To have reached the age of 38 without knowing

[lougle]

That pineapples don't grow on trees, but grow in the ground? I'm well educated, went to university (twice), but I had never thought about where my pineapple had come from, and it never occurred to me that the 'chopped' end was on the bottom and not the top!

What didn't you know until recently?

If you go to the tropics and see where huge areas of virgin forest have been cleared for pineapple plantations, you may wonder as I have whether you should be buying them.
But then that applies to so many foods that we enjoy.

🐖 half an hour...

I've just realised I knew about pineapples after all, but obviously forgot! Tgere was an episode of Who Do You Think You Are and the Sophie Raworth's ancestor was a pineapple grower in Yorkshire!

I remember her being rather chuffed about it

I thought fennel was a herb like parsley or rosemary until a couple of years ago (I'm 37) Took me a while to realise what you meant! Parsley and fennel are in the same family, we eat the leaves of parsley as a culinary herb, and the swollen stem bases of fennel as a vegetable ... but we also (less so nowadays) use the seeds and leaves of fennel as a culinary herb. So you were right.

I also didn't know that nuts grow on trees until the last couple of years! they don't all - peanuts are on a pea-like plant.

[angler fish] he finds her and attaches himself to her for the rest of his life giving sperm in exchange for food - like some of the DPs on mumsnet then

Ooh! That worked! My first mumsnet smiley!

You know, I blame the person who named then pineAPPLES, it's their fault.

I'd like to know who did this. In most other languages it's called ananas, isn't it? Apart from in the English language where someone decided to call it pineapple. Definitely sounding like an apple from a pine tree.

The word "pineapple" in English was first recorded to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones). When European explorers encountered this tropical fruit in the Americas, they called them "pineapples" (first referenced in 1664, for resemblance to pine cones).

Saved the rest of you googling. You're welcome.

I think it's because it looks like a pine cone and tastes like a very sweet apple. That's how a teacher in primary explained it to us.

Isn't the case that historically, "apple" had a broader meaning of fruit of any tree, (hence expressions like "apple of my eye"?). I think this explains why the Garden of Eden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is sometimes referred to as an apple, leading to the misconception that Adam and Eve got into trouble for munching on a Granny Smith or similar.

meredintofpandiculation..... I was about to put something along those lines but left it for others

Love this thread.

Don't Google gullible to see if it's in the dictionary. I did and I am.

Did we all know that if you put all the UK coins in a certain order you get the Royal Coat of Arms?

Wow! That is amazing Apricot!

Everyone is born with a hole in the heart - it normally closes a few days after birth.

its a small valve which closes as you go through the birth canal to get you ready to breath air, it sometimes doesn't close in c-section babies but it's not complicated to resolve, it's failure to close is patent ductus arteriosus.

You can freeze cheese.

Male seahorses give birth.

Almonds are part of the peach family.

Crickets have white blood

Koalas have 2 penises

There's as much vitamin C in an ounce of narwhal skin as in an ounce of orange. I'd rather eat the orange though.

Why do koalas have 2 penises?
Who tried the imaginary salt shaker in the mouth?

WOAH!! 2 pronged penis & 3 vaginas! 🐨🐨🐨

"Koalas, wombats and Tasmanian devils all share the three-vagina structure. The side ones carry sperm to the two uteruses (and males marsupials often have two-pronged penises), while the middle vagina sends the joey down to the outside world"

Can't believe I just googled 'koala penis'

We share 50% of our DNA with bananas.

Also, can't remember if it's cashews or brazil nuts but when they're being harvested you have to wear really thick gloves otherwise the oils will cause severe burns.

Champagne was first bottled by French Benedictine monks.

Male seahorses give birth

I knew that one!

Mine is not knowing the entire history behind black slavery, thank you H and M for making me fall down an internet wormhole the last couple of days and educating myself.
(Obviously knew the very basics, but now know more and also the cause of the Civil War as opposed to just hearing the name and not knowing what it was all about.)