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.

I also thought John Torode was called Jonty Rhodes as well, as I vaguely heard of Jonty first.

Glad @flamingzebra clarified the Flaming Yon thing, as it meant nothing to me.

I didn't connect the name 'niamh' to 'neeve'.

Generally in the context of Niamh Cusack who I may have had a crush on

Years ago I had a student, she was probably 20ish. Very excitedly she told me she was going to see a production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Next time I saw her, I asked her if she’d enjoyed it.

“Oh, yes”, she said. But I’d have liked it better if I’d known the story”.

Preface is pronounced "prehfuss" not "preeface

.....

Say what now?

I thought that when someone was "helping the police with their enquiries" he or she was simply a helpful volunteer. I wondered where one could sign up

My MIL genuinely believed that slugs and snails were the same thing but some had just lost their shells. I had to correct her when she was teaching my DD this. She didn’t believe me!

I also had a colleague who thought Tresemme was named after Theresa May, but it was just spelled differently.

@Zaflorabore louboutin is pronounced lou-bou-ton isn't it? Could she maybe have confused the two?

My husband asked me the other day if when a cat gives birth to say 8 kittens, does that mean the cat had sex with 8 different male cats

It’s called superfecundation. Cats can have kittens by a number of different fathers - and the kittens can be different ages at birth. So if a cat mates, stays in season, mates again, at birth her kittens might vary in age by several days. Dogs can do it too - one of my rescue litters had clearly been fathered by different dogs; two red heeled, two huge, brown boxer-types.
www.catster.com/cat-health-care/can-a-litter-of-cats-have-different-fathers-cats-and-superfecundation

Humans can do it too ...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2018/dec/11/one-set-twins-two-fathers-how-common-is-superfecundation

I also had no idea that golliwogs were supposed to be a characture of black people. I only saw them around when I was a kid in the '70s. I was amazed and shocked when I found out as an adult because I had never made any connection at all. I was at a regular London school with a diverse student body and as a child never made any connection in my mind to my friends and golliwogs.

@Jsmith99 "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad" 😊

Also, the people on this thread proclaiming they've learned something that well erm, isn't actually true are having my life 🤣🤣

@TakemedowntoPotatoCity re naso gastric tube

If I remember rightly; they have to measure from the nose to the stomach (the tube comes with measurements printed on it), so if they had gone into the lungs then it wouldn't fit all the way down (fortunately it is sterile!). You then get a syringe and take out (aspirate) some of the stomach contents to ensure it is in the stomach, if it was in the lungs nothing would come back.

The gas oven thing reminds me of what my DH (an American dr) mentions to people, that guns in the home are used for suicide by family members at much, much higher rates than to stop intruders or prevent crime. Obviously when people are feeling suicidal you don't want any kind of simple method in your home.

That the continent of Africa is bigger than China, India, contiguous US and Europe COMBINED!!!!

I only found this out watching a game show at a clients house the other day!

Maps are deceptive

The percentage one is great. Totally logical but I'd never thought it before.

I'm like Graphista long (quite patronising) posts. (Especially the bits where her explanations not exactly right.)

SilentBob

Yes I think you are right

"I thought jaywalking meant walking on the road not the pavement, what has it got to do with prostitutes?"

I thought it meant crossing the road on a red man! I did start to wonder whether my parents had given me this explanation to avoid talking about prostitutes!

For many years I thought a test tube baby actually grew in a massive test tube.

I had to explain to a friend that a tsunami was a giant wave and not an invasion by the Soon Army...

This isn't basic but this is why we are shocked at how big Africa is:

www.scienceabc.com/social-science/what-is-wrong-with-all-our-maps-mercator-maps.html

Greenland isn't as large as it's portrayed on maps and is actually many times smaller than Africa, although you wouldn't think it looking at a standard atlas.

Pigletjohn
I know that vibrators have been around a long time, but the 'rabbit' is a very specific make of vibrator which was first around in the 90s. It doesn't seem plausible that an advert from the 70s would refer to it.

That AKA wasn't short for something Latin, just means also known as ....

That Paul Weller's band The Jam wasn’t named after a fruity preserve.

"They know you mean "whatever cola drink you serve here" but have been reduced to this ridiculous questioning. "

No! If I ask for Coke I want Coke, not Pepsi!

What is The Jam then?

Up until last summer I thought that narwhals were mysteries creatures. Like a sea unicorn. The shame when my husband was like "Er...you what?"