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What are some really obvious things you didn't learn until later?

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Wait....Pineapples don't grow on trees....?
I'm 31 in a month and did not know this....
I only learned this about a year ago when my mom decided to start growing pineapples. Speaking of, you can cut off the top part, the crown, and plant it, and it'll grow into a new pineapple plant.
 
On 9/11/2001, we were briefly told in class (1st grade) that a plane crashed into a tower. Somehow, I wasn't exposed to discussion about 9/11 for years afterwards, and assumed it was just an accident until ~2006.
I can't work out how this is even possible. There was media coverage of 9/11 all over the world for weeks following the incident.
 
So you know those water filters you install on your sink? Where you hold down the black lever to get water? These:

drinking-water-tap-300x217.png


Whenever I needed to fill a pot or large container, I would sit there and hold the black lever down until it was full. Only a few years ago did I discover you could pull the lever up and the water would continuously come out until you flipped it back down. Like this:

4500_1_large.jpg


Really makes things so much easier.
 
I can't work out how this is even possible. There was media coverage of 9/11 all over the world for weeks following the incident.

I was in 8th grade when 9/11 happened. Despite watching the news, I had no idea what the twin towers were. I had no idea who the Taliban were. I didn't hear about Columbine until 3 years after it happened (may have been 4 years). I didn't know the WTC bombings in the 90s happened until sometime in high school, and I could only vaguely recall knowing about the OK City bombings happening when I was in elementary.

It doesn't shock me that kids don't learn about current events, as most schools teach kids the past and lots of parents shy their kids away from the bad shit. All of the stuff people learn late in this thread seems to be because it isn't taught in schools, and no one bothered to tell them.
 
Until I was about 14 or so, I thought the expression was 'No Pain, No Game'. From context clues I thought it was a sports expression saying that without a lot of effort, you couldn't have a really good game.

One day I saw it written down and my mind was blown.
 
I was in 8th grade when 9/11 happened. Despite watching the news, I had no idea what the twin towers were. I had no idea who the Taliban were. I didn't hear about Columbine until 3 years after it happened (may have been 4 years). I didn't know the WTC bombings in the 90s happened until sometime in high school, and I could only vaguely recall knowing about the OK City bombings happening when I was in elementary.

It doesn't shock me that kids don't learn about current events, as most schools teach kids the past and lots of parents shy their kids away from the bad shit. All of the stuff people learn late in this thread seems to be because it isn't taught in schools, and no one bothered to tell them.

Was your 8th grade in the US? I was in 7th during 9/11 and it was very clear something happened. They didn't announce it at school that day but everyone talked about it in the following days. This is in the Midwest.

First grade I can understand, but eighth is pretty shocking.
 
nobodyreads.jpg

Did you even click the spoiler tag before posting or do you usually just get the gist and attack it without the full picture?

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The EA Sports guys says, "EA Sports, it's in the game," not, "EA Sports, to the game." I misheard it for years. I was too busy hoping one day pressing x enough would skip everything and land me on the title screen, obv.

I was agreeing with you. I was just adding to what you said and trying to give you credit. Sorry if you thought I was trying to talk down to you.
 
Apparently the zipper on your pants can "lock." If the zipper tab thing is pointed up, it's locked and won't unzip. If it's pointed down, it will unzip. I did not know this until maybe....two years ago? I'm 29. Lol.
 
I was like 19 or so when I realized I could use a toaster anywhere with a plug.

I was making toast during a commercial and was scared I'd miss some of the show. Then it hit me. The toaster does not need to stay in the kitchen. Took that thing to the living room and was so happy. I made so much toast that day from excitement.

I love this post.
 
On the topic if kids being naive about world events, I had no idea what the first gulf war was when it was happening, despite hearing it on the news all the time. I only realised what it was when we went back to Iraq following 9/11.

I also remember (first time around) thinking it was golf war, because I was a child, and extremely stupid.
 
Today I learned that "pickles" were not a naturally occuring foodstuff and that what we know as pickles are actually cucumbers that have been "pickled" in various spices.
 
