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[Lo_Fi]

I feel compelled to point this out. Those are different words and are pronounced differently, but they are synonymous with each other.

Whaaaaaaaat. Man. That's weird.

Oh, top of a new page, might as well post something more substantial.

I had a similar experience with 9/11 at school. The teachers told us that two large towers had been hit by airplanes, but that was about it. Or at least that's about all I understood. I didn't realize it was a big thing until I got home and saw the footage on the news, but even then I didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

 

[erlim]

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side (i.e. the chicken committed suicide).

Wow that's really dark.

 

[kirby_fox]

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 think that they just assumed we understood or that another teacher had explained to us what was going on. By that afternoon, I recall my English teacher turning on CNN to let us watch as they discussed one of the guys from the Taliban taking credit for the attack and I sat there not understanding who this guy was or why they had him on. I was completely lost, and instead of explaining it- he turned it off and gave a vague response about how big of a deal this was. Other teachers didn't even want you to mention it at all.

It was a weird day coming home too. I wanted to see what else had happened, and my mom had the news on with my 6 year old brother whose birthday was that day too. And I just recall sitting down, watching the news, finding out we were doing something for my brother's birthday, saying "Oh yeah happy birthday!" to a confused 6 year old watching this with us, and then going to play basketball for a bit before celebrating his birthday. The impact of it all didn't hit me that day.

 

[Frozenprince]

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

WHAT.

WHAT HOW DID I.

WHAT.

 

[TheCarrotKiller]

It took too many years for me to figure out that I don't have to press the air out of the plastic bags for vegetables when you weigh them at the grocery store, since its not the thing on the scales that is weighed but the entire "air pillar" above it. (Is this a thing though in the US?)
Also the bubbles in boiling water is water molecules which evaporates to steam, wasn't exactly clear for me when I was younger.

 

[Funyarinpa]

WHAT.

WHAT HOW DID I.

WHAT.

shift tab does jack shit for me

please illuminate me in your ways Master

It took too many years for me to figure out that I don't have to press the air out of the plastic bags for vegetables when you weigh them at the grocery store, since its not the thing on the scales that is weighed but the entire "air pillar" above it. (Is this a thing though in the US?)
Also the bubbles in boiling water is water molecules which evaporates to steam, wasn't exactly clear for me when I was younger.

if the scale is calibrated to 0 with the "air pillar" on it, it doesn't affect the measurement.

 

[Frozenprince]

shift tab does jack shit for me

please illuminate me in your ways Master.

As always if a key function doesn't work, add alt or ctrl to it (ctrl in this case).

 

[Admiral Woofington]

For the longest time I thought chickens laid eggs that gave birth to chicks by themselves. I was amazed at chickens being so effective they didn't need a male. I never even considered birds had sex.

Why did the rooster exist? Well clearly to wake me up.

 

[Nander]

I still can't tie my shoes properly. I'm a suit wearing professional who still do the "bunny ears"...

 

[SpiralZilla]

I didn't learn to use soap properly until I was around 23-24. Up to that time I always did it in this order:

1. Wash hands
2. Apply soap
3. Wash hands

And then someone showed me the right way and my mind was blown.

What do you mean that's the wrong way to wash hands?!

I still can't tie my shoes properly. I'm a suit wearing professional who still do the "bunny ears"...

 

[Foffy]

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.

I think I am losing you because of language. All I am saying is that the idea that there's a ghost in the machine to be bullshit, to be plain about it. We think of ourselves as subjects in addition to thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as if we're an additional carrier of their mere arrival. There's only the arrival, yet we feel we are the driver, puller, and grabber of them in a weird, additional way. This isn't so on a fundamental neuroanatomical level. This type of experience that we are the pullers of levers is mere illusion and confusion.

My point being is there's no "you" there as an agent to thoughts arriving, and I hope explaining it in that manner helps. People assume there is such an agent, which is why people assume free will; after all, there's a "me" doing this. But it is obvious even on an inquisitive level that such views are horseshit. This is what I mean that you don't think thoughts; there's no actual agent that can properly be attributed these qualities, yet we speak and assume there is.

It seems this plain-faced fact is drastically overlooked by most living today, be it from religion or society at large.

 

[injurai]

I think I am losing you because of language. All I am saying is that the idea that there's a ghost in the machine to be bullshit, to be plain about it. We think of ourselves as subjects in addition to thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as if we're an additional carrier of their mere arrival. There's only the arrival, yet we feel we are the driver, puller, and grabber of them in a weird, additional way. This isn't so on a fundamental neuroanatomical level. This type of experience that we are the pullers of levers is mere illusion and confusion.

My point being is there's no "you" there as an agent to thoughts arriving, and I hope explaining it in that manner helps. People assume there is such an agent, which is why people assume free will; after all, there's a "me" doing this. But it is obvious even on an inquisitive level that such views are horseshit. This is what I mean that you don't think thoughts; there's no actual agent that can properly be attributed these qualities, yet we speak and assume there is.

