to have only recently realised..

[TheQueenOfDiamonds]

What the phrase "birthday suit" means... Ffs!

Also thought sea horses were mythical like unicorns and was shocked when I saw them at London Zoo swimming around in a tank

I can just picture the expression

monkey you are a total tit but I think I luff you.

Wombles aren't real. Well, in the sense that people dressed up as Wombles are real, then yes, they are real, but there is no small fluffy creature called a Womble. Common or not.

And 'Hey where did we go'.

I cannot bellieve what I am reading here! Did you all really think that something meant something else or didn't know the meaning. I can not believe it.

MonkeyFaceGrace Your idea of leaning forward when in a car travelling uphill is not totally foolish. In off road motorcycling competitions for sidecar outfits where the passenger stands up on a platform attached to the bike it is useful for the rider and passenger to lean forward.

I thought Dilute to taste meant that you had to dilute it it on order to BE able to taste it like the water had magical properties

I spent years thinking it was a shame that they didn't make the Channel Tunnel out of glass so people could look out and see fish, like a big drive through aquarium

I thought whales ate platinum.
And my sister wanted to know why people from England were English, Scotland were Scottish but wales wernt waleish.

I learnt that Portsmouth is an island (albeit joined by road bridges) from a thread like this....and have spent the last year telling everyone - they are disbelieving and then amazed when they go and look at a map.

I too only realised the 2012 logo thing during the Olympics it is a bit shit though

SineNome
I learnt that Portsmouth is an island (albeit joined by road bridges) from a thread like this....and have spent the last year telling everyone grin - they are disbelieving and then amazed when they go and look at a map.

Well I never knew that. you've informed one more LOL

I learned the Portsmouth thing on here too

OldLadyKnowsNothing - I know Wales and Scotland exist as I'm actually not stupid, despite evidence to the contrary. In fact, I work in Wales and I used to work in Scotland many years ago. I just didn't realise that they were countries in their own right. I just thought they were regions of the UK

So I can't interest you in the haggis farm? :(

I used to pronounce 'vagina' 'vageena' too - thought it was like Regina. But I have a long history of creative pronunciation. Gems my husband likes to remind me of were 'wan' to rhyme with 'fan' (in my defence, I was hungover and trying to describe how I felt!) and, um, 'subterfuge' pronounced 'subterfudge'.

Ahem, Too - I thought Regina rhymed with vagina! Doesn't it?

I still remember a conversation with my mother over the dinner table (why?! I think I must have been trying to shock her!) when I was about 12 when I 'informed' her that the clit-AW-ris has lots of nerve endings. My very straight laced, very prim and proper mother had a tiny smile on her face when she said 'No DD, it's a CLIT-oris...' And to think of all the giggling I'd done over the dictionary in school while pronouncing it wrong the whole time

Great thread.

But...but..can someone please explain, in layman's terms what the "flaming yon" is all about. I don't understand the link between the phrase and steak (?) or any of it really

I'm another one who thought 'damp squib' was 'damp squid'. Also, as a child, thought that 'to let' read 'toilet' and that if you passed a house with such a sign outside then you could use the loo there if need be!

DD and I were watching Tom Daley the diving and saying how it was all filmed so seamlessly. DH explained that the camera goes under the water too which had us believing that a man with a camera was jumping into the water rather than it being on a rail. We were talking about how he knew when the competitors were going to jump

DH then pointed out - just so we were sure, that there is not a man holding a camera frantically cycling backwards during the tour de france.

Shakey, the flaming yon thing. Filet mignon is a kind of steak you might find on a restaurant menu. Being French, it is pronounced 'fillay minyon'. Or, as some people on here have misheard - flamin' yon. And have therefore expected to receive some sort of exotic, fiery dish.

Shakey, that one was mine.

The steak is called filet mignon but I didn't know that. I had heard about it on tv but had never seen it written down and didn't know what it was. My ear picked it up as flamin' yon leaving me believing it was something exotic presented at your table on fire like Christmas pudding and brandy.

Vagina misunderstandings has just reminded me of something else. There used to be a program on tv called Mr and Mrs. My aunt and uncle had the book. I loved playing the role of tv host and asking them the questions one of which was 'when was the last time you were vaccinated' to my uncle. Thing was I didn't know the word and pronounced it vac-in-at-id said like 'feckin at it'. The two of them fell around the place laughing and wanting to be part of the joke, I did too which only made them laugh more!

Say "filet mignon" slowly, and without emphasisng the first syllable :)

I only got the why does the chicken cross the road joke ummm about a month ago.... [Blush]

Glad to have been informative re Smarties! (mind you I didn't realise at age 17, someone told me, so can't claim any credit).

Also took me ages to realise that Snap, Crackle & Pop weren't just random names for the Rice Krispie characters, it was actually the noise made by the cereal...

God bless my granny she tried to tell me about periods but was far too proper to be specific/clear. So I thought you bled from your belly button, & that it just happened once. Luckily my mum explained properly before my first period arrived!

I've spent my whole life enjoying that extra hour in bed you get all wintertime after the clocks go back. I found out last October that it's only that one night when the clocks change that you get the extra hour. I'm 39