenny
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Went on holiday for 3 weeks ant forgot to take out the rubbish, got a nasty surprise when I got home.

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#35

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life How to spell 'garuntee' - still working on it.

willieandthets , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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Writer (He/They demiboy)
Writer (He/They demiboy)
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

guarantee? i always think of it as goo-ar-an-tee in my head when i write it out, even though I know how it's actually pronounced and know how to write it without thinking of it that way. its just fun, I suppose, and now it's just habit.

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#36

PC means Personal Computer.

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Cindi Antrobus
Cindi Antrobus
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I think of PC I don't automatically think Personal Computers I think Politically Correct

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#37

Electric eels are actually electric, my thinking was that they secreted a toxin that paralyzed their prey but in humans caused a sting that was like a bad shock so people just thought they were generating electricity.

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#38

How to tie my shoes. I mean I learned how and did it just fine, I thought, but they came undone a lot. As an adult one day I took the loop around the other way. I don’t know why but I could just feel that it wasn’t the usual way that I went. S**t stayed tied all day. I have never had to double knot my shoes again.

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#39

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That West Virginia doesn’t mean the western part of Virginia (learned when I was 13, even though the 50 states/state capitals was part of my 3rd grade curriculum)

I also forgot about Staten Island for several years and thought there were only four boroughs, even though I’m from NYC.

rosyred-fathead , - Ryan Report

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Carl Roberts
Carl Roberts
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But...it got its name because it WAS the western part of Virginia, before it split from Virginia and became its own state in 1863.

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#40

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life That POW MIA wasn’t pronounced phonetically as pow-me-ah. My husband had quite the laugh a few years back when I pointed out someone else also had a “pow-me-ah flag.”.

damnuge23 , Quinn Dombrowski Report

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TotallyNOTAFox
TotallyNOTAFox
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If anybody wants to ask: POW - Prisoner of war / MIA - Missing in action

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#41

30 Things People Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life Mormons aren't that common, and they're mostly concentrated in the Western US (especially Utah). It's not embarrassing that you didn't see any in your home country. It's a relatively niche sect of Christianity.

untempered_fate , Drew Rae Report

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G A
G A
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would it be embarrassing? I don't know any Buddhists or wiccans but it doesn't embarrass me?

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