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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
teraculum29 · 25/05/2023 19:24

that "wasgij" in wasgij puzzle is a jigsaw spelled backwards

ghostbusters · 25/05/2023 19:25

Antwerp isn't in England, it's in BELGIUM! I have no idea why I thought it was in England...and I still don't 100% believe it.

We have a family friend called Carl. I learned about 25 years later that his name isn't Carol but Carl. We're Scottish and add extra vowls to words (wor-uld instead of world, gir-ul instead of girl, wor-um instead of worm etc).

WestendVBroadway · 25/05/2023 19:27

@LaMaG .Re Living on a Prayer, I thought a few lines on was..."Gina worked and died of old age" not "Gina works the diner all day."

PuttingDownRoots · 25/05/2023 19:28

Hereford and Hertford are both in England... but Herford is in Germany. That took my brain a little getting used to. I thought maybe the British Army had renamed post WWII but no its always been called that.

Oldnproud · 25/05/2023 19:29

alexdgr8 · 25/05/2023 19:14

? so what are they then ??

Permanent marker pens. There has been a whole thread on this today!

Mansplained · 25/05/2023 19:30

JudgeJ · 25/05/2023 14:16

We used to have similar marital repartee when we drove by Wittering, Bickering, Loggerheads and so on. It would make an interesting list of place names in the UK, Marital Insults!

Where would be halfway between Maidenhead and Dorking?

shadowofadoubt · 25/05/2023 19:30

ThatFraggle · 24/05/2023 20:31

Had to Google this: Mandarins, as a broader category, encompass various citrus fruits with similar characteristics, including clementines, tangerines and satsumas.

My father was a fruit broker, specialising in citrus fruit, specifically oranges. It's a broad category, encompassing a dozen or so different types. Even what we refer to as oranges can be broken down into specific types including Jaffa, Navel, Seville and Valencia (to name a few), all similarly sized but do differentiate in colour and taste.

Clementines were the smallest, followed by mandarins, which were a much deeper colour orange and had the most distinctive taste. Tangerines slightly larger, more yellow in colour. Satsumas, well, these are more commonly sold now as easy peelers. None of these things really taste as they once did and now are much sweeter than they used to be. This is entirely due to the power of the supermarkets who often demanded a uniformity, not just in size, but taste too. On the continent and in other orange producing countries, the range is still much broader and they still taste as they should.

Mandarins and clementines were more plentiful at Christmas, and my dad used to give everyone, from my friends parents to my teacher crates of them!

Mrschristmasqueen · 25/05/2023 19:34

QueefQueen80s · 24/05/2023 20:22

This is funny to hear as I live in Pontefract. "I'm off down Ponty" said in a dirty Yorkshire accent 🤣

I'm pretty sure you mean Ponte Carlo 🤣🤣

Twentyfirstcenturymumma · 25/05/2023 19:40

hilbil21 · 24/05/2023 20:22

We live in Scotland and I asked my husband a few years ago if he minded driving to Skegness for Butlins (I don't drive). He didn't hesitate. The day we left he could not understand why it was 7 hours south. He thought the same as you lol.

Love this! Has he discovered Google directions yet... or maps, on or offline?

Escourtiebabes · 25/05/2023 19:40

@hettiethehare No way is it really i thought Middle East too

isthismylifenow · 25/05/2023 19:41

Why didn't I know that when Americans call their mate Creg, his name isn't Creg or Greg (which is what I also thought they were meant to be saying)... It'd actually Craig!

And the lyrics to You're So Vain are not

You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself go by...

They are in fact You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte..

I'm 53.

QueefQueen80s · 25/05/2023 19:42

@Mrschristmasqueen That's the one 😆 After a stop in Cas Vegas 🤣

Magnoliasunrise · 25/05/2023 19:43

I recently went to Dubai and was convinced it was in Saudi Arabia - I was mortified when the taxi driver had to explain to me that I was in the United Arab Emirates.

