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Have you ever found yourself realizing that there are some things that you were interpreting wrong? If yes, then it’s okay because there are more people who misunderstood some common things and they all confessed this after someone on Reddit asked “What took you an embarrassing amount of time to figure out?” The question that received more than 39k upvotes was soon answered by many people who decided to share their personal and funny stories. 

People confessed how long it took them to realize how some items and things work or how someone else had to explain this to them. One user shared that it took 9 months for them to finally realize how to use a French press correctly. Another Redditor revealed that it took them a while to understand how the fashion world and its runway shows work and that “those ridiculous over-the-top dresses exhibited at fashion shows are not intended to ever be worn in real life.” 

What are some of the things you had to take some time to understand? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!

More Info: Reddit

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#1

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered I was 50ish when I realized that the little piggy that goes to market wasn't going f**kin' shopping.

dramboxf , jennicatpink Report

Final score:
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Debi Gallagher
Debi Gallagher
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

R u kiddin me?!! I had no other idea that he was going to market for anything else but to shop!! I am 60 yo and it sure blew my innocent old mind!

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#2

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered When I was younger I thought 'feat' was a very popular rapper. ie Eminem feat 50 cent etc.. I was like damn this feat guy appears in a lot of songs..

fr0896 , Eva Rinaldi Report

Final score:
231points
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#3

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered When I was like 5 my dad would constantly make the following joke:

He'd put his hand on my head and squeeze lightly a couple times while saying "I'm a brainsucker. What am I doing?" After a quick pause he'd follow up with the punch line "Starving!", but he always stretched out the pronunciation for the word so it sounded to me like "Star...ving"

For years I thought it was a lame joke where the punchline somehow referred to the fact that brainsuckers were aliens and came from the stars or something like that.

I was sitting in class one day and I must have been 10-12 years old before I realized "He's calling me dumb! The joke is that I dont have a brain so the brainsucker is starving!"

I was at least smart enough to never tell him this, because I'd never live it down if he knew it took me five years to figure out the joke.

stevenjackson121 , David B. Gleason Report

Final score:
219points
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Joshua Seaman
Joshua Seaman
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're joking with a kid, make sure they get it and are in on the joke. Otherwise it risks coming across as mean. Dad calling his kid dumb isn't a good joke to begin with.

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#4

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered How ring binders work. I thought you had to take out all the pages to add a new page to the back of the binder, which annoyed me in school because it could take a while having to realign all the pages to fit the holes in the binder. I was about 22 when I worked in a bookstore and my coworker saw me take all the pages out, after which she showed me how it actually works. I will never forget the look of disbelief on her face.

axolotl_1994 , intenteffect Report

Final score:
205points
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#5

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That those ridiculous over-the-top dresses exhibited at fashion shows are not intended to ever be worn in real life; they are like concept cars of the fashion world, intended to showcase the designer's creativity and vision.

Unobtanium_Alloy , Oliver Ayala Report

Final score:
204points
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#6

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered Before my cataract surgery I thought Hellboy wore aviator goggles. Post surgery I saw they were remnants of his horns.

MollyXDanger502 , Michael Neel Report

Final score:
195points
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#7

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That the state Montana is literally the word ‘mountains’ in Spanish. Didn’t realize until I was physically in Montana, staring up at some mountains, and thought ‘wow! Mountains are so pretty! Montañas… Montanas… montana, oh.’

clean_da_erf , american_rugbier Report

Final score:
186points
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#8

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered I didn't realize until my late teens/early 20s that "chemical castration" means taking pills which render you infertile, not necessarily dipping someone's balls in a vat of acid. Yea this one is pretty embarrassing.

MGrooms94 , Jay the Expat Report

Final score:
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#9

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered When I was growing up the family would often do road trips to Vancouver, at least once a year. Just outside Williams Lake I would always observe a construction site where some sort of log house is being built. It was always half finished.

After like a decade I was maybe 18 and finally made the comment about them "still building that place". Apparently they build custom log homes on site and disassemble and ship them out.

