Your “how did I not realise that” moments.

[Meruem]

I am getting too involved in the corona virus threads so wanted to start something lighthearted!

Went to visit DSis recently. She bought a wine box. I have bought the odd one in the past and once the little tap stopped producing wine just threw it out. I did not realise that there is nearly a whole bottle of wine left in the bag at that point! I felt really stupid but now view it as “free” wine given I would have thrown it away!

What silly things didn’t you realise until someone pointed it out to you?

@CorianderLord isn’t the whole Cinderella glass slipper thing also due to a mistranslation? Wasn’t it mink in the original text?
In the original, her slippers were "vair"; which I think was squirrel fur. The translators misheard it as "verre" (glass)

I was working in a pub in Portsmouth, near the dockyard, in 1982. Many of the squaddies we served had no idea they were going to the South Atlantic. They were incensed that the “Argies” had invaded Scotland. I was surprised they hadn’t at least had it pointed out to them on a map.

Is it a Yorkshire thing? but our piggies only ever ate jam and bread- never heard of them eating roast beef until recently and i have lived down south for twenty years now so can't even say a southern thing ...

To be fair, the Falkland Islands do look just like some Scottish Islands - no trees and windswept

Not sure if this one has already been said but I didn't realise that the tide was affected by the phases of the moon until my mum told me - I was 35. I also consider myself quite intelligent in that I am not bamboozled by University Challenge

My parents gave me vitamins and oil capsules every morning. And kindly gave me a stash to take to uni, because they're expensive.

It wasn't until third year that it dawned on me that codliver wasn't actually a plant. You'd think I'd have guessed halibut liver first...

Oh I hope there really are flea circuses. I was assured they were mechanical and how silly to to think that a flea could be trained!

There were both. Real fleas were harnessed (not trained) onto tiny contraptions and their natural behaviour (often trying to escape) made it look like they were performing.

Mechanical (or 'humbug') flea circuses don't actually contain fleas.

@VK456

I always thought that it was Scalectrix until someone made me read the box. Scalextric?? Well I mean - Scalectrix is so much easier to say...

I think that's the reason for a lot of misunderstandings about words. There's currently a thread about sherbert 'Dib Dabs', which are actually called 'Dip Dabs' and always have been, and there was a recent one about 'Blue Riband' biscuits, which many people remember as 'Blue Ribbon'.

I think people just default to the pronunciation that's easier or makes more sense to them (in the same way a lot of people would actually say 'pronOUNciation'!)

I've only just realised that the contestants on University Challenge don't sit on top of each other as in one team sits on a higher platform above the other. I now know they all sit on the same level and the screen is split to make them look like one team is sitting higher up.

I'm officially thick as shit.

I've only just realised that the contestants on University Challenge don't sit on top of each other as in one team sits on a higher platform above the other. I now know they all sit on the same level and the screen is split to make them look like one team is sitting higher up

The classic Young Ones sketch has given weight to your assumption

I saw the Flea Circus at Belle Vue quite a few times, as we lived five minutes away. Definitely real in those days!

@ThinkPinkStink if it makes you feel better when there was some form of air strike in once I passed comment hat it’s ridiculous that plans would now have to go alllllll the way around the bottom by way of the same theory as you!!!!

@RiftGibbon
Cinderella's slippers were originally fur, and I suspect that the story has yet darker connotations..."fur slipper" sounds a lot like some kind of euphemism. Particularly when the prince is seeing which one fits. Makes me think of the notion of droit de segneur (which I may have spelled wrongly).

Interesting theory! but how did she leave it behind at the ball?

but how did she leave it behind at the ball?
I think it's meant to be metaphorical.

It wasn't until I was 30 and we went on holiday to Ireland that I realised that the ferry doesnt go to/from "Dunleary". blush
@EmmaGrundyForPM

I dont get this.

@Dustarr73

It wasn't until I was 30 and we went on holiday to Ireland that I realised that the ferry doesnt go to/from "Dunleary"

I dont get this

It's how Dún Laoghaire is pronounced. (The ferry to/from Holyhead goes there)

I thought NBR meant 'not bring rude' and no 'not baby related and thought that everybody was just incredibly polite.

@ItsGoingTibiak
I was taught at school that NEWS stands for NorthEastWestSouth
I.e the four corners of the globe.

My dad is a real wind up merchant and one Christmas when we were kids he did the obligatory eating of the mince pie etc to make it look like Santa ate it. But he also left a bone on the plate and told me that was left over from the carrot Rudolph ate. It was YEARS later as an adult that it dawned on my that bone wasn’t from the carrot. Needless to say my dad found this side splittingly hilarious when I told him the penny had finally dropped 🤣

@Likefootball

It isn’t. www.snopes.com/fact-check/news-etymology/

@JigSawsAreInPieces I know how it's pronounced,I just thought the story wasn't finished

When I was 5 or 6 my BF was a bridesmaid, I was green with envy and I was desperate to be a bridesmaid to, The only trouble was all the adults I knew were already married, except for one of my parents friends- uncle Nobby. Every time he came round I pleaded and begged to be a bridesmaid when he got married, much to everyones amusement, as I was told repeatedly uncle Nobby is a "confirmed bachelor". Fast forward 40 years and I was listening to the radio and Paul O'Grady mentioned that being a "confirmed bachelor " used to be a euphemism for being gay!! Uncle Nobby was gay!!

@Dustarr73

No worries

@Dustarr73. I meant I'd always heard it but never seen it written So when we drove to Dublin to get the ferry to Holyhead I was looking for signs to "Dunleary". Dh had to point out that it was actually spelt Dun Laoghaire.....

@Runnerduck34

We had a Great-Aunt who lived had with her 'best friend' since they were young women. No one in the family ever questioned or mentioned it. The penny dropped for me when I was 14. I never said anything because, you know, family. About 10 years ago (45 years later) I was visiting with my mum, an aunt, and a cousin and the subject came round to them. I said something along the lines of "It was so lovely that Aunty X and Y were together all their lives. That's true love" and all three of their jaws hit the floor!! I said "Come on, you had to have known they were gay" and both of them said it had never even occurred to them.

I guess when you're just used to 'the way things are' you tend not to look too closely into the 'whys'.