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Original poster

Obvious things that suddenly registered to you.

1000 replies

Soubriquet · 28/01/2023 18:43

I like watching things like NCIS.

Over the years, I’ve heard the phrase watch your six and just let it fly over my head expecting not to understand it.

Literally the other day, it suddenly occurred to me…it means watch your back!!

Of course it does!

OP posts:
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11
georgarina · 29/01/2023 09:11

Until it randomly came up, my dad never realised there was a double meaning in the phrase 'If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?'

GrumpySausage · 29/01/2023 09:12

SnackyOnassis · 28/01/2023 22:36

I didn't go to school in the UK and have always struggled with what ages correspond to year groups at school - for over a decade I've nodded and smiled when colleagues said they had a year 4 or a year 9 child and been none the wiser about whether they were in nappies or due to graduate soon.

I have just worked out in the last month that if I add 4 (the typical age a child starts school) to the year group in question, I can ballpark the age of the child. I wish I'd known this years ago!

mind blown just excitedly explained this to my DH and used DS year/age as an example. He just went 'huh'.

GordonShakespearedoesChristmas · 29/01/2023 09:13

FlipFlopBattle · 29/01/2023 01:17

@MustBeThursday and @00100001, you can both claim to be kind of correct in thinking that "Disney" had some weird French spelling or a lower case 'd' 🙂

We once holidayed in the Normandy town of Isigny-sur-mer, which has two main claims to fame:

Their amazing beurre d'Isigny (butter from Isigny), sold in many UK supermarkets.

The fact that the Norman invasion of England included nobles from Isigny (= d'Isigny) who gradually anglicized their name and founded Norton Disney in Lincolnshire, from where some emigrated again centuries later to the US, eventually giving birth to a certain boy named Walt...

Oooh I really hope this is true!

JustAnotherManicNameChange · 29/01/2023 09:16

Leah2005 · 28/01/2023 23:15

My DH favourite one is that the letter W is pronounced double you because it is two U's stuck together. He realised when learning the alphabet in Spanish where it is pronounced ouble double

It's actually two V's together. In Spanish (and some other latin based languages it's doble uve , uve being V , double V.

The English speaking countries just got it wrong.Grin

Benjispruce4 · 29/01/2023 09:16

Dogs have umbilical cords??? How does that work then with litters? 🤔

Januarysickandtired · 29/01/2023 09:16

I haven't RTFT so someone else may have explained this, but both Houston and T minus 10 come from the rocket launches at NASA. The T stands for takeoff not time. So T minus 10 meant that takeoff was in 10 minutes.

It has taken me back to childhood. It is incredible now to think of the millions of people watching the countdowns on television for the takeoff of the Apollo missions!

CoolShoeshine · 29/01/2023 09:16

Benjispruce4 · 29/01/2023 09:08

I thought that Neil Diamond was singing about a very cool vicar when he wrote Reverend Blue Jeans…….😳

Ha I always thought it was a rebel in blue jeans.

A cucumber is a fruit
Dick Van Dyke also plays the elderly banker in Mary Poppins

JauntyJinty · 29/01/2023 09:17

completly out o fthe blue about 3 years ago it suddenly popped into my head that it's called "fruit of the loom" because the loom is like a tree and the clothes are the fruit that it bares!

Lizzy1980 · 29/01/2023 09:17

Overreactionpossibly · 28/01/2023 22:40

I love this thread.
Mine usually comes up on these but I vividly remember as a child, listening to the Moody Blues song and thinking that satin was a bit flimsy for armour and feeling sad that they never got to their destination.
I was 30 when I finally realised that 'nights in white satin, never reaching the end' is not about King Arthur and his knights of the round table.

So glad it’s not just me that thought that 😂

Numnumbirdy · 29/01/2023 09:19

I used to listen to a radio programme in my teens that upon revisiting 20 years later I got the joke about a character called Dana Sock 🤦🏼‍♀️🧦

Pigeonpair1 · 29/01/2023 09:20

For years I thought Chelsea Pensioners were retired Chelsea FC players!!

theDudesmummy · 29/01/2023 09:21

When I was at school in tennis lessons the teacher taught us the scoring system. Including the fact that when you both get to 40 it is called Juice. I presumed that was because you were at that point allowed to go and have refreshments. It was quite a number of years before I realised (I turned out to have no interest whatsoever in tennis and so never followed any news on it etc).

