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.

Couldn't find anywhere selling Pontefract cakes when I went to Pontefract, ot that I'm bitter about it or anything.

Most of the pont names are because of the Romans. Quite a few Welsh words with building links (e.g. bridge, window, church,) have Latin etymology.

It’s the constant ‘oh well it sounds Irish to me’ as if that settles it, having been told by Irish people that, actually, no, it really doesn’t at all, that gets a tad wearing 😅

If you think it sounds Irish, that just means you don’t know what Irish sounds like.
Simple 😉

I'm not sure why you're being so pedantic, when you quite clearly know what we mean.

It's a bit like the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, only much more bloodshed. They just keep changing their minds and arguing over it.

Oh, lordy, how does a humorous thread intended for people to confess their daftness, ignorance, mistakes and illogicality and being a plonker descend into people berating amongst themselves about people's daftness, ignorance, mistakes and illogicality and being a plonker?

Give it a rest!

Pontefract is the strangest of places, i went there about 20 years ago and they were having a "best dressed Leper" contest as part of a fete.

No idea why but all this talk of Billericay has set off the Balamory theme tune in my head….not connected in the slightest!

You presume correctly. The original Caribbean people were Carib/Arawak who had migrated from northern South America.

Long before European ships entered Caribbean waters, the islands were already part of a wider Indigenous world shaped by movement, language and settlement. Among the most influential of these peoples were the Arawak — a broad network of communities whose journeys from South America into the Caribbean helped to shape the societies that followed.

eta
DH (white) was once told in the 80's that he couldn't be from the Caribbean because all the people there were black!

People that think it’s in Ireland obviously don’t speak Irish so as this is a thread about stupid things people think then it makes perfect sense to me! Though I didn’t think it was in Ireland, I thought it was near Newcastle. No idea why though. 😆

I presume you mean Newcastle, County Down?

Pontefract means 'broken bridge', which is a cool placename. I can't say I ever believed it was in Wales - mainly because I grew up in West Yorkshire and knew where it actually was. I do get the - illogical - Billericay confusion though. The unconscious associations ours brains make are weird!

I'm trying to learn about gardening and plants at the moment, and some of the pronunciations of plant names are catching me out! Id been saying 'cotton-easter' in my head, and it took me ages to realise when people were saying 'cotoneaster' that they meant the same plant 🤣

Heuchera & Houttynia get pronounced all ways in my house, though I think Fuchsia should be pronounced with a hard 'ch' if it's named for Leonard Fuchs. 😶

Edit...I only prounce when I have to.

Yes Indeedy! Pacers - stripes! As the advert used to go.

Also did you like Spangles? Also , Parma violets?..Also you could get this flat piece of bubble gum with a " tattoo ' kind of piece of paper that you lay on your skin, you lick the back of it and wait and then peel it off gently. Et voilà! A murky, blotchy tattoo that lasted until you next had to wash your hands. Happy days ☺️

Similarly I thought Ramsgate was in Yorkshire and nearly embarrassed myself with a friend who lives in Kent recently! So grateful i took a beat before responding!

Houttynia makes me think of Hootenanny and that makes me think of Jools Holland. Our brains are weird things!

The Pontefract thing reminds me of the time Lord Tonypandy was publicly introduced as “Lord Anthony.”

😁and from now on that's what I'm going to call it. Who doesn't like a hootenanny by the pond?

I’ve got the evidence.

There is a garden centre near me that has an old fashioned sweet shop, you can get parm violets there, licorice sticks, the actual proper stick from the plant.

Toffee in trays that they use a hammer to break.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

End of discussion!

I'm not gonna trust any company that can't spell refrigerate or allergens

Exactly!

I remember steamed puddings in a tin, which my mum cooked by boiling in a pan of water. She always used to make holes in the top of the tin first to let the steam out. She tells me that these were the cooking instructions printed on the tin. Perhaps it was a “thing” back in the day.

Yes you used a tin opener (remember these?) to make a couple of holes in the lid before boiling it

Yes, the type that made a little triangular hole. For all tins for pouring from before the ring pull.
Heinz steamed puds! Ginger, syrup, fruit or chocolate!