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?! 😃

Step daughter, frantically looking for her passport for a weekend in Wales, she lives in Brighton.

I’ve been trying to think of this word from the beginning of the thread as I only recently found this out too!

Today at 50 years old I found out how radiator TVR valves work, which wasn't how I thought they did. Hopefully this year it will make a difference with my gas bill.

Oh no!

In a similar vein, I had no idea that a Narwhal was a real animal until a few weeks ago when DH was watching a documentary in which they featured. I assumed they were mythical creatures, like a marine version of a unicorn.
To be fair, in French they are called Licorne de Mer, which translates as 'Unicorn of the Sea'.

In a similar vein to the German pronunciation of albeit, I had studied French for seven years before I ever came across the English word "travail". My poor brain just couldn't process how on earth this might be said, so I decided it must be the same as in French! This was OK until I had to use it in speech once and someone laughed out loud. 🙄

Same!

BTW, it's kerb, not curb - unless you're American.

When on holiday in Yorkshire when I was in my early 20's , I spent ages looking around Morrisons for oatcakes.
I didn't realise that the type of oatcakes I was thinking of (which we had with melted cheese and bacon) were only a thing in Staffordshire!!

and what's with the saying cheap at half the price ? I dont get it !
But according to google that was the original wording !

I too thought Pontefract was in Wales. I found out it wasn't by accident when I was a student and happened to be on a coach that broke down just outside Leeds- right next to a road sign giving directions to Pontefract.

My most embarrassing one is my dad's fault! As a young child I was the one who always asked questions. And so, seeing bright yellow fields in springtime as far as the eye could see I asked what it was. And he said "Mustard". Actually it's rapeseed. But I was well into my 30s before I found that out. I always wondered why we needed quite so much mustard...

I did too. Although to be fair I had worked it out by the time I could drive myself. But it isn't exactly clear!

So did I, until my driving instructor put me straight.

Apparently they were once upon a time....

Inside a Tesla battery is just a shit load of little AA sized batteries all linked together.

They are. Or at least they were originally. Babies' heads are massive in relation to their body size and if the vests didn't have envelope necks they either a) wouldn't go over the baby's head or b) have a big gaping neckline.
This is why they are designed this way. But the added advantage is that you can easily pull them down as well as up to make poosplosion clean-ups easier.

Oh, @BalloonSlayer nothing ever changes! 😂

At my beck and call.

ie someone who comes running when you beckon them over or call them

@Hawkmother genuinely think I know that person 😂 He said it to me about 6 years ago in the pub and I almost died laughing.

I thought Ross-On-Wye and therefore the river Wye were in Scotland.

I was about 30 before I pronounced verbatim properly..

@incywincyspidery rapeseed is in the family Brassicaceae which includes mustards so he’s not 100% wrong.

I always thought Blackpool and Skegness were just down the road from each other on the same coast. DH was in stitches trying to explain it to me, especially when I then asked about Scunthorpe as I thought that was a coastal town too.

Im not thick but I'm just really awful at geography, especially in England it seems.

My kids found it hysterical that I thought Lapland was a country..