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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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20
JudgeJ · 26/08/2023 22:54

I keep wondering how long it will be before this same topic comes up, must be at least a couple of months since the last one!

AKAsomeoneelse · 26/08/2023 22:54

MWB29 · 26/08/2023 20:04

When I used to drive past security vans that had ‘POLICE FOLLOW THIS VAN’ written on the back I thought it was a command for any passing police cars to start following the van 😂 I was 28 when I realised it was a warning to possible robbers!

@MWB29 - well I’m 58 and I thought the same as you until just now! 🤣

IWasFunBeforeMum · 26/08/2023 22:55

I thought the name Persephone was pronounced was pronounced Percy Phone.

determinedtomakethiswork · 26/08/2023 22:56

Calmdown14 · 26/08/2023 22:26

Took my 40 year old friend on a long journey recently and she said "don't they measure the distance to the services accurately".

I must have looked slightly confused so she expanded" "27 miles and 36 metres. It's very precise!"

We had a good laugh that no, one is 27miles and the next one 36.

In her defence we are from a part of the country without motorways!

But why would they mix miles and metres?

Bellyblueboy · 26/08/2023 22:57

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’.

This is wrong. It is definitely Tombolese.

I have been singing it for years.

tombolese.

and I am convinced it must be knights. I remember a music video with knights dressed in white satin riding horses and the satin billowing out behind them.

next thing you will tell me that was the music video I played in my head.

this thread is madness

Highdaysandholidays1 · 26/08/2023 22:57

@IWasFunBeforeMum I also thought Hermione was said Hermi Own, until I heard it said out loud. Obviously since Harry Potter, fewer people probably get this wrong!

determinedtomakethiswork · 26/08/2023 22:57

The6thQueen · 26/08/2023 22:28

@iwantawisteriathisyear
@Louisetopaz21
@Jifmicroliquid

thunder is the sound the air makes as it rushes into the partial vacuum created by the lightning bolt (burns at 50000 degrees Fahrenheit, 3 times hotter than the sun) burning through the air it passes through. As the air cools it creates a partial vacuum, which makes the air rapidly expand and contract, basically the air column is a bit like a drum and the sound reverberates as a crack. As the vibrations gradually fade, this makes the rumbling noise that can linger.

Thank you so much for this. It's very clear now.

Oioicaptain · 26/08/2023 22:57

Also that you don't erm, wee out of your vagina! This discovery being after the birth of two children and the placement of a catheter.Well, I knew that you didn't wee out of your cervix. I just thought that the bladder opening was located much higher up. I then had a total epithany as to why you could wee with a tampon in. I remember reading on the instructions as a 14 year old that you could wee with one in, but had thought that the flow was too much and quick to catch it.

ImBoilingJackie · 26/08/2023 22:59

bucketsofdaylight · 26/08/2023 22:28

That old hymn about "There is a green hill far away, without a city wall.'

Took myself years to realise 'without' here meant 'outside' the city wall. I just thought it didn't have a city wall and it was a bit weird that they made a point of mentioning that.

Yes, I used to think it meant that too.
I also used to think that the song 'Lord of the dance' had the line "I'll lead you all wherever you may be. I am the Lord of the darn settee."

And I thought my mum listened to Suma Gregor on Woman's Hour.

Chickenpie35 · 26/08/2023 22:59

MWB29 · 26/08/2023 20:04

When I used to drive past security vans that had ‘POLICE FOLLOW THIS VAN’ written on the back I thought it was a command for any passing police cars to start following the van 😂 I was 28 when I realised it was a warning to possible robbers!

Same I'm 35 now but haven't known very long.

Spookyseasontime · 26/08/2023 23:00

determinedtomakethiswork · 26/08/2023 22:46

Mind blown.

Show quote history

You can tell how many miles away the lightning strike was too by counting how many seconds it takes to hear the thunder!

determinedtomakethiswork · 26/08/2023 23:01

Mustardforest · 26/08/2023 22:51

Only this week I learned that not only are eggs not classified as dairy, but Tenerife is actually a country NOT a popular city in Spain.

Cost me my space in the pub quiz team 😆

Tenerife is a country?

Rainbow1901 · 26/08/2023 23:03

Not something that I have to own up to - but a couple I knew had a baby girl. Husband was sent off to Registrar to record the baby's birth, name and so on while his wife was in hospital and his wife agreed with his choice. It wasn't until the wife saw the birth certificate that she realised the name had been spelt incorrectly - you see he always loved the name that he frequently heard sung on a song - Emma Emma Lee - yep he went with how thought it sounded and was spelt - Wrong!!!! Emily!! 😳

determinedtomakethiswork · 26/08/2023 23:03

@Spookyseasontime I knew that about the miles, but I have never thought about what thunder meant. Or rather I did, but I am not going to admit it on here!

Livinginanotherworld · 26/08/2023 23:04

allthehops · 26/08/2023 19:52

Bloody hell. All these years I've been imagining actual knights, on horseback, dressed in white satin robes 😂😂😂

Me too 😳

WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps · 26/08/2023 23:05

Oioicaptain · 26/08/2023 22:57

Also that you don't erm, wee out of your vagina! This discovery being after the birth of two children and the placement of a catheter.Well, I knew that you didn't wee out of your cervix. I just thought that the bladder opening was located much higher up. I then had a total epithany as to why you could wee with a tampon in. I remember reading on the instructions as a 14 year old that you could wee with one in, but had thought that the flow was too much and quick to catch it.

I would never have admitted this til someone else did, but I also thought women/girls peed out of the vagina. Never realised there was a separate pee-hole til I was in my early 20s. Blush I did do biology at school, I just didn't pay full attention!

SleepingStandingUp · 26/08/2023 23:05

AKAsomeoneelse · 26/08/2023 22:54

@MWB29 - well I’m 58 and I thought the same as you until just now! 🤣

Show quote history

Who did you all think they wanted a trail of random police vehicles to follow them tho? Even when they're driving home at the end of the day? It would cause chaos / what of they don't see one??

Bananas2 · 26/08/2023 23:06

I was probably well into my twenties when I found out that haggis were not, in fact, little creatures that had 2 legs longer than the other as they ran round Scottish hills all day (obviously only one way hence the different lenght legs on one side) ☺️🙈

Echio · 26/08/2023 23:06

The6thQueen · 26/08/2023 22:35

@Echio
Yo-seh-mutt-ee (I think!)

Ah sorry I realise there were two words in that one I was questioning .. I was meaning about HPV

(But I also didn't realise Yosemite until it was a Mac OS name!)

lto2019 · 26/08/2023 23:08

WildAndFree123 · 26/08/2023 19:56

I was about 35 when I realised the wombles were from Wimbledon Common, not that they were from Wimbledon and were common.

Brilliant. 'common, are we'

The6thQueen · 26/08/2023 23:09

@Echio

haha, sorry 😁

hpv is human papillomavirus. Pap-ill-oh-ma virus.

backoffbuster · 26/08/2023 23:09

For those of you who didn’t know that dandelion clocks were dandelions, what did you used to call them?! Surely as a child you picked them up and blew them, or kicked them to release the seeds?

Sunflowers765 · 26/08/2023 23:09

I used to think that all judges coincidentally had the first name "Justice" and it was some sort of misspelling of Justin. In my defence I was only 6.

FunnysInLaJardin · 26/08/2023 23:10

That the Parthenon marbles are not actually marbles.

Am very disappointed