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.

ReMUNerate

wow

I'm closing in on 50 and didn't know that - always thought it was renumerate. How upsetting for a life-long pedant.

I didn't know about the Schengen area until I moved to Germany. It's not really common knowledge in the UK. Actually I didn't know there were European elections/MEPs until I moved here either or the difference between the EU and EEA.

I thought men had an odd number of ribs (one fewer than women) until quite recently. I knew that the bible story that God made Eve from Adam's rib wasn't real, but I thought it was an interpretation/suggested/made up reason for why they differ. I swear I remember learning this in year 5 but I must have been wrong.

@ringsender, YES I agree! I'm very particular about spelling, grammar and use of English. I just can't believe I've reached 48 years old before realising it's actually remunerate!

You know that Loreal kids shampoo called "no more tears"....Only found out recently that "tears" rhymes with "pairs", not "ears".

Told my DH the US being close to Russia thing from earlier in the thread. He said "ugh yeah, in the winter you can walk from one to the other". Wtf!!

Reading some of these out to dp and he kindly reminded me of when I thought buffalo wings were... well the wings of buffalos. Served them in a bar once and I started saying how amazing it was that these 2 little wings would be big enough to get a buffalo off the ground.
I was drunk, but also a fully grown adult. When he told me the next day what I had said my mind was freshly blown that they were not in fact made of buffalo.

I've seen 'rest bite' many times - on a forum for carers of people with dementia. There is some logic to it - the poor things are desperate for a 'bite' of rest.

It's always shepherd's pie in this house, even though we know that should be the lamb version, and ours is always beef. With cheese on top of the mash. And possibly baked beans or red lentils added.

I wasn't quite grown up before I twigged, but for ages I wondered why on earth squash bottles said 'dilute to taste' when obviously you could taste it better if you didn't dilute it.

• She said "erm, maybe because it takes them longer to grow so they can harvest green ones quicker"

Me 😲 "I thought they were different varieties"

Her "Noooo. They grow green, then mature yellow then onto orange then finally red" *

What the fuck!!! Is this true???? I'm in my 50's how did I not know this! In fact how do people know this!!

Think that might be an accent thing PineappleC

Tears (from eyes) rhyme with ears. Unless L'Oreal mean no more rips? Tears (as in rips) rhymes with pairs.

Not freaking accent thing, a pronunciation thing!! 😂

Oh, I've remembered another! On those vans that say 'Police follow this van', I thought it was an instruction rather than a fact. I imagined it to be 'Police, follow this van'! As if it had been stolen if it was spotted driving around! Oh dear!!

Haha Sabine I’ll invite you to dinner and serve you Yorkshire Pudding with your beef Actually it’s what other people call Bread and Butter pudding but it’s made in Yorkshire so the whole point is I call it what I like.....

No More “Tears” as in no more crying (because it didn’t/doesn’t sting young eyes). When I was a nipper the 1970s radio ads were pretty clear on the pronunciation - and the reason.

I met a girl on my uni course called 'Anne Harrod'. I remember thinking it was really strange that she, and everyone else, referred to her by both her first name and surname all the time but it was one of those things that didn't really register so I dutifully just called her 'Anne Harrod' as well.

It was a good few months into our course when I saw her name written down and the penny dropped...!

To be fair, Schengen and Shenzhen sound fairly similar.

Haha yeah that's what I mean...It's tears as in rips, not crying, apparently!

Why would a shampoo have no more rips as a tag line? Ripping what?

PineappleC whoever told you this is still laughing. It's tears as in crying.

It isn’t rips. It looks as though someone once suggested that online and it went viral - but was quickly debunked by Johnson & Johnson. And there are plenty of old ads on YouTube to eliminate any lingering doubt.

Of course it is no more tears (rhymes with beers)! Shampoo used to sting eyes many years ago. The other tears (rhymes with pears) refers to holes or rips.

Although, on further research now, apparently the whole internet is divided www.allure.com/story/loreal-no-tears-kids-shampoo-meme 😂😂

IslaMann we won't X-ray for ng tubes unless a litmus test has been done first , some poor patients were being irradiated far too much!

Can someone explain the flamin yon to me please ?

Haha yeah that's what I mean...It's tears as in rips, not crying, apparently!

Of course it isn’t. It’s tears as in crying in that it doesn’t sting if it gets in your eyes.

Can someone explain the flamin yon to me please ?

Filet mignon.

The words 'No More Tears' are inside the shape of a tear on the bottle, so I think it's safe to assume it's 'no more crying' tears.

It could be 'tears' as in it stops the hair getting tangled and ripped, but I think that is reaching tbh.