What random nugget of information were you completely unaware of before you discovered mumsnet?

[777holyandsinless]

I’ll start

it being a commonly held idea that itv is uncouth and bbc is the classy alternative

This!! Mine all came to the hospital, poured me champagne, had photos, left me with flowers and then went home with instructions to call when I needed any help. And the help was provided!

And everyone kissed the babies!!!!

I had DS at 35 and I'm definitely not middle class. 🤣 The ideas some people come up with!

I've been very untidy all my life, but never thought of it as either a medical condition or a moral failing. I've never been ashamed of it, any more than I'd be ashamed of being left-handed or like mint choc chip ice cream. I just thought of it as being untidy. There is no virtue in being tidy, no vice in being untidy, and the opposite is also true.

I do the extra spin cycle after doing a load of washing. It does work, and as I dry my washing indoors (with dehumidifier) I like that it means there's less moisture in the air.

Yes, I do an extra spin, but not a rinse and spin, because that wouldn't make the load less wet!

That a whole chicken and a massive salad could feed a family of four for several days. (But not a 6’4 huge burley teenager that plays rugby)

People hate dogs. Like really despise them. I think most mums hate kids too.

People are obsessed with class. They shriek that they’re working class or grow up working class but they really like to shit on the poor the real working class.

No one answers their front doors if they have an unexpected knock.

So many people are so secretive about their husbands hobbies. I think most must be married to spies.

Step parents really hate being step parents.

And bought and brought.
Drives me insane.

Penis beakers being a thing. Amazed nobody mentioned this

I'd forgotten about that. My parents looked down on ITV when I was growing up. The issue was mostly the adverts (and partly the content). My parents have mellowed now...

The hobbies on here really make me laugh. I can’t understand what expensive hobby a man might have that would be “outing”? Or any hobby at all that is so rare and unique that people would immediately be able to identify someone from? Think the pp has hit the nail on the head, many mumsnetters must be married to spies.

Can someone explain the hairdryer thing and the spinning the washing machine please?

What the heck is a penis cage?

That the instep is the top of the foot, rather than the bottom.

That people are so weird about toilets, and who may or may not shit in them (with "workmen" being the lowest of the low).

Ditto shoes, especially whether to allow "workmen" to wear them indoors (I thought that only happened with the fictional Hyacinth Bucket), or MILs, or the horror of being expected to bare one's feet at somebody else's house; or worse, to wear someone else's manky slippers, which a nanny might have worn when she thought nobody was looking.

I have learnt that the UK says knickers instead of undies, are very obsessed with regular holidays ( is there not enough to do at your place), that women hate their MIL's even though almost all of them will be one at some stage, that people go NC with their own mothers, and that some posters on MN have an amazing sense of humour. 😊

usedtobeaylis

I have roseacea and extremely dry skin, Cetaphil feels great and calms it all down

Hot spoon better...leave it in hot water a couple od mins and press it on the bite. Relief for hours

"Human fruit machines" at school or village fairs: three people on chairs hold up a piece of fruit, and a prize is won if they match. (To make sure there is no cheating, they have partitions between them, or are blindfolded.)

That "life admin" is seen to be an overwhelming job that a partner must take equal responsibility for, else he's a "man child". Both phrases I'd never heard until MN.

I just crack on sorting what needs sorting for me. No stress. Just do what needs doing. And I recognise it's not my partner's strength and love him for the many strengths he does have.

Another one

That most MN users don't recognise that the people in their lives who have an occasional line or 2 of cocaine/take a pill/smoke a joint don't tell them what they do because of the massively judgemental attitude they know they'd get back.

Happy that you don't want to get married, but make sure you have absolutely bombproof wills and powers of attorney that ensure you each have next-of-kin rights in the event of illness or death, as close family (even estranged ones) can swoop in and take over decision-making and inheritances in these circumstances.

I also think SEN threads go a certain way. I mean, there are more of us SEN families than people think but also SEN threads are very inflammatory and tend to attract parents of SEN children defending their (already difficult) lives.

There's a benefit cap thread running at the moment and even though it's not about disability benefits, SEN was dragged into it from the OP.

Also, (this may be just my experience) I tend to have lots of time that you can't do anything with due to the supervision required of my SEN children. One of my DC routinely goes to bed at at 11pm and gets up (for the whole day) at 1am or 2am. In that time you have to be able to see him (or he'll smear poo), you can't read in proper depth because you have to constantly look up and he can't talk at all. So yes, we spend lots of time trying (and failing) to get him back to sleep, trying to play with him, changing him, getting him a drink, but also if it's 5am in the morning and you've been up all night, we do spend time on our phones, where we can keep an eye on him but also not just be staring at him for 4 hours straight in the partial darkness. You can then put phones down immediately if needed. So sometimes I think SEN parents might be disproportionately online.

Tbf to you it wasn’t until actively trying for a baby that I actually looked into this and then proceeded to tell all my friends and my husband, none of whom were aware either! I did fertility treatment for my second baby and I felt like I learned so much I never knew about the female body. I did not know it would be painful when my breast milk came in and I went for a nap day 2 post birth and woke up having gone from a small B to what looked like an F cup!! Ow the pain!

The Script in a nutshell is when your partner suddenly says they are unhappy, that you are the problem, you've always been the problem (when to your knowledge everything was fine and dandy), they need some space to 'think' but of course there's no affair partner

See all- married person angling to have an affair, saying how they are only together due to the kids, partner doesn't understand them, they just co-habit and don't have sex any more, they are treated so badly blah blah

what is a penis beaker ?

I do find this pathetic that so many men seem ‘unable’ to do life admin at home, but yet are functioning adults at work? For my own husband it’s disinterest and lack of planning. Magically he can do those things for his big boy professional job, so it is just laziness which should be called out in my opinion.