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Original poster

What dumb thing has taken you forever to realise?

734 replies

muchalover · 26/08/2023 19:45

Nights in white satin song was playing in the car today. A favourite song of mine so I was singing along and it dawned on me that the word is "nights," not "knights".

Whole song makes much more sense now 😳

I had a similar issue with "Toyota, the car in front" but it's a Nissan I'm behind (or other car brand).

And in the film Winnie the Pooh where the gopher says "I'm not in the book" and I thought it was the phone book😬 for decades!

I promise I'm intelligent.

OP posts:
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surreygirl1987 · 26/08/2023 23:50

I just found this out out from reading your post! I too thought it was trombolese all these years later!😳

Me too 🤣

JudgeJ · 26/08/2023 23:51

WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps · 26/08/2023 23:18

Oh another one for me... I was about 40 before I realised HOLLAND is NOT a country!!! Blush

The pub quiz once was in uproar because the questionner would not allow the Netherlands as a correct answer as his sheet said Holland, took a long time to convince him.

surreygirl1987 · 26/08/2023 23:51

In the Christmas song The Holly and the Ivy...

"The holly bears the crown".

I thought it was a kind of bear called a 'holly bear' and he was wearing a crown of holly 🙈

surreygirl1987 · 26/08/2023 23:52

Oh another one for me... I was about 40 before I realised HOLLAND is NOT a country!!!

Isn't it?! 😳

Surely2023IsTheYearForMyRainbowBaby · 26/08/2023 23:52

I used to think Siobhan was pronounced like it's spelt. See O Ban. Until I started secondary school and became friends with Shevonne (Siobhan) I also though Sarajevo was pronounced Sarah Geevo. Thank fuck I wasn't picked to read that first paragraph in my history class 😳

TheSmallAssassin · 26/08/2023 23:53

cakeorwine · 26/08/2023 23:36

Holland is a region of The Netherlands.

Holland - Wikipedia

Show quote history

From that Wikipedia article

"The name Holland has frequently been used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands"

It's what we used to call The Netherlands when I was younger, so you're not wrong @kinderbuenoyum!

Colloquialism - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloquialism

Teenagehorrorbag · 26/08/2023 23:54

Mushroo · 26/08/2023 20:59

Song lyric wise, I only recently found out it’s not ‘my love has got no money, he’s got his trombolese’, which I blindly accepted without ever questioning wtf a trombolese is.

It’s actually ‘he’s got his strong beliefs’.

Oh Wow! I've wondered for years what his trombolese was.......😂😂😂

cakeorwine · 26/08/2023 23:56

TheSmallAssassin · 26/08/2023 23:53

From that Wikipedia article

"The name Holland has frequently been used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands"

It's what we used to call The Netherlands when I was younger, so you're not wrong @kinderbuenoyum!

Edited
Show quote history

But also from that article

The name Holland has frequently been used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands.[2] This casual usage is commonly accepted in other countries, and is even employed by many Dutch themselves.[3]

However, some in the Netherlands (particularly those from regions outside Holland or the west) find it undesirable or misrepresentative to use the term for the whole country.[4]

In January 2020, the Netherlands officially dropped its support of the word Holland for the whole country, which included a logo redesign that changed "Holland" to "NL".

Holland - Wikipedia

So if you say that you are going to Holland, the country, then you are wrong.

You may be going to Holland the region, but Dutch cars have NL on them.

Pars pro toto - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pars_pro_toto

Ydkiml · 26/08/2023 23:58

when I saw a sign saying no fly tipping , I thought it was warning men fishing to not tip their left over maggots 😂

cakeorwine · 26/08/2023 23:59

So Holland is NOT a country.

Even if people have informally been calling The Netherlands Holland.

They have been wrong.

JudgeJ · 27/08/2023 00:02

EllaMenopee · 26/08/2023 23:19

I'm pretty sure I've heard language queen Susie Dent make the same argument, and rightly so, no one should ever be made feel bad for learning by reading.

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We used to give a close friend a Christmas card every year, his first name on the envelope, however when he moved and we had to post it we couldn't agree on his surname's spelling, two same sounding alternatives but spelt differently.

ShelleyCarpenter · 27/08/2023 00:03

drinkuptheezider · 26/08/2023 21:24

Me too ..and I'm far too old..🤣

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Me too and I’m probably even older

JudgeJ · 27/08/2023 00:06

CustardySergeant · 26/08/2023 23:37

You've reminded me that when I was a child I used to call it Pennyslavia. 😳

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When she was little my daughter wanted some Sylvanian family toys except she called them Civilian family, to be fair we were civvies working with the Army!

KissyMissy · 27/08/2023 00:08

Tripolitripodder · 26/08/2023 20:12

Not me but my friend this one.She kept saying to us,how come this person gets so many letters sent in to problem pages,has so many issues etc.The person she was referring to was Anon.Hahahaha we fell over laughing as we told her it was Anon for Anonymous not a person called Anon with a fetish for writing to problem pages etc.

I thought this too when I was in my twenties 😂

AmazingSnakeHead · 27/08/2023 00:09

ClaraBourne · 26/08/2023 21:50

That the little piggy going to market wasn't going shopping.😥

Oh my fucking god........ !

Surely2023IsTheYearForMyRainbowBaby · 27/08/2023 00:09

@Spookyseasontime ah thank you

mirax · 27/08/2023 00:12

I thought I'd see the bottom of the sea with fishes swimming past when I took the chunnel train. For some reason, I expected a glass tunnel!

imtoooldforthisshite · 27/08/2023 00:13

When the gopher says he's 'not in the book' what does it mean if he's not in the phone book????

cakeorwine · 27/08/2023 00:15

imtoooldforthisshite · 27/08/2023 00:13

When the gopher says he's 'not in the book' what does it mean if he's not in the phone book????

In the good old days, there were phone books with peoples names, addresses and phone numbers in. You could choose to be in there or be ex directory.

If you see the Terminator, you can see the Terminator looking through the phone book

Iwiicit · 27/08/2023 00:16

Glad I'm not the only one confusing the To Let with the toilet. I was in my twenties when I twigged finally.
Abba - I was sick and tired of everything when I called you last night from Tesco.
Always get very confused with the pronunciation of the words segue and annihilation!

Hawkins009 · 27/08/2023 00:18

Does anyone know how the three sea shells work?

Highdaysandholidays1 · 27/08/2023 00:18

Oh no, I didn't know how to say 'segue' right now! This thread is an education.

AmazingSnakeHead · 27/08/2023 00:18

I'm from somewhere that doesn't have the house system at schools, and I thought that JK Rowling had invented the entire concept of school houses and points. Mind thoroughly blown when I discovered that they were real things, I was probably late teens if not even an adult.

toadasoda · 27/08/2023 00:25

Sunflowers765 · 26/08/2023 23:20

Lyrics: I thought Mary on a Cross Ghost were singing "trying to make macaroons" and the obvious one bohemian rhapsody and the poor boy with his pork sausages

What's the bohemian rhapsody reference? Am trying to think of it, I'm just a poor boy... etc. Can't get a sausage reference?

Bongosbanjo · 27/08/2023 00:27

Took me a wee while to realise daisies were so named as flowers only during the day.