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Original poster

Things you’ve only just found out

983 replies

TheChosenTwo · 24/05/2023 18:35

About 2 days ago I discovered that Skegness isn’t in Scotland 😳 How did I never know this before? Embarrassingly, I’m 38 😂

OP posts:
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19
BodegaSushi · 24/05/2023 23:30

Libre2 · 24/05/2023 23:24

It took me a long time to realise that you can actually crumble Oxo cubes in their wrapper and then open and pour. So much less mess. I blame Linda Bellingham myself.

I've had to smash them with a mug though, never found them soft enough to crumble Blush

It did kind of create a mess

Boomboom22 · 24/05/2023 23:32

DadDadDad · 24/05/2023 23:27

Actually, the lumping together of the whole of Africa is a fair point, and I agree that can stop people being educated about the huge diversity of nations across the continent.

But I feel I don't want to be too harsh on a song that was written quickly with a good intention, and had to convey a simple message. I'd be happy never to hear the song again, but that and Live Aid made a big impact at the time - certainly it was formative in my teenage years of making me more aware of the need for those of us in rich nations to give money and take action.

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Hmm not too sure on that. Since then an aid industry that employs the west often on high salaries, has flourished and poverty has drastically increased as has corruption in many nations in Africa. Look up Sorius Samura or Dambisa Moyo for less western views on this.

MMBaranova · 24/05/2023 23:32

We three kings of Orientar.

Trouble was, I couldn't find Orientar when I searched for it. I decided it was probably near Kuwait but had sunk, Atlantis-like. The rotating triple kingship seemed cool.

Boomboom22 · 24/05/2023 23:33

All a bit neocolonial really.

BadNomad · 24/05/2023 23:33

Also, your eyes see everything upside down. It's your brain that flips things the right way up.

funnelfan · 24/05/2023 23:33

Fink · 24/05/2023 23:19

I disagree that it's pedantry. Yes, there is part of me that is annoyed at why someone would put deliberately false information into a song (and I am undergoing diagnosis for suspected autism, which may be relevant here, I really don't like lies disguised as artistic licence). But more fundamentally, it very much annoys me off that the song, as so many other works, considers 'Africa' to be a homogenous place, usually filled with poor people who need help. There are 54 countries in the continent, slightly fewer at the time the song was written, and a vast diversity of pretty much everything. 'There won't be snow in Africa', whether actual snow or 'Christmas spirit' is lumping the whole of Africa into the poor unfortunates, them-and-us category.

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If it helps, the lyrics were written very quickly - along the spirit of “ten minute scribble on the back of an envelope”. No one had any idea the song would hang around as long as it did, charity records tended to disappear into obscurity very quickly before Band Aid.

I’m pretty sure both Midge Ure and Bob Geldof have expressed regret that the lyrics weren’t as well considered as they could have been, but a PP is correct, they were intended to point out to those of us in the UK that while we were expecting to indulge in all the usual Christmas traditions, coziness and imagery, things would be vastly different for people in famine conditions at the time. The other big Christmas song that year was “Last Christmas” and the video had George and Andrew on a skiing holiday, lots of snow. It’s entirely possible “No snow in Africa” was a sideways reference to that.

Catchasingmewithspiders · 24/05/2023 23:35

Also on the topic of eyes, no matter how adamant someone is that when they had eye surgery their eye was taken out, or hung down on their cheek, it didnt. This is not a thing. There are all sorts of muscles, connective tissue, nerves holding it in, including the optic nerve connecting it to the brain.

UrsulaBelle · 24/05/2023 23:40

Skegness may not be in Scotland, but what I do know is that it’s so bracing.

I also used to get Brunei and Bahrain mixed up.

Pontefract etymology is from Latin where Pont means bridge Pont is bridge in Welsh as well, as in Pontypridd and Pontypool.

tonkywonky · 24/05/2023 23:49

Jellykat · 24/05/2023 20:26

I've always thought Gretna Green was a London suburb Blush
I never realized those runaways in films were going up to Scotland to get hitched!

You're thinking of Bethnal Green

JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon · 24/05/2023 23:49

Fink · 24/05/2023 23:10

There may be a few Dunkirks, but did no one think it was odd that 300,000 plus allied soldiers had to be evacuated from a home nation?!

I sympathise with the Apennine/Pennine confusion, I did that too, and the Appalachians with the Apennines. Also used to have to think really hard before speaking when talking about the Atlantic or Pacific coast of the USA because I used to confuse them.