I had never seen chile con carne written down until recently, before I assumed it was all one word. So I had the realisation that it means "chile with meat". For some reason this totally blew my mind

Also I only recently realised I've been spelling receive wrong my entire life
 
I had a math teacher that didnt knew watermelon had seeds until it got married and his wife not removed the seeds like his mom always did.
 
I'd like to know what it is about the nature of duct's that they fall apart so much they need a special tape invented for them.

On the ground, not in it.

stock-photo-pineapple-plant-field-in-phuket-thailand-77129785.jpg

Wow, well I guess I learned something new in this thread. I never really thought about it where they come from before. I think I just assumed they grow on trees as well.
 
That a lot of the things that I know since I was a kid, being born in a countryside in between tall mountains and the (pacific) ocean, is completely alien to some people.


Ever since I saw a GAF thread years/months ago saying "did you know that fresh banana aren't actually fresh but stored for months first before being sold on supermakets", I never took my food for granted anymore. It's weird learning that people from other side of the world are paying huge amount of money for "organic food", something I been eating almost all my life for free.
 
I had never seen chile con carne written down until recently, before I assumed it was all one word. So I had the realisation that it means "chile with meat". For some reason this totally blew my mind

Also I only recently realised I've been spelling receive wrong my entire life

As well as the word chilli.
 
I learned that people generally won't judge you for all the bullshit you're worried about, because they can't read your mind, and honestly you're way too hard on yourself.

shift+tab = BACKWARDS TABBING OH MY GOD I'M SO MUCH FASTER AT EVERYTHING NOW
WTF?????

I was like 19 or so when I realized I could use a toaster anywhere with a plug.

I was making toast during a commercial and was scared I'd miss some of the show. Then it hit me. The toaster does not need to stay in the kitchen. Took that thing to the living room and was so happy. I made so much toast that day from excitement.
This is fantastic.
 
There's no you that thinks in addition to thoughts. There's no separate self that these things are attributed towards. Most people incorrectly assume there is.

What sort of existential nonsense are you invoking. By definition you think thoughts. A CPU computes a process. A person thinks a thought. Thinking is the action our brain carries out. Thoughts are the bundles conscious ideas that we think.
 
Apparently the zipper on your pants can "lock." If the zipper tab thing is pointed up, it's locked and won't unzip. If it's pointed down, it will unzip. I did not know this until maybe....two years ago? I'm 29. Lol.

I didn't know that until....now.

Just tried and well, it works. Not sure how useful it is, my pants never unzipped by themselves but good to know!
 
I love you, Gaf. Don't ever change.

Food carries on cooking after you take it out of the oven.


Protip: take cookies out of the oven just before they're actually done. The time it takes to get them out and put them on a plate and then eat them will make them perfect.


How about the arrow in the FedEx logo? Everything I knew was a lie when I saw that.

I hope this being a gaming board that I don't shock anyone but how about the names of certain pokemon? Ar(c)tic-uno, zap-dos, mol(t)-tres, ekans, etc
 
I learned that people generally won't judge you for all the bullshit you're worried about, because they can't read your mind, and honestly you're way too hard on yourself.

Same here, then I started thinking how I judge people and it's nowhere close to the way I think they judge me.
 
I didn't make the connection that the reason Token on South Park is called Token because he's the only black kid until I was like 19 and been watching for five years.
 
I didn't make the connection that the reason Token on South Park is called Token because he's the only black kid until I was like 19 and been watching for five years.

Haha, me too.

I was working on the yard not thinking about anything related to South Park or anything at all besides the yardwork. Then it hit me 'Token is called Token because he's the token black character'. I felt like I had just discovered gravity or something.
 
Was your 8th grade in the US? I was in 7th during 9/11 and it was very clear something happened. They didn't announce it at school that day but everyone talked about it in the following days. This is in the Midwest.

First grade I can understand, but eighth is pretty shocking.

Also in the Midwest. They had actually announced something over the intercoms very very early into it, but they were also very very vague. It was probably not short after the 2nd plane hit. Basically the principal came on and told the teachers something big in the news was happening and they should turn the TV on. I remember my teacher's reaction to the poor reception on the TV being "Oh, a plane crashed into a building and it's on fire." He was so nonchalant about it, that he turned it off not sure why they would tell us about that. It wasn't until next class or so we started understanding it was on purpose because it was 2 planes.

