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

[TwigTheWonderKid]

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.

The maps thing is fascinating for those interest I highly recommend you look up “upside down” maps with the hemispheres switched,

I have one of those, my map is the correct one of course.

The magnetic North Pole is actually the magnetic South Pole. It's because the magnetic field of earth is bagel shaped and the field goes out from the north and into the south. The south attracts the south end of a magnet and the north attracts the north end which is wrong, so the north is the south.

@Caplin I still didn’t know that! Wow.

Years ago my mother didn't believe me that Florida and California were not near each other. I only found out that she thought they were when we were on holiday in NYC. We got chatting to some navel officers from California who told us that they were on their way to be stationed in Florida. My mother replied that it would be nice to be close to home. The sailors and I both goggled at her. They were wonderfully polite and didn't correct her. I did later and she wouldn't believe me until I found a map of the States to show her.

I've been teaching my DS about the life cycle of dandelions as he loves blowing them. He knows that we have so many because the seeds he blows grow new ones.

The immaculate conception is news to me but I'm not Catholic, or religious at all, but the CofE didn't really go into detail in school assemblies.

Only on page one... what is the one about Hawaii or the chunnel? I cannot believe people seriously didn't know about dandelions...I am only on page one so far..
Maybe not quite the spirit of the thread but
I remember My now deceased mother ringing me up to tell me her carer had never heard of a butternut squash and after showing her a picture of one and it's location in the store the woman who was in her 40s said " Ohhhh, it's one of them VEGETARIAN vegatables!" Poor woman needed instructions on how to make poached egg as well-how the he'll she had gotten a job caring I will never know..
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So dandelions... when they seed and you blow them to tell the time... the seeds are carried by the wind and my sister and I always call them sugar stealers. My husband says we’re crazy fairy folk

Coca-cola used to contain Cocaine -

@Cattenberg thank you for that link - I loved it.

I didn’t know Fred Dinah and Fred Dineage were two different people. Hear me out!

Never seen Fred Dibnah and I just assumed whenever I saw his name that I’d just forgotten what Fred Dineages surname was. I am 32.

@zomblie that had me crying laughing

When DH was questioned as to why he'd never informed me of this he just shrugged and said "I thought you just wanted a break from the dual carriageway... although I did think it a bit odd"

@JanewaysBun yup! Just dry and reuse. I got about 5 swims out of each one! Was so cross when I thought of the packs we went through.

I thought all of Brentwood, Chigwell etc had money from drug deals, mostly. My mum swore blind to me growing up that if anyone 'common' had cash, it was drug money

Took me into adulthood to rid myself of that bias

That should say if anyone in THAT part of Essex had cash

It's easy to remember that Billericay is in Essex. Just imagine Bianca from Eastenders saying it. Biller-RICKAAAY.

I love these threads. Always a healthy mix of the same old same olds, and some great new ones.

Has anyone mentioned where County Durham is yet?

80s kid here. I just found out two days ago that DIBDABs (the lolly and coke/sherbet packet sweets) are actually called DIP DABs. Wtf....my screwed up childhood just took a turn for the worst.....

Haven't RTFT so hope I'm not duplicating stuff.

Somebody in an earlier comment said CBA - I am amazed how many people (including DD but also adults) seem to think that stands for 'can't be asked'.....

Re dandelions and general ignorance - I heard Richard Bacon on the radio a few years back, talking to someone who said they had just found out that lambs and sheep are the same species, only one is a baby. Both were completely stunned....!?!? I mean, how can an otherwise intelligent (presumably) high flying radio presenter be that ignorant.....[shocked]?

After a year of driving lessons I suddenly realised gears went 1-5 in order. In my defence I’d been taught 2-4, 3-5 and moving down 5-2 etc and it never occurred to me to move up sequentially. 😂 everything got a lot easier after that!!!

What about County Durham, @dun1urkin?

I'm kind of hoping it turns out to be non-existent, like Finland

I didn’t know fizzy juice dehydrated you until after a week having a fixed catheter in, drinking diluting juice and passing over a litre in night bag. The night I had fizzy juice I only passed around 300ml and it was really dark in the morning. I was really embarrassed calling to doctor thinking bladder infection had moved upto my kidneys and stopped them working properly

merryhouse it always gets mentioned on these threads as being a surprise that it’s in the NE of England, not in Ireland

A bit like Pontefract being in Yorkshire, not Wales

Washington DC isn't in the US state of Washington. The two places aren't even remotely near one another.

Washington DC isn't even IN ANY USA STATE, at all! It exists completely separately, as a "federal district". Clue is in the name, I guess, but I really had no idea until the age of 36.

I didn't actually realise that about percentages but when you think about it it's obvious. It's the commutative law as with multiplication i.e doesn't matter which way round you compute it.
I was amazed when I was in Colombia that the crescent moon was a smiley face rather than a C shape. Being near the equator is what does it 😊

@Ipadipod that cracked me up!

Oh, just remembered the classic Danny Baker phone caller who shared his mum talked about the famous cricketing twins called ...Andrew & Freddie Flintoff.

@Oblahdeeoblahdoe it was when my dd was talking about the name of his new baby , I was all confused and said something along the lines of has there been the launch of a smaller (baby) satellite- dd looked at me and asked me what the hell I was on about and did I know who Elon Musk was