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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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JudgeJ · 28/01/2023 22:22

Soubriquet · 28/01/2023 21:00

I was confused by Houston when I was a kid.

Kept saying to my mum “why is everyone called Houston?”

She barely concealed her laughter before explaining

My brother asked where Random was, the place they went to draw a winner, 'the winner will be drawn at random'!

My mother wondered why the horse Bar was in every race, they give the odds for the first few horses then it's 12-1 Bar.

We thought Blackpool Tower could move, as we drove towards the town the Tower seemed to move across the windscreen.

growgrowinggrown · 28/01/2023 22:22

@BettyBoozer could you explain that? I can't visualise what you mean

ILoveYouMoreTheEnd · 28/01/2023 22:24

Coffeesnob11 · 28/01/2023 21:59

It was only recently that I realised the main chap in UP was dead all along and the scout was a guardian angel trying to earn his wings.

No way! Shock

louderthan · 28/01/2023 22:25

RSVP is 'respondez sil vous plait' but I thought until quite recently that it was 'reply soon very promptly'. Dafty.

LipsSoScarlet · 28/01/2023 22:27

00100001 · 28/01/2023 22:21

Because they're a bit salty/briny

I think people think they're a bit like anchovies?

Show quote history

Hmm, well that’s me learning today that people think capers might be fish! Though olives are also salty/briny, nobody thinks they’re fish, right?

BananaHamhock · 28/01/2023 22:28

MarchionessOfMayhem · 28/01/2023 20:57

I've only just realised that Diagon Alley in Harry Potter is Diagonally! 😆

It was also I soured by the historic roads in the Shambles in York

JudgeJ · 28/01/2023 22:29

DogInATent · 28/01/2023 21:34

T for Time (when an event is to happen). So T minus ten minutes means there's ten minutes until it's Time for the event to occur.

You may now be able to work out what the D in D Day and the H in H Hour stand for.

Another time-related one for fans of NCIS and military type shows is Zulu time. Which is UTC (which we'd know in the UK as GMT, but for reasons that's only the time zone rather than standard time).

Show quote history

Some people have been surprised to learn why the old crossing from West into East Berlin was called Checkpoint Charlie. Using the military 'corridors' to drive from West Germany to East Berlin, going from West Germany into East Germany was Checkpoint Alpha, East Germany into West Berlin was Checkpoint Bravo and so West Berlin into East Berlin was Checkpoint Charlie

DuncanBiscuits · 28/01/2023 22:30

I only realised why ‘Carry On Up the Khyber’ is called that last week. It just never dawned on me that it was rhyming slang.

I’m 48.

AdditionalCharacter · 28/01/2023 22:31

I was heavily pregnant with my first child and at a birthing class when I learnt that babies have to go through your pelvis to get out. Not sure how else I thought they made their way out.

JudgeJ · 28/01/2023 22:33

4thonthe4th · 28/01/2023 21:48

OMG! My late grandfather always used to call them a prambulator and it always made us (the grandchildren and great grandchildren) laugh so much. I always thought it was just a silly word he made up to make us all laugh…. Until… well…. I just read your post 😳😳😳

Show quote history

A prom at the seaside, eg Blackpool prom, comes from the word promenade, to walk leisurely.

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!

MustBeThursday · 28/01/2023 22:36

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that (with the exception of the technical challenge) the explanation to the bakers at the start of the bakes on Great British Bake Off are for our benefit as the audience, not theirs, because they already know what the brief is for them to have come up with their recipe.

I still remember the moment I first saw how the D is the Disney logo was a capital D not a weird curly lowercase d

4thonthe4th · 28/01/2023 22:38

midlifecrash · 28/01/2023 21:57

Bar-tholo- mews is how I would say it, but it’s just occurred to me it’s probably one of those long names like Cholmondely and therefore pronounced something like Bunny ( or possibly Barold).

Hahahahahahahahaha

imagine we’ve all been saying Bartholemew and it’s Barold.

threecupsofteaminimum · 28/01/2023 22:39

Oh my god the sheep carriers, i alway assumed they were being moved to different grass. This is all too much for me.

This thread is brilliant,

Maryquitecontrary55 · 28/01/2023 22:39

Wow, some of these are pretty obvious, chaps 🙈

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.

zinch · 28/01/2023 22:41

Atonement translates as "at-one-ment." Meaning, everything is at peace again. At-one-ment.

I think that's beautiful!

Lovelysausagedogscrumpy · 28/01/2023 22:42

stormelf · 28/01/2023 20:23

I was in my late 20s when I realised Ned was short for Edward. I just assumed it was short for Nedmund

’Nedmund’. I like it. you may have just started a new trend !!

Tulipvase · 28/01/2023 22:42

BettyBoozer · 28/01/2023 22:21

I learnt from watching number blocks last week with my 5 year old that square numbers were called that because they made a square shape.

I am 41 with an A at GCSE maths. Never once did this come up at school. Husband looked at me like I was mental when I excitedly told him...

Do you know about squares and special squares?

JudgeJ · 28/01/2023 22:42

BettyBoozer · 28/01/2023 22:21

I learnt from watching number blocks last week with my 5 year old that square numbers were called that because they made a square shape.

I am 41 with an A at GCSE maths. Never once did this come up at school. Husband looked at me like I was mental when I excitedly told him...

I'm absolutely certain that at some stage your 'drew' square numbers, you probably also drew trianglular numbers, 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, think about the red balls in a triangular frame in a snooker game, there are 15, 1+2+3+4+5.

Puffalicious · 28/01/2023 22:43

It took my 13 year old DS , some 5 years ago, to explain to me how the tides are controlled by the pull of the moon. Before then I just thought they slopped around according to the seasons/ time or something.

I an a very well travelled teacher 😳

DeskChair · 28/01/2023 22:44

MMBaranova · 28/01/2023 20:14

Fortnight is making me reassess my existence.

My DH also said I just blew his mind 😂

GherkOut · 28/01/2023 22:44

Grew up on the outskirts of London.
Only realised when I went to Uni that black cabs have a 'TAXI' sign which lights up orange when they are free, go out when they have a fare.
Was genuinely bemused about why so many cabs just drove right past me when I tried to hail them.

MrsSchrute · 28/01/2023 22:46

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.

What? What is it about????

Tulipvase · 28/01/2023 22:46

Tulipvase · 28/01/2023 22:42

Do you know about squares and special squares?

Show quote history

Actually might be rectangles and special rectangles. I’ve drunk a lot of Prosecco.

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