AIBU to ask you to tell me things that you learned way too late in life *lighthearted*.

[Tinkofhousepan]

I started talking with a friend who emigrated to the states a few years ago for work. He lives in New York. We were discussing me going over for a holiday as I've never 'done' NYC. Started discussing the time difference between there and here 5 hours which surprised me as when I went to California the difference was larger 8 hours I think.

This lead to me being informed that the two states are on totally opposite ends of the country.

This is my thing I learned late, ive gone 26 years assuming florida and California were next to each other, And i have learned today that Florida is on the same side as NYC. AND IS AS FAR SOUTH AS TEXAS??? I also learnt that Washington is the most northern state on the side of California, where as Washington DC is just below Maryland and right next to Virginia, which is not at all in the middle part of America where I assumed it to be . I didn't learn USA geography at school, but surely I should have picked this up before now, especially considering I have been to both California and Florida!

Anyone else never realised this? Or is it just Me!

I've only just learnt the thing about "which side do you dress".

And I'm a man!

And mine sort of dangles down the middle - don't they all?

That the first little piggy wasn't going to the market to do his shopping I was 22 and it retrospectively ruined my childhood

OMG - another thing I've learnt today!

That the first little piggy wasn't going to the market to do his shopping

that had never occurred to me (and I'm 48!)

So what about the little piggy that had roast beef?

Presumably, one was ready for slaughter, so went to market, while others were kept for further feeding, roast beef or not, until it was their turn...

The figures from Pompeii aren't actually mummified people, they are plaster casts of the voids left in the volcanic debris where the people's remains were. I learned this a few years ago when i went to an exhibition at a museum. I mentioned this to my Dad a couple of days ago and he said it was a few years ago that he learned that as well and he's 70 this year.

Also I bet you there are a fair few Americans who couldn't plot Florida and California correctly on a map...

I think most of us know that as we learn where the states are and their capitols in school. It's the square-ish ones in the middle that are hard to remember where they are.

For me, I always mix up Germany and Poland, thinking the one is where the other is and vice versa. I always surprises me a little to see it on the map.

Disgrace I used to think that too! It came from spending my childhood in books. I read words and found out what they meant, but didn't know how to pronounce them because people very rarely say them. So I guessed.

Re 'pride in ignorance', people who are too uptight to admit to human foibles are utterly tedious. And dishonest.

only found out last week that Sandy's surname in Grease is Olsson and not Dee.
What?

That if men get an erection, they won't be in terrible pain if they don't go on to have an orgasm. Bastard ex

I learned last year the art of not giving a fuck. It is truly liberating and has changed my life

I don't get what's "lighthearted" about declaring how thick you are. "Ooooh look at me! I'm so DITZY and SILLY! Isn't it FUNNY how I didn't know California and New York weren't the same place!!Hahahahah."hmmNot funny. Not lighthearted. Not something to celebrate.

Yeah, because you're so clever, and know absolutely everything about everything, right?! (Nobody knows everything, not even you!)
We all have gaps in our knowledge, and I love these threads as I always inevitably find out something blindingly obvious that I really should have twigged earlier
as well as have a smug ha! I knew that l already! moment at some of them lol
Nothing worse than a smug know it all.

Thinkif For animals, 1 kg of fat will produce more than 1kg of water. So camels use the fat store to remain hydrated (as well as the energy).

K2p I would rather have a sense of humour like most posters on here than a sense of superiority like you.

I thought the song "Dude looks like a lady " was called "Do it like a lady". Do exactly what I don't know but I only discovered the correct lyrics in my 30's.

I never realised about poor piggy either by the way

Can someone explain how to make soup? I can make one to a recipe, but I can't make one myself because I don't know how much water/stock to add to the veg as some veg need more than others.

I was tasked with helping a small group research "fun facts" whilst working as a ta once. To give them ideas I confidently announced that the Great Wall of China was the only man made structure visible from space. The kids all went "oooo" then one later repeated that "fact" to the head teacher wfho gave me a and informed me that was just a myth.

A bit later I was working as an esl teacher and told my upper intermediate group of French students that the past perfect form of "got" was "gotten" as in "he had gotten away with it". The students said they were glad to learn that as their teacher in France had told them it was "got". Later I looked it up to double check and found out their original teacher had been right, it's only "gotten" in America - I'd just been watching too many American shows!

My mum, who is in her 50s, was complaining once about people confusing "less" and "fewer" as it's "sooooo easy to get right, it's just singular and plural". I told her no, actually it was to do with countable and uncountable nouns, and she went bright red.

I recently had to inform dp, who is 35 with a PhD, that hyperbole is pronounced "hyper-bo-lee" not "hyper-ball".

My brother was in his mid 20s before he realised that the song "smooth criminal" was not in fact written by Alien Ant Farm.

I used to think that Tracy Chapman was a man (just from her voice, I'd never seen her picture!)

@gwen Here are a couple of my family’s favorites (not my recipes):

smittenkitchen.com/2011/09/roasted-tomato-soup-with-broiled-cheddar/

cookieandkate.com/2016/spicy-vegan-black-bean-soup/

Both are very easy to make and I find comforting.

That boy George wasn’t George Michael when he was a child

That it isn’t compulsory to pretend to like Shakespeare.

That people who think it’s funny to be functionally innumerate (oh, I’m rubbish at maths ha! ha!) are idiots. They wouldn’t think being illiterate was a joke, would they?

only found out last week that Sandy's surname in Grease is Olsson and not Dee.
What?

I knew that one!
"Look at me,I'm Sandra Dee.... Sandra Dee was a child star of the 50s "ie Rizzo making fun of Sandy singing about how she's such a goody goody and all innocent.
Sandy's real name was Sandra Olssen.

That boy George wasn’t George Michael when he was a child

Lol, my favourite yet!
How would that have worked? They were both grown up and having hit songs around the same time

When you’re young (at school) you maybe wrongly pick up a bit of information and as we generally don’t have too many conversations about, for example, how far Florida is from California, we continue blithely to assume these things are fact.
It’s a bit of a shock to discover that everything you believed was true is all wrong!
I don’t think anyone’s boasting about their misinformed ideas, just incredulous that they’ve not discovered their inaccuracies till now.

That I am good enough.

I wish I had figured it out 20 years ago.

What do you mean pineapples don't grow in trees? Where do they grow?!