To ask the most basic thing you never knew/misunderstood until adulthood

[ChanandlerBongsLeftShoe]

I feel like a completely ridiculous excuse for an adult but the other day I found out the difference between cottage pie and shepherds pie.

I am in my 30s and gobsmacked (also feel a bit stupid now it's so obvious). I genuinely thought they were the same thing.

Is there anything you discovered as an adult that was just common knowledge to everyone else? Or perhaps there's a phrase you've found out you have been saying wrong all this time etc...!

Help me feel a bit better.

Oh! I had a full on argument with someone from South Africa about mother's Day. They "claimed" it was in may whereas I knew it was march. We honestly argued so much about it until someone pointed out that we just celebrate it on different days. Mind. Blown

burritofan apparently they roost on branches and only use nests when incubating eggs! It was a big shock.

Discovering that you can sprint or run or walk the same distance and you burn the same number of calories was an eye opener

My boss (in his 70s) is also adamant that the 1800s only refer to the first 9 years of the century.

I only found out the 'c' in Sci Fi was silent, been saying it for years, surprised nobody corrected me before last year.

A few laugh out louds on here - the magic cream at the dentist , mythical reindeers, staying in the car to prevent parking ticket

Learned a few things too! - the moon, hyperbole, chicken joke, the Dark Ages, gas .

Brilliant thread!

How is Gibraltar NOT an island???

Lyra I feel betrayed. By birds. The lying bastards!

Until recently, I thought the correct way to cut a pineapple was to cut the top off... Clearly not. Did wonder why pineapple chunks are in triangles. Oh and that they grow in the ground.

I was well into my 20s when I discovered the falklands are not a set of Scottish Islands.

I was out one night when I had a few to drink, this guys asked what I was saying. I replied I was speak Swahili. He couldn't believe it and spent the whole night talking about it.

Wasn't till the next day I told my house mate and they told me it was a real language 😳

It wasn't until adulthood but until I was around 12 I thought Lionel Blair and Tony Blair were the same person

Gibraltar not an island? Wowzers.

I was heart broken to discover that Torvill and Dean aren’t married or indeed a romantic couple.

I also thought TOWIE and the only way is Essex were two different programmes. I don’t watch either of them.

I'm loving Garth Funkel and You Sammity-Sam 😂😂😂

burritofan I know, the gits. In my head they would go home at the end of the day to their nice nest and settle in for the night!

*That the main characters in "Fried Green Tomatoes" were in a romantic relationship.

I first watched it when I was about 11 or 12 and thought they were best friends. It is one of my favourite movies and I watched it regularly, at least a dozen times before I twigged in my late 20s.

I was watching it with a friend when I suddenly exclaimed "OH THEY'RE LESBIANS!!!" She gave me a very withering look and I felt very naïve!*

OMG I never knew that!!!

I did the spiders/plug hole thing too until a couple of years ago when DP gently set me straight

About rabbits - I kind of thought both the Duracell bunny and the rabbit vibrator were both referencing the idea that rabbits have endless energy/endless capacity for shagging and creating new rabbits. As in “at it like rabbits”. Is that not it?

@Veterinari I meant The Vibrator as in the Pink Rabbit popularised by Sex and the City

I grew up very rurally, in an area surrounded by sugar beet.

About 2 years ago we were driving home and I was musing about what they did with the beet. I thought they grew it and then threw it away. DH nearly crashed the car at my stupidity.

I thought out sugar came from somewhere else. The British Sugar factory I passed every day for work obviously didn't register.

@saxatablesalt I mean marshmallow was originally made from a plant (marshmallow flower) so you weren't too wrong

We lived in Dunstable near Luton for 2 years around 1990. I was rushed to hospital with appendicitis, anyway fairly recently I discovered the Ellen Dee Hospital was the L & D 😡
Y'know like the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, or the Princess Royal Hospital, obviously, Ellen Dee was highly thought of down there. Still living that one down!

They grow green, then mature yellow then onto orange then finally red I've just realised there is only one type of pepper and they change colour.

Omg HOLLAND!!

I also didnt realise Cuba was an island until quite recently

I mean marshmallow was originally made from a plant (marshmallow flower) so you weren't too wrong

Yes but I convinced her you could literally go up to a tree and pick flumps

When we lived in Germany a friend once couldn't remember where she'd parked her car but she knew the name of the street, Einbahnstrasse. Once we stopped laughing we told her that meant one way street and there were lots of them.