My friend for years thought that when you go on holiday there is a separate plane that takes the bags and when we were waiting for the bags to arrive she said the bags plane might not have landed yet. 😂

hilbil21 · 25/05/2023 19:43

@Twentyfirstcenturymumma he's a little bit better now Smile

TiredOfCleaning · 25/05/2023 19:45

Well I am not from the UK and I always thought that Liverpool was a suburb of London.

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 25/05/2023 19:46

Crispsandchocolate4 · 24/05/2023 22:14

When I was younger I thought Timbuktu was a made up place and meant far away in space not an actual place in Mali. I was so convinced it was just in space that I still find it hard to believe!

Me too!! I thought it was an invented generic far-off place.

TiredOfCleaning · 25/05/2023 19:47

Purplekaz08 · 25/05/2023 19:10

I have just found out this week that a car fob has a car key inside it in case the electrics fail! Who knew? ……apparently everyone except me!

I did not know that.

Thisistheendof · 25/05/2023 19:50

shadowofadoubt · 25/05/2023 19:30

My father was a fruit broker, specialising in citrus fruit, specifically oranges. It's a broad category, encompassing a dozen or so different types. Even what we refer to as oranges can be broken down into specific types including Jaffa, Navel, Seville and Valencia (to name a few), all similarly sized but do differentiate in colour and taste.

Clementines were the smallest, followed by mandarins, which were a much deeper colour orange and had the most distinctive taste. Tangerines slightly larger, more yellow in colour. Satsumas, well, these are more commonly sold now as easy peelers. None of these things really taste as they once did and now are much sweeter than they used to be. This is entirely due to the power of the supermarkets who often demanded a uniformity, not just in size, but taste too. On the continent and in other orange producing countries, the range is still much broader and they still taste as they should.

Mandarins and clementines were more plentiful at Christmas, and my dad used to give everyone, from my friends parents to my teacher crates of them!

As a child I was always wary of blood oranges because, you know, they had blood in them 🙄

thewillowbunnies · 25/05/2023 19:52

That I was supposed to tell the Child Benefit people that I moved house and got married...

4 years ago....

:SSS I am still entitled, do I still tell them now?!

Redshoeblueshoe · 25/05/2023 19:52

I did not know that about "You're so vain"

EpicChaos · 25/05/2023 19:54

GellerYeller · 25/05/2023 18:57

@EpicChaos interesting and amusing. History here and confirms you can indeed overdose on Pontefract cakes with dire consequence:
https://delishably.com/desserts/The-Story-of-Pontefract-Cakes

Thank you very much once again for the info @GellerYeller who'd a thunk liquorice could be quite so interesting, eh? I'll be sure to never o'd on Pontefract cakes though lol :-D
You've certainly helped educate me today, that's for sure, so thanks again for taking the time to bother on, it's appreciated :-)

FeelingwearyFeeelingsmall · 25/05/2023 19:55

When I was a young adult I worked at a food wholesalers in the City of London. The company had warehouses in Billericay, Essex (about 30 miles away).

For some reason I thought Billericay was a South Sea island and I was always mystified that staff members visiting the warehouses would be back in the office the next day. I couldn't understand how they could travel halfway around the world so quickly.

At least I had the excuse of being young! When I was in my fifties I arranged to meet up with some friends who were doing an 18 month trip around the world. We established that on the dates I could join them they would be in Buenos Aires and then flying to Patagonia. Until that moment I had thought Patagonia was a mythical place rather like Atlantis or Narnia. I had to Google it after our phone call.

LaMaG · 25/05/2023 19:57

I was a young adult before I realised mince pies do not have minced beef. In my defence, its a stupid name

JudgeJ · 25/05/2023 19:59

" Elder Yorkshire folk often call liquorice ‘Spanish’. "

It was called Spanish in the '50s at the proper end of the M62, not just in Yorkshire.

CharlottenBurger · 25/05/2023 19:59

UrsulaBelle · 25/05/2023 18:59

Bristol is its own unitary authority. Avon has been gone for years!

Avon died 27 years ago last April 1st just gone.