It seems this plain-faced fact is drastically overlooked by most living today, be it from religion or society at large.

This is only because you use "you" solely as this disembodied agent. But I would define you to be more than just the emergent consciousness. I would say you are the body, and the thoughts are what your brain generates as a result of you thinking.

 

[Koozek]

Yeah, holy shit, I just learned literally last week that a lot of people sit while wiping their ass.

Okay, this is blowing my mind, right now. There are people standing while wiping? Like, how would you even do that :O Standing upright or at least leaning forward a bit to spread the cheeks?

 

[adamsappel]

I was a big comic collector as a kid and one of my favorite characters was the Silver Surfer. It wasn't until the Fantastic Four 2 movie that I realized he was metallic. Because comics couldn't be printed with silver ink, I assumed the character was pure, bright white colored. The color being in his freaking name just never occurred to me.

I thought yellow dandelions and fluffy dandelions were different flowers. I made fun of my wife for saying they were the same plant and had to apologize later.

I always knew they were grapes but I always thought they took the grapes off the vine and dehydrated them later. Never realized they dried up on the vine.

They do?

That bidets are a godsend.

Indeed. I bought a bidet seat and it's changed my life.

Not me, but this past week a coworker didn't know that Washington was a state, he didn't even know it existed.

When I was a kid, I thought the Washington Redskins were the state team. And I thought New England was a state, too, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it on a map.

 

[Duracelllll]

That Americans love to leave the TV and air conditioning on all day.

 

[Mike M]

Chubby Checkers's name is a play on Fats Domino.

 

[WAR recon zero]

That Americans love to leave the TV and air conditioning on all day.

And their laptops and gaming pcs

 

[besada]

I didn't know for the first 20 years of my life that to avoid the cold post shower air you can use your hands as a squeegee to push the excess water off your body before opening the shower curtain/door. This knowledge was a life-changer.

Been doing the squeegee move since I was twelve.

Here's another shower tip I gave to my wife when she complained about getting soap in her eyes -- quit squeezing your eyes closed. Gently close them. Gently closed eyes form a seal that keeps water out. When you put extra pressure on them, you break the seal.

If you're getting soap in your eyes when you shower, don't close your eyes so tightly.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Tying up shoelaces... riding a bike (still can't up to this day -___-), and.... swimming (still very awkward)

 

[conman]

For instance, only a few years ago, 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.

Saw the thread title and came to post this exact thing. It was until I was in my 20s that I realized the pickle-cucumber connection. Mind was blown.

 

[Tunavi]

For instance, only a few years ago, 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.

Ok, now you go?

Holy shit this was mine lol

 

[HappyBivouac]

I still can't tie my shoes properly. I'm a suit wearing professional who still do the "bunny ears"...

Wait. Now I'm confused. What are the "bunny ears?" What's the proper way? I've only ever learned one way to tie my shoes and I guess maybe it kind of looks like bunny ears, though I've never heard it referred to that way.

 

[23qwerty]

So many people not knowing the pickle thing is really surprising tbh

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

So many people not knowing the pickle thing is really surprising tbh

Same. People who didn't know the origin of pickles, did you never encounter pickled eggs, beets, or anything else? Or did you and you just never made the connection?

 

[FyreWulff]

So many people not knowing the pickle thing is really surprising tbh

I think it's because the process makes the cucumber all bumpy, so it looks like a vegetable named pickle that people spice up to make edible. I thought the same when younger too.

Then you figure out you can pickle everything..


nom nom nom

Same. People who didn't know the origin of pickles, did you never encounter pickled eggs, beets, or anything else? Or did you and you just never made the connection?

Not common around here, or in stores. There'll be like a half aisle of pickles (cucumber), and the other stuff is a small section off to the side somewhere

 

[ChrisD]

That language isn't a universal list of words where the different languages just make their own words for them. Don't actually have... any examples right off-hand, but I mean how different languages have words that can't be directly translated because it's a complete thought. Like, Spanish apparently has a word that means "The time after dinner" or something like that?

Just something I never thought about, I guess. As a kid I learned a bit of Spanish at home, but I never actually kept up with it. Same with Japanese when I was twelve. So I only ever knew basic direct translation words, like how every language tends to have a word for "red" or "one" and so on.

 

[jeremy1456]

Highway numbering system. Odd numbered highways go north and south, while even numbered highways go east and west.

Just realized this 2 weekends ago.

That's not true. Unless you are talking about someplace outside of the US.

HWY 299 is the best example I have of this.

 

[majik13]

That pressing tab auto completes commands and directories in Linux and Windows shells.

I don't want to say how many years I've been a Linux user. But this revelation made me realise how much of my life I had wasted typing out long filenames.

This saves my ass all the time, when trying to remeber certain commands, or even exact version numbers of programs.

 

[Einchy]

And their laptops and gaming pcs

I used to never turn off my PC since it took about 9 minutes to get going. I turn off my computer now when I go to sleep since it takes about 15 seconds to boot up. Maybe less.