Regnes , Thomas Elliott Report

Final score:
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#10

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered In 'Lady and the Tramp' the humans are called Jim dear and darling. I was in my 30s before I realized that wasn't their actual names, it was what lady heard them calling each other.

spacepunk17 , Chad Sparkes Report

Final score:
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#11

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That my childhood hamster did not, in fact, run away.

kifflington , Ryosuke Iwanaga Report

Final score:
171points
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#12

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered My French press. I owned one 9 months before I realized the coffee grounds go UNDER the plunger and not ON TOP of it. I was always so annoyed having to clean the top of the plunger after lowering the coffee into the water.

My girlfriend stared at me like I was the stupidest person she’d ever met trying to formulate how to politely fix this.

RollinDeepWithData , Bean Poet Report

Final score:
166points
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vickyz avatar
Vicky Z
Vicky Z
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first time they served me coffee in this years ago, i started moving the press up and down🙄 waitress was not amused

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#13

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That breakfast actually means breaking the fast.

droidarmy99 , Sean MacEntee Report

Final score:
154points
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#14

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That chickens always lay eggs without needing to mate with a rooster.

TheGodfearingLegend , Jen Zajac Report

Final score:
152points
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vickyz avatar
Vicky Z
Vicky Z
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Basically it's their period.... these eggs are infertile

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#15

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered How to use a staple remover.

Until I was was in my 40s, I’d just use the staple remover to “bite” the long side of a staple and kind of tear it back through the paper.

Then someone showed me how to properly use a staple remover by “biting” the crimped side of the staple to bend the crimp and kind of straighten out the staple again. Once kind of straightened, “bite” the long side of the staple and the staple will back out the same holes it went in without further tearing the paper.

slider728 , PIX1861 Report

Final score:
143points
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#16

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That the ‘Teletubbies’ literally had tele-tubby’s, as in their stomachs were TVs. Figured this out at university.

DryPencil_BluntPen , Stevie Rocco Report

Final score:
139points
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#17

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered K-9 stands for canine.. took me 29 years.

flaaaden , Beau B Report

Final score:
137points
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jihana avatar
Jihana
Jihana
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, that one took me ages as well. In my defense: I am not a native speaker

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#18

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered When I was younger I had no idea that New York and Newark were two different places. I kept thinking people saying Newark were trying to say New York, but had a speech impediment or accent, or just didn't know how to pronounce it.

ChickenGoose , Helen Alfvegren Report

Final score:
136points
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Nikki Sevven
Nikki Sevven
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even worse, there's also a Newark in Delaware. Imagine being from there and having to constantly explain that, no, you're not from New Jersey.

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#19

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered I realised a few years ago that cows don’t just naturally produce milk, they have to be pregnant/have a calf to produce it. Which is embarrassingly late to figure out.

yllastocs , WearMask Report

Final score:
135points
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King Joffrey
King Joffrey
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, thanks for that. I'm over 40 and literally learnt it from this post (and even googled it to make sure this is not a wind-up)... In my defence, I grew up in a city and have only seen a real cow a number of times.

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#20

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered When you do something wrong but with enthusiasm, and someone says, “A for effort,” I didn’t understand that it meant an “A” as in school report card grades. It never made sense because in my head, “E” is for Effort, like “C” is for Cookie. I finally had someone explain it to me sometime after I turned 30.

Alisaurusrex82 , popofatticus Report

Final score:
133points
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#21

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered When I was a kid back in the early 90’s I was obsessed with WWF wrestling. It didn’t hit me until years later that The Undertaker’s managers name, Paul Bearer, wasn’t his real name.

LSU2007 , Tony Report

Final score:
129points
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Troux
Troux
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He was not only the manager but the 'core owner.'

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#22

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered The black market isn't an actual market.

smol_boi-_- , Sancho McCann Report

Final score:
129points
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Rose the Cook
Rose the Cook
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a child I thought it was something to do with the slavery we learned about at school. Also another expression we heard a lot was "the criminal underworld" which I thought was a gang of crooks who lived in the subway.

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#23

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That when more than one person tells you they saw your husband with a woman who wasnt you, in his car, more than once, it probably means hes cheating on you, regardless of what he says.

TimeTraveler3056 , rochelle hartman Report

Final score:
126points
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#24

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered "You can't have your cake and eat it" doesn't mean "you can't obtain your cake then eat it"; it means "you can't still possess your cake after having eaten it".