What is interesting is that none of the teachers explained to us what was going on directly, it was basically the talk about school that spread information. I think they either assumed we all understood terrorism, or were too shocked themselves to really process anything internally that day. You knew it was a big deal when your gym class rolls out a TV though, and the next day you hear the teachers are banned from talking about it because they heard someone there had a family member die in it.

What I was getting at is even in 8th grade, because people who were supposed to teach us things weren't doing it, I had a gap in knowledge of the world. It wasn't until 9th that I had teachers who weren't shy from telling us how big and important a day was-- I still recall my history teacher talking about how big a day it was when we declared war on Iraq and went in.
 
Apparently the zipper on your pants can "lock." If the zipper tab thing is pointed up, it's locked and won't unzip. If it's pointed down, it will unzip. I did not know this until maybe....two years ago? I'm 29. Lol.

It's the reverse way round. It wouldn't make sense for it to lock when you are pulling up on the tab.

I recently realised that Movies is called that because it's Moving. In the same way that Talkies were called that because of the added speech.
 
I realized the connection between the word bridle, as in bridling a horse, and taking a woman for a bride. Wtf man. Sexism is engrained in our language.
 
I was in 8th grade when 9/11 happened. Despite watching the news, I had no idea what the twin towers were. I had no idea who the Taliban were. I didn't hear about Columbine until 3 years after it happened (may have been 4 years). I didn't know the WTC bombings in the 90s happened until sometime in high school, and I could only vaguely recall knowing about the OK City bombings happening when I was in elementary.

It doesn't shock me that kids don't learn about current events, as most schools teach kids the past and lots of parents shy their kids away from the bad shit. All of the stuff people learn late in this thread seems to be because it isn't taught in schools, and no one bothered to tell them.
Also in the Midwest. They had actually announced something over the intercoms very very early into it, but they were also very very vague. It was probably not short after the 2nd plane hit. Basically the principal came on and told the teachers something big in the news was happening and they should turn the TV on. I remember my teacher's reaction to the poor reception on the TV being "Oh, a plane crashed into a building and it's on fire." He was so nonchalant about it, that he turned it off not sure why they would tell us about that. It wasn't until next class or so we started understanding it was on purpose because it was 2 planes.

What is interesting is that none of the teachers explained to us what was going on directly, it was basically the talk about school that spread information. I think they either assumed we all understood terrorism, or were too shocked themselves to really process anything internally that day. You knew it was a big deal when your gym class rolls out a TV though, and the next day you hear the teachers are banned from talking about it because they heard someone there had a family member die in it.

What I was getting at is even in 8th grade, because people who were supposed to teach us things weren't doing it, I had a gap in knowledge of the world. It wasn't until 9th that I had teachers who weren't shy from telling us how big and important a day was-- I still recall my history teacher talking about how big a day it was when we declared war on Iraq and went in.

Thats crazy, i cant believe what You just said :O
I was 15 when it happened and i remember that i came home from school and turned on the Polish news channel and then switched to CNN. Basically watched the event from few minutes after the first tower was hit.
The next day everybody at school and outside knew what happened and why it happened. Thats in Poland.
 
I realized the connection between the word bridle, as in bridling a horse, and taking a woman for a bride. Wtf man. Sexism is engrained in our language.

Bridle comes from the word 'braid'. How is that sexist? It's kind of beautiful when you think about. Two people intertwining to become one.
 
Up until age 22 or so, I opened candy wrappers incorrectly. I held the piece of candy, and individually untwisted each end. I didn't know you just hold the twisted ends, pull, and it magically untwists itself.

f3BT6zg.gif
 
Oh wow.

... now I'm wondering where honky comes from. Maybe it's best not to know; I just thought it was about making someone sound silly.

White pimps would drive into black neighborhoods and honk to pick up the women.

That's the only reason I've heard and I doubt it's true.
 
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