What obvious adult discoveries made you feel a bit of a plonker?

[Airconfan]

What’s something you learnt as an adult that made you think that’s completely obvious and yet I have never considered that….i feel like a bit of a plonker?

Mine was when taking tablets, the more you drink with it the better it will dissolve. I think alot of tablets are testing with the assumption people will drink 250ml alongside it.

I only recently found out that Strasbourg isn't in Germany! Shook, I was! Although I think maybe it used to be, which might explain my confusion? 🤔

I find it odd too, but I have relatives who live there, so when I see 'Billericay' I hear it in my mind in an Essex accent.

Sounds totally Irish to me though 😂

I didn’t learn about buttons being on opposite sides for men and women until well into adulthood.

Why? There are multiple English names starting with 'Bill', only one in Ireland, and afaik no names ending in 'cay'. I see according to wikipedia there are a couple of other places in England called Billireca, from an English word for watercress. It's a very un-Gaelic name.

Why do threads like this have to descend into sneering or showing off? And on the first page too.

Anyway, I'm Welsh and agree that Pontefract should rightly be in Wales.

I'm still unsure about whether there is a correct way to thread a belt around your waist and if it differs for men and women.

I think it has to be counter clockwise or widdershins for men but I'm not certain about it being the opposite for women or it being the same.

I've just googled Pontefract, apparently it's in West Yorkshire.

I've always thought it was in Wales.

I just recently drove back from Switzerland via Strasbourg and all the town names in Alsace Lorraine are German😂

I've no idea why Billericay sounds like it's in Ireland - but it does (I'm not Irish). Anyone can see that Pontefract belongs in Wales, where its proper spelling would be Pontyfractwllhelichangwr, and that Nicaragua belongs in Africa, where Niagara Falls should also be located.

Pontefract cakes! We do proper sweets up here.

Bring back Pacers mints.

Well, I can see why having Pont at the start of a place name would suggest Wales, because so many Welsh place names include the Welsh for ‘bridge’, but Billericay must only sound Irish to people who know nothing at all about Ireland or Irish place names — ‘Bill’ doesn’t appear at all in any Irish place names, and the stresses are un-Irish, and the pronunciation wouldn’t work like that.

Anyone else with kids in their 20s who remember Fireman Sam (loved him!!! 😂😂) on Pontypandy?

@SoupSoup, but you do have places beginning with Bally! Disagree about the rhythm - how about Ballymena?

Billericay ... Ballincollig. See?

No? Oh, well, never mind 🙃

Well, there you go! Any wonder I was confused? 🤷‍♀️ 😅

Place names starting 'Baile' - the town/settlement of - need a second element, and 'rica' or 'ricay'. That's leaving aside the difference in sound between baile and bille. There are some Irish Bile names, usually for townlands, but Billis Bridge in Cavan is named for trees, probably a sacred grove.

tldr: English watercress beds are not Irish settlements.

FFS, are you Irish posters under the impression that someone's said Billericay IS in Ireland, or issued an edict that Ireland MUST name a place Billericay?

I live in one of the many English towns that even English people mispronounce. Never seen a resident giving unsolicited lectures on why they're wrong!

I was shocked and horrified at the age of 20 to learn that in general, you should not arrive at a party at the time stated on the invitation, but ten or fifteen minutes later. Yet another thing that makes social occasions such as parties so complicated.

I don't know...it just sounds very Irish in my head

I did not know this. I don't really good to parties but I always aim to arrive a few mins after the start time. It does annoy me when we're invited to a barbecue and we arrive to find they haven't even lit the damn thing, let alone put the food on! But I don't want to be rude by saying "I know you said the bbq starts at 5, but what time will the food be ready?" but at least I'd know whether to have a snack beforehand!

No, we’re all perfectly literate, thank you. It just comes up with irritating regularity on these threads about things people don’t know, and no one ever seems able to explain why they’d thought it was in Ireland. As @DeanElderberry said, it doesn’t involve any of the traditional components of Irish placenames, and couldn’t be less Irish-sounding or -looking.

Ballylickey? I've no idea...

I need to pre empt this to say I grew up in Ireland where everyone I knew was white and Catholic...

I believed that people from the Caribbean had black skin because they were natives. It only dawned on me well into adulthood that the skin colour relates to descendant of the slaves from West Africa. I stil don't know what a native Caribbean person looks like and to be honest am afraid to ask! I presume similar to native north and south Americans.

The person who moved it was probably the same one who named a peak in Wales Pen y Fan and a fell in England Pen-y-ghent, surely the latter should be in Wales too?

Of course, Pontefract cakes. Somehow I knew they weren't Welsh yet didn't connect that fact in my head.