It was the other way round for me.

I couldn't understand why there were buses driving round Nottingham that according to the destination board on the front were going to Dunkirk, what with it being in France and Nottingham being bloody miles from the channel.

(I didn't wonder for long, after all I was visiting from a city with suburbs called California and New Zealand)

Lovelydaytomorrow · 24/05/2023 23:56

😲 <-- My face when strolling around London and I walked past the Scotland Yard sign.

Catchasingmewithspiders · 24/05/2023 23:57

Lovelydaytomorrow · 24/05/2023 23:56

😲 <-- My face when strolling around London and I walked past the Scotland Yard sign.

Yes! I always assumed Scotland Yard was in Scotland when I was younger! O feel like that ones allowable though 😂

00100001 · 24/05/2023 23:58

AutumnCrow · 24/05/2023 23:08

Another poster found a little techie quirk to do with 3x ~

I'm pretty sure it'll be killed dead by 09.30 hours

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make the most of it... and this! 😀

00100001 · 24/05/2023 23:59

MrsLampard · 24/05/2023 23:25

Isn't Borneo in the Middle East?!

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No, far east. Indonesia.

Things you’ve only just found out
Channellingsophistication · 25/05/2023 00:03

I always think that Billericay should be in Ireland rather than England.

It’s been about 10 years, since I realised that it was possible to be on tenterhooks rather than tenderhooks.

Luredbyapomegranate · 25/05/2023 00:04

longwayoff · 24/05/2023 20:35

Over time, i have bought, probably, hundreds of rolls of cling film and foil. I have just found out that every pack has a pair of push in tabs, one at either end of the pack. These tabs hold the roll in place. WHY HAVE I NEVER NOTICED THIS BEFORE?

What?! How does this work?! I have had 30 years of cling film battles. Off to Google

Billericay has no business whatsoever being in Essex. Clearly it should be in Ireland.

Luredbyapomegranate · 25/05/2023 00:05

Channellingsophistication · 25/05/2023 00:03

I always think that Billericay should be in Ireland rather than England.

It’s been about 10 years, since I realised that it was possible to be on tenterhooks rather than tenderhooks.

Ha!

Literally just posted the same

And also same for tenterhooks..

Channellingsophistication · 25/05/2023 00:06

@longwayoff wowser i didnt know that either

Luredbyapomegranate · 25/05/2023 00:08

Magicmonster · 24/05/2023 23:05

I work in a large city law firm. Until this year, I thought ‘fintech’was something to do with Scandinavia

😂

ToWhitToWhoo · 25/05/2023 00:17

Libre2 · 24/05/2023 23:14

Yep - I assumed it was His official title “Peter God” 😂😂

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A friend of mine thought as a child that His name was Harold, as the Lord's Prayer included the line 'Harold be Thy name'.

I've probably mentioned this before, but in Infant School, we used sometimes to sing the hymn at Assembly: 'Jesus bids us shine, with a pure clear light/ Like a little candle burning in the night...' I heard it as 'Jesus Spencer's shine, with a pure clear light', etc., and thought that it was an advert for Jesus Spencer's shine, which I thought was some sort of polish that you could buy at Jesus Spencer's shop: presumably a bit like Marks and Spencers but more holy.

LaMaG · 25/05/2023 00:19

Just remembered my sister asking Jason Waterfalls to not go... 😁love this thread!

Tabitha1960 · 25/05/2023 00:19

For 50 years of my life I thought Banoffee pie was named after a Scottish village. You know, like Bakewell tart, Bath bun, Eccles cake.

I was stunned when someone told me it just means BANana and tOFFEE.

Stickytoastandhoney · 25/05/2023 00:22

Vintagecreamandcottagepie · 24/05/2023 22:17

That the black pupil in your eye is a hole. A HOLE.

Yes but it’s covered by the cornea and lens.

romany4 · 25/05/2023 00:23

PopcorningLikeAHappyGuineaPig

I was born on the Isle of Sheppey.
No one has a clue usually where it is when I tell them!!

JeandeServiette · 25/05/2023 00:24

Flaskfan · 24/05/2023 20:53

It only occurred to me the other day that Billy Bragg and Billy Idol are not the same person. I always just thought New England was Billy on a more chilled day.

That's hilarious.

This thread is really cheering me up.

My mind was blown when I found out you could reverse the cap on tubes of ointment to pierce the foil seal. I was only about 32.