BuildMeUp1990 , Marufish Report

Final score:
119points
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#25

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That the saying is “kit and caboodle” and not “kitten caboodle.” Until I found out the real saying, I always pictures a big basket filled with kittens.

Guac__is__extra__ , Arbrealettres& Report

Final score:
114points
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vickyz avatar
Vicky Z
Vicky Z
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Picturing a basket with kittens is not a bad thing at all

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#26

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered I thought that ponies were baby horses till I was like 24.

RBXXIII , steve lodefink Report

Final score:
108points
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#27

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered The rapper Flo Rida is from Florida.

tonybenwhite , Eva Rinaldi Report

Final score:
103points
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#28

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That ringing in the ears is not a normal thing everyone experiences or a superstition that someone is talking about you. I was 30 when I realized that it is tinnitus, and not normal even though I've had it since I was around 13 (too loud music).

delusionallysane , Bradley Gordon Report

Final score:
103points
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#29

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That lambs were the same species as sheep.

wellsheeeeit , alex.ch Report

Final score:
103points
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Valerie G.
Valerie G.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup, lambs grow up to be sheep, not like ponies that do not grow up to be horses.

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#30

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That the saying is “nip it in the bud” NOT butt.

Designer_Ant8543 , Bev Sykes Report

Final score:
101points
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#31

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That the actor who plays Jason Gideon on Criminal Minds is also Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride.

Ratchel1916 , Bearian Report

Final score:
44points
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#32

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered Took me 22 years to realize that the word “sayonara” is Japanese and not Spanish.

highhiloona , hans-johnson Report

Final score:
37points
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#33

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered That you can just twist your deodorant a few clicks to get the little clear plastic safety lid off, instead of clawing and pulling at it till your fingers are raw.

UnstuckTimePilgrim , Michael Scialdone Report

Final score:
36points
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Toni Alabakovski
Toni Alabakovski
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just learned this last year, probably on here 😱 🤦‍♀️

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#34

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered Took me 23 years on this earth to figure out that "several" was not in fact a way to describe seven of something. Every time I heard it/read it, I thought people were always just being oddly specific about the number of something. Got into an argument with my grandfather about it and didn't believe it meant more than a few until I looked it up..

sirbingalo , Jamie Beverly Report

Final score:
35points
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Scooter
Scooter
Community Member
Premium 3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I learned 2 is a couple, 3-5 is a few, more than 5 but less than 11 is several.

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#35

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered There's a Garfield comic from 1983 where Garfield says that he hates designer sweaters. Then he lifts an arm and says, "The lizard chewed a hole in the armpit." It took me until about 2017 to realize that he is referring to the Lacoste crocodile. I have spent basically my entire life referring to every hole that forms in a piece of clothing as being caused by "the lizard" but without actually getting the joke. I thought it was just the surreal, absurdist humor that Garfield is known for.

Mk38 , Marcus Horstbrink Report

Final score:
34points
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#36

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered The light in the fridge turns off when you shut the door. :(

Costner_Facts , Richard Kelland Report

Final score:
33points
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vickyz avatar
Vicky Z
Vicky Z
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Raise hands if you were closing the door slowly as kids to see when it turns off!!

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#37

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered I have worked in a salvage yard specializing in European cars for the last decade. Everyone here calls these very specific type of pliers "sob pliers", and not being well versed in tools I just assumed that's what they were called. Took me about 5 years to realize that they are calling them "Saab pliers" because they find them in Saabs.

Wolfpackomega , crash71100 Report

Final score:
30points
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#38

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered The microwave oven doesn't have to be running for the "Add 30 seconds" button to work.

greenvortex , HomeSpot HQ Report

Final score:
25points
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#39

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered The Y in Disney wasnt a p

Snaper_XD , Tombird1 Report

Final score:
21points
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#40

Someone Online Asked “What Took You An Embarrassing Amount Of Time To Figure Out?”, And 30 People Delivered Rocky Balboa was not a real person. Think I was 17 or so when I found out he was a fictional character.

CrabPplCrabPpl , Alatele fr Report

Final score:
20points
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earringnut
earringnut
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was younger I thought the same thing about Gump... So at least you're not the dumbest person on bored panda.

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