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Can we have an "OMG I can't believe I never realised that!" thread?

702 replies

TwigTheWonderKid · 09/05/2020 23:12

Mine is Sandie Shaw. I can't believe it had never occurred to me until tonight that her name is a play on Sandy Shore.

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ememem84 · 11/05/2020 17:46

@Shell4429 wait what?!

Caplin · 11/05/2020 17:49

Ok, so I was too old when I realised oxo cube wrappers were designed for you to crush the cube then open it so you don’t get your fingers mucky.

Those paper ketchup dip pots in fast food places, you are meant to fan them out so you can dip nuggets etc without making a mess.

Embarrassed to say I thought green peppers were a different type to red peppers, when of course red peppers are just ripe green peppers 😮

KatharinaRosalie · 11/05/2020 17:50

Ibuprofen was was first marketed in 1969 in the United Kingdom.

AVL · 11/05/2020 17:52

@Zomblie I wonder if we live in the same place, as I also used to do the same. Didn't realise the road that carried on was the road I needed. 🤣

jcoc147 · 11/05/2020 17:55

@ivykaty44 How have I never realised this fedex one! My Dh works for them and everyday I'm washing uniform with it emblazoned across it and never noticed.
Just had to check one of his shirts to see it was true.
Mind blown!!

Graphista · 11/05/2020 17:58

Love these threads.

Punctured lung - air escapes from the lung filling the chest cavity which stops lung from inflating, so it’s more like 2 balloons one inside another in a cage and the inner one gets a hole and that inflates the outer one but the cage means you can’t also inflate the inner one and trying to merely means the air passes into the outer one via the hole anyway. When you see on film/tv dramas them stabbing the patient that’s to remove the air from the 2nd outer balloon (the chest cavity) creating space to re-inflate the inner balloon (lung) to some degree until the puncture heals.

The double knotted bows - how the hell are you making the first bows? Because I do them properly. Tie, loop, circle and through to create second loop not bunny ears!

The maps thing is fascinating for those interest I highly recommend you look up “upside down” maps with the hemispheres switched, maps to correct scale too - Africa is FAR bigger than you’d believe and Uk Teeny! When you put that in socio-political context it becomes even more astounding that we were able to oppress so much of it! Apparently there are vast areas that no human has ever been to still.

My usual comment on this type of thread is my brothers epiphany when as a teen he was astonished to learn how close Cuba is to the USA and how that helped him understand why the Cuban midsole crisis WAS a crisis! The conversation also led to the proximity of Ussr (conversation was had in the 80’s) to Alaska and that Alaska was sold to USA by Russia.

Is Australia really almost as big as USA? That surprises me.

Aubergines have got nicotine in them. that’s new info to me!

@Shell4429 - I love watching USA shows and working out the “translations” can be especially tricky with meds, eg Advil is ibuprofen but often the doses and mixes with other meds vary and even more surprisingly the reasons are often cultural rather than medically based.

Ninkanink · 11/05/2020 18:01

I just used the bunny ears to reference the two loops. I tie them the normal way too...

The important thing is that when you tie the second knot you use the two loops to do so and not some other variation.

Cindas · 11/05/2020 18:03

I have literally just learnt a moment ago that the guitar n bass lick on Eminem’s ”My Name Is” was played by the legendary Chas n Dave. They were the session musicians on the Labi Siffre song it samples.

RowenaRavenclawTheSecond · 11/05/2020 18:06

@ostravagirl Where my OH is from - they all say 'can't be asked'! We've had many a debate about it and he's convinced he's right. I think it might be a regional thing as all of his friends and siblings say it too

Graphista · 11/05/2020 18:06

Gotcha, will try next time I wear lace ups (will be a while)

Ninkanink · 11/05/2020 18:10

@Graphista It’s like magic! 🙂 especially when you don’t want to do fiddly things with your thumbs and fingers like undoing double knots.

Crumpetsforthequeen · 11/05/2020 18:15

My husband didn't know Mr bean and rowan Atkinson were the same person , also that he voiced zazu. His mind was blown when he saw Mr bean as a fancy Englishman in love actually Grin

Tattygran14 · 11/05/2020 18:19

I just read that Lego make more tyres than any other company in the world.

BikeRunSki · 11/05/2020 18:22

I know that Lego are the biggest you’re manufacturer in the world! I didn’t i is that they make the most money from tyres.

BlossomingTulip · 11/05/2020 18:24

I didn't know that hyenas both male and female have a penis and that the female give birth through their penisShock.....I just discovered it few days back!!!!

YouokHun · 11/05/2020 18:27

@JoeySpecial your Dyson discovery reminds me of my vacuuming revelation. I recently found a compartment door on the side of my 6 year old vacuum and inside were all the attachments for the end of the hose, not just the standard one I’d been using but a narrow fitting, a brush fitting, all sorts of handy stuff, all pristine Blush

More proof that I should have been born into a world where hot and cold running housekeeping staff are standard.

I did know all about Dandelions though.

TimeIhadaNameChange · 11/05/2020 18:31

Here's some of the West Wing's staff reacting to the Peter's Projection of the world.

Wilkie1956mog · 11/05/2020 18:40

Till I was about 18 I thought the line "Round yon virgin mother and child" in Away In A Manger was "brown young virgin. . ."

NeedToKnow101 · 11/05/2020 18:41

Cuban midsole crisis" that did make me laugh. Sounds like a sort of shoe drama Tom Cruise might have before going on a chat show.

SouthWestmom · 11/05/2020 18:41

Similar to the dh, my ex boyfriend (when we were teens) bought me a slinky nighty in size 18 as he thought the ages just carried on Grin

Daddy Warbucks - because he made his money in munitions hence why the bomb attempt in the window

There's another one my son told me about why someone is called something. Will try to remember.

Standrewsschool · 11/05/2020 18:43

Paraolympics did originally derive from Para, meaning paraplegic, and Olympics. However, as more disabilities were included, it felt it wasn’t representative, so they changed the meaning to parallel.

Leeronsmum11 · 11/05/2020 18:51

Me too!

Shell4429 · 11/05/2020 18:59

@KatharinaRosalie it may have been marketed as a prescription drug in 1969, and it may have been available to buy in the 80s but certainly not widely available. Definitely not where I live. And even when it did become widely available it was only Nurofen for a long time.

mama202 · 11/05/2020 19:00

I didn't know until late in life what a peel and lock coffee cup was. The little bit of plastic always got in the way before that and I always thought god this is an awkward way to drink a cup of coffee until one day someone showed me that it just locks into the little hole

panicstationsready · 11/05/2020 19:00

If you make bread using a recipe which involves sugar then it will taste like a not very nice cake instead of crusty bread.

Nope! Most of our (homemade) bread contains sugar - it's what feeds the yeast. Only our french bread doesn't, but that takes hours. And they taste nothing like cake.