Things I'm embarrassed to have realised so late in life...

[OrangeFlowersAreLovely]

Those ID necklaces? I had absolutely never heard of the word "lanyard" until around 3 years ago. All my friend's children learnt this way before I did. If you had told me "Lanyard" was a European city - I'd have believed you.

That little press send arrow in the top right hand corner? It only occurred to me in my mid 30s that it is in fact a paper aeroplane. I just thought it was a dodgy triangle.

I was absolutely stunned to find out the woman who plays Amanda in Motherland is not Catherine Tate.

Any confessions to console me I'm not the only one failing at life?! 😃

His full name is Scoobert Doo.

I used to think jet lag was called jet leg, and it meant your legs ached after a flight 😆🙈

In the 80s I used to flick through all the ads for flat-sharing in a progressive magazine and took it for granted that all the n/s households and requests for n/s flatmates meant non-sexist.

It took about 30 years for me to suddenly realise it meant non-smoking.

(Explains a lot about the flat I moved into too.)

"Another thing coming" makes no sense. You'd get a very funny look from me if you said "thing". (Not that I've never heard anyone say "thing")

I thought his name was Kermitty Frog

@Hodgepodge211 and @OnTheDrive I'm so glad it wasn't just me 🤣. All be it is 3 different fucking words. I was saying al-bite for quite a few years.

It's not. It's think.

Pontefract and Penrith sound like they should be in Wales because they used to be in Welsh-speaking northern kingdoms until fairly late - so they are effectively Welsh placenames! Strathclyde and Elmet! See also Rheged and Goddoddin.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_Ogledd

I did until well into my 50s.

People honestly think hares and reindeer aren't real and swans can't fly?

That's just frightening.

@ShinyPikachu

Wait...what? I've just had a baby and it's literally like playing a game of operation trying to get the vest over her head! You pull it downwards...??

That the ‘Noughties’ wasn’t the ‘Naughtys’ and it’s a play on words because of the 00 in the 2000s 😩

@flapjackfairy yes it's think as in you'll need to think again, though the phrase has evolved so now it's acceptable to say thing also

I was quite old when I realised that 'No Fouling' signs in public spaces meant don't let your dog shit there, I thought it meant no fouling if you were playing football there.

Not me, but a pet peeve of mine.

”Mute point”. No, no, no.

I studied law and the lightbulb moment for loads of my friends when they were introduced to mooting was quite a sight to behold.

Along the same lines, that “on the balance of probabilities” is anything over 50%. Amazing how few very intelligent got that wrong when asked.

I imagined it with a wicker basket but also going down a country lane, I'm somewhat distraught now, poor piggy

Because when speaking Irish the combination of the letters 'Mh' and 'Bh' sounds like the English letter 'V' or the sound 'Wa' (depending on where the letters fall within a word) and the Irish letter 'I' sounds like the English letter 'E'!

So, in Niamh the 'i' sounds like an 'e' and the 'mh' sounds like a 'v'! So simple 😆

The traditional Irish alphabet only has 18 letters and historically the letter 'H' was replaced with a dot but nowadays we use 24 letters (anything that is spelled with a 'K' or 'Q' in English is spelled with 'C' in Irish)!

That one is hilarious.

I suppose The Wind in the Willows might be to blame. Given the sizes of moles, rats, toads , badgers and washerwoman it makes no sense.

That's amazing! New to me..

I'm proper laughing at this ! 😅

Oh dear - really, it's not? I never liked geography at school - well I skipped most classes anyway - and I was 23 before I found out that Rotterdam was not a country, but surely to goodness I should have known THIS!!😳

No it isn't acceptable -it's just wrong.

Yes! I'm over invested in the Pontefract element of this thread.
I'm still bewildered by it all.😁

I've only just clicked that Cruella Deville is 'cruel devil'...wow