Waiting 9 minutes for it to turn on?

 

[Reven]

That's not true. Unless you are talking about someplace outside of the US.

HWY 299 is the best example I have of this.

He's means interstate systems. Highway systems vary state to state, highway indicates a state run road.

 

[Regiruler]

Now I want some pickles.

 

[MGrant]

Just recently learned that birds hump things that are not other birds (toys, swings, perches, etc.). Like, I don't know why I thought they wouldn't, but it wasn't until my roommate got a pair of lovebirds that I realized yeah, pretty much any animal will try to fuck inanimate objects if they're in the right mood.

 

[jeremy1456]

He's means interstate systems. Highway systems vary state to state, highway indicates a state run road.

Ahh my bad. I apologize.

 

[SmZA]

That 'uncomfortable silences' are bullshit. Just act like you do when with close friends or family; you don't have to fill the gap with words. If the people you're with are uncomfortable it's on them. But usually if you're not, they're not either.

So much of my social anxiety has diminished since I realised this.

Took me way to long to realise Saul Goodman is a pun, and nearly every time I tell someone it blows their mind lol.

Tha fuk

I thought yellow dandelions and fluffy dandelions were different flowers. I made fun of my wife for saying they were the same plant and had to apologize later.

I had to google this myself and found this cool video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ_QqtXoyQw

 

[bitbydeath]

The show "How I Met Your Mother" - taught me how to unscrew/screw something "lefty loosey, righty tighty".

Spoiler

Ok didn't actually teach me but the phrase sure helps to remember which way to go.

 

[Korey]

I didn't know this until a coworker explained it to me:

Chicken eggs (the ones we buy at the grocery store) are unfertilized...hens just continue to lay them daily. A rooster is completely irrelevant to the process.

 

[tuna_love]

i thought that mad mike from pimp my ride was mike epps

 

[jeremy1456]

Cage free chicken eggs.

I had images in my head of chickens roaming grassy plains.

That's not the case. It's almost as bad as your regular chickens, and supporting the 'cage free' movement is fucked up.

Y'all gotta find someone who raises chickens if you really want cage free eggs.

 

[Symphonia]

I can't swim. I feel I should be able to, but I can't.

 

[SegaShack]

Just a month ago a coworker told me how rear view mirrors in cars have an additional mirror for night driving, it's activated by pushing a tab in that's under or on the side of the mirror. It makes it so light doesn't reflect back into your eyes. I had been driving for years and had no idea.

 

[23qwerty]

Just a month ago a coworker told me how rear view mirrors in cars have an additional mirror for night driving, it's activated by pushing a tab in that's under or on the side of the mirror. It makes it so light doesn't reflect back into your eyes. I had been driving for years and had no idea.

Aha I found out about this not too long ago as well

 

[SpaceCadetKeon]

The Alphabet song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are the same song. They just have different lyrics.

 

[farmerboy]

I used to think "couple" referred to quantities of around three or so. Never really realized its true meaning until a friend corrected my usage by pointing out that *two* people in a relationship are referred to as a couple.

I used to always be a little lost because I was wondering why people couldn't just be clear about the number they were saying. Turns out they were being clear all along!

... unless they also had my same misconception, of course.

For a very, very long time I thought several meant exactly seven. I also wondered why there weren't corresponding words for the other numbers.

 

[Akira]

Just recently learned that birds hump things that are not other birds (toys, swings, perches, etc.). Like, I don't know why I thought they wouldn't, but it wasn't until my roommate got a pair of lovebirds that I realized yeah, pretty much any animal will try to fuck inanimate objects if they're in the right mood.

 

[MattKeil]

As well as the word chilli.

Chili.

 

[Randam]

As always if a key function doesn't work, add alt or ctrl to it (ctrl in this case).

just brings me to the bottom of the page..

 

[oti]

I thought the word "lewd" was just some anime expression and not a real word.

It doesn't sound like a real word.

 

[Ri'Orius]

Nope. The etymology of peruse is to "use thoroughly" implying something is worn out from such usage (like a book would be if you flip through each page several times). Unless this is going to be another literally situation...

Browse, skim, glance, riffle, scan—those are words you can use to mean read over quickly.

Kinda late here, but for the record, "scan" originally meant a thorough inspection. But, like peruse, it has become casualized over time.

But I'd argue it's different from "literally." The catch there is that figurative language inherently means "saying something that isn't actually true to get your point across." Saying "that movie knocked my socks off" is false; so is "that movie literally knocked my socks off." But I'm not using the word literally to mean figuratively; rather, I'm just adding an intensifier to a figurative statement.

 

[hawk2025]

The star shapes need to be paired up, and the slanted Tetris blocks can be rotated.

 

[BunnyBear]

I only worked out what the 'Cut' button on Windows was for about 4 months ago. Considering I'm 29 and have used computers for 15 years I thought that was almost an impressive achievement.

Not sure how I avoided it, I think I just imagined it was 'delete' and never realised it saved whatever you had just deleted. Life...