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.

Biancadelrioisback eggplant is the Americian name for aubergine. I'm fairly sure they are in many UK supermarkets.

I actually found that out about peppers just a few weeks ago on here Sadie!

That you can’t actually see the ocean and fish swimming around when in the Euro tunnel - im mid 20’s and realised this is a totally stupid thought last week.

My friend thought it was Grid Blyton not Enid Blyton because of the way its written on the front cover.

I thought Africa was a country not a continent. That would be a bad enough assumption for anyone but it was all the worse coming from me if you knew what vocation/education I had had. blush

This is not an uncommon misconception in Britain. It's surprising really, as a huge proportion of Africa's land mass was colonised by Britain during the days of imperialism.

Simon and Garth Funkel. Crying 😂

I'm howling at Garth Funkel!!! Thank you for making me laugh on what has been a bloody stressful day!

So far I'm loving the guest ales for visitors only, & the magic fire blanket

(I will have had some revelations like this too, in my youth, but I've got rather forgetful...)

I didn't know a fair few of these (I'm not saying which ones!). I love these threads - I always learn something

Glad I’m not the only one who pronounced it flamin’ yon!

I'd always assumed that 'abscond' was a polite term for something vaguely indecent or unmentionable.
'He absconded' Very shocking. Then I found out it just meant he'd run away.

I didn't know Albert Camus was French and really called Al-bear Cam-oo until I had a Saturday job in a bookshop.

Not true about peppers - green ones turn red or yellow. Not green then yellow then red.

I found out not that long ago that the phrase is 'to the hilt' and not 'to the hill'.

I don't know why I thought the second one made sense.

& Simon & Garth Funkel now!

Someone on MN used the word 'cowtailed' recently in a thread. I finally worked out that they meant 'kowtowed'.

I din't say anything, but one day they will be on a thread like this!

Not green then yellow then red.

There is a variety of pepper that goes green, yellow and red. They sell them at the supermarket on the junction near my house.

That 20:20 vision is not perfect vision - it's just normal.

That water goes down the plughole in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere and straight down on the equator.

Simon and Garth Funkel is utter genius.

Mine is only relevant to me, but after owning it for many years, I recently found out that my Seasalt raincoat unzips from the bottom when you’re wearing it. DP showed me as I was struggling as usual to climb a stile thingy.

Actually scapegoat is based on a loose goat
in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).

I frequently see posts on eg Facebook that show similar misunderstandings. eg Chester drawers (not a chest of drawers from Chester).
Happy Birthday - have a gooden! (what do they think they are saying?)
I'll think of some more.

@Haffiana

It is true about sweet peppers but different varieties sometimes ripen to other colours. Usually they start green, then yellow then red. I grow them. Some ripen to purple

I had only ever seen the brand Portakabin not heard it said out loud. In my head I pronounced it poor-takka-bin with the stress on takka. I didn't understand that it was short for portable cabin until I saw one next to a Portaloo and thought to myself 'Portaloo is clearly a portable loo, so why did they choose such a silly name for a portable office' and then had a lightbulb moment.

DH thought that the dark side of the moon didn't get any sunlight. I explained that it was 'dark' in the old-fashioned sense of 'unknown'. I asked him what he thought the phrase 'deepest, darkest Africa' meant, and he said it was where the trees grew tall and very close together.

Pull me close, now take it down, son

I'm crying!!!