FabFitFifties · 29/01/2023 09:24

I am the Lord of the dance settee, Dance, dance, where ever you may be (eg even on the settee). Made perfect sense to me. In my head, a crowd of people were joyously dancing around, and passing a settee around over their heads.

Biddie191 · 29/01/2023 09:25

Benjispruce4 · Today 09:16
Dogs have umbilical cords??? How does that work then with litters? 🤔

Each pup has a different placenta and amniotic sac (unless identical twins where the egg has split - in which case both in the same amniotic sac). The bitch doesn't have a bag-like uterus like a human, but 2 sausage shaped uterine horns from Ovary / oviduct down to the cervix, where the 2 horns divide. The pups would look like peas in a pea pod in early gestation. Usually pups are evenly split between the uterine horns.
Occasionally (but thankfully rarely) the division can be complete - and result in a bifurcated vagina, where there's a barrier right down (would cause awful birthing problems).
Very very rarely, humans can have a slight division in the womb, too.

GordonShakespearedoesChristmas · 29/01/2023 09:25

Cosycover · 29/01/2023 08:14

Carl is 100% alive in UP. That's just a crazy fan theory.

You are 100% correct. The entire point (even points) of the movie would be lost if he wasn't alive!

Benjispruce4 · 29/01/2023 09:25

Thanks @Biddie191 !

Ffsmakeitstop · 29/01/2023 09:26

There's a thread running about "toys for the bedroom" atm and for a week I was puzzling why kids need different toys for the bedroom. The penny finally dropped on Friday. I'm 65 for god's sake.

Sunsetintheeast · 29/01/2023 09:27

StrapOnYourHeroHair · 28/01/2023 21:18

When I was 21 I asked my boyfriend what his dad’s name was short for. His name is Barry.

He looked at me like I was mad and I said ‘well you know, like if Harry is short for Harold…’ With absolute bemusement, he replied ‘so for a year you’ve been thinking my dad’s name is…Barold?’ 😂

Show quote history

Except it can be Barrington…. so not so daft to assume it has a longer form!

Benjispruce4 · 29/01/2023 09:28

@Ffsmakeitstop 😂

Daffodilis · 29/01/2023 09:28

I was 30 when I realised that LMAO didn't mean lick my ass ole as some bright spark informed me, I was thinking people where really rude

AberLondoner · 29/01/2023 09:30

NRTFT so may have been mentioned.

But I was embarrassingly old when I realised that NatWest was a shortened name when I walked past an older branch that said "National Westminster" on the wall.

ClaraThePigeon · 29/01/2023 09:30

I haven't RTFT so someone else may have explained this, but both Houston and T minus 10 come from the rocket launches at NASA. The T stands for takeoff not time. So T minus 10 meant that takeoff was in 10 minutes.

The T stands for time.

https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/top-5-terms-you-should-know-satellite-launch

TheWomanTheyCallJayne · 29/01/2023 09:31

3luckystars · 28/01/2023 23:54

Rainbows are circular. I only found this out a few months ago and have told everyone I have met since, they keep saying ‘yeah I know, everyone knows!’ But I did not know!!! I still can’t quite believe it.

I suppose it’s like a lot of things in life, it’s about perspective and the way you look at them from your little place on the earth.

I’m reading my through so apologies if this is a repeat but I wasn’t going to go back later.

On the subject of rainbows, all rainbows are doubles, it’s just the second one is normally faint. And if you can see the second one you’ll see the colours are reversed.

Lizzy1980 · 29/01/2023 09:31

Overreactionpossibly · 28/01/2023 23:06

@threecupsofteaminimum
Yes. This could be amazing!
We need to choose some knights. Sean Bean and Richard Armitage are my first thoughts.
I also agree with you on the need for plenty of tea (and I think that Sean would too) so this could be a match made in heaven. 😂

Show quote history

And the video has to be in soft focus, just how I always imagined it 🤣

Benjispruce4 · 29/01/2023 09:32

Soft focus and slow motion. Billowing satin trailing out behind. I’m

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