things you didnt know, but should... mine is rice :/

[RainbowsAndFrogs]

i honestly have just had to google how rice is made. i wasnt sure if it was man made or grown. i know
i knew but wasnt 100%

honestly i have A levels and generally educated, although apparently not as much as i thought?

please tell me im not alone!

@letsskidaddle I think it was a soap ad, like Imperial Leather or something?!?

I always knew “you’ve got another think coming” because of the context my dm always said it in. As in “If you think you’re going out again tonight, you’ve got another think coming”.

“Thing” just wouldn’t make sense.

Loving this thread.

In my defense, I grew up in another country, so my UK geography is not good. For years I thought Billericay was in Ireland, Blackpool and Brighton were in each other's place, and was very surprised when I found out where Birmingham was.

@midnightstar66

When I first read the original Harry Potter all those years back I thought Hermione was said hermi- own. It was several years later that i heard someone say herm eye onay and was grateful I'd never said it out loud to anyone.

I also thought Penelope was pronounced Pen-elope.

Love these.
I thought until my late teens that votes in the House of Commons, 'ayes to the left / nos to the right' was eyes to the left / nose to the right as in they had to secretly glance left or twitch their nose to the right to vote. And someone watched them all and counted them up.

@Bikingbear

Because it's lands, it describes a geographical feature and is plural. So the Shetlands, the Faroes, the Maldives. All are plural groups of islands, the Netherlands is a group of something. It's like saying the United States. You wouldn't say the Iceland because it's singular.

Thankyou that makes sense. Its bugged me for years

My geography degree hasn't been entirely wasted then

The Gambia, singular!
Quarter horses aren't small, they are fast over quarter of a mile, hence the name, but pretty average size wise.

That miniseries was a mini series. Like a 3 part show or similar. NOT how I pronounced it - minizerees 😆

Pene- lope makes sense - like antelope 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but could someone explain why is County Durham and not just Durham? Here in Ireland we have counties not shires, why is there one isolated case of a county in England, why is it not called just Durham or Durhamshire?

I'm not sure why The Ukraine seems to be said though.

Because it was a region before it became a country. It's like The Lake District becoming a country called Lake District.

@Lilifer

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but could someone explain why is County Durham and not just Durham? Here in Ireland we have counties not shires, why is there one isolated case of a county in England, why is it not called just Durham or Durhamshire?

It's to distinguish it from the town Durham. It did not become a shire or county until after the change from the governments official language from Anglo Saxon to Norman french.

@VEGAS2016

I didnt realise until my 20s that dragons were mythical creatures...thought they were real

I had a heated discussion with my mother about this last week after she told my four year old that when we take her to a museum she'd be able to see a dragon skeleton with the dinosaur ones. Had to get on Google to actually show her that they have never actually existed. Grandma did not appreciate the sarcasm when I asked if there would also be unicorn skeletons?

Four year old was most disappointed. Grandma is 57, of sound mind and fairly well educated!!

You know the wombles. The song goes "Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we". I used to think the Wombles were from Wimbledon, and that they were calling themselves common. 🙈

[quote Eckhart]@DidoLamenting

And the lesser spotted woodpecker probably isn't less spotty than the greater spotted woodpecker

Oh. Is it to do with how often people spot them? I'm having trouble with this.[/quote]
Lesser and greater refer to the size of the birds. It's part of the name of the species each is part of.

@formerbabe

I only recently discovered the Netherlands and Holland were the same place...it still confuses me

Confuses a lot of people, at the pub quiz the person reading the q's wouldn't accept The Netherlands because his answer sheet said Holland!

Maybe because they're plural? The NetherLANDS. The United STATES of America. It works when you think of it like that. I'm not sure why The Ukraine seems to be said though.

The Gambia too

Feminist10101 reminding me why I despair of/despise so many HR professionals I've worked with.

My husband, aged 36 at the time, asked the assembled company'What's an ope?' After much puzzlement, we figured out that this was a mishearing of Jingle Bells, and that it is in fact a one horse OPEN sleigh, not OPE and sleigh...

Roses the petrol arrow thing isn’t true of all cars, in mine the arrow is the wrong side!

But which way does it point?

@Feminist10101

Anything to do with cars. Can't change tyres, check oil or even pop the bonnet!

Can’t? My 10 year old DD can do those things. She can also identify all of the warning lights on the dash, knows most of the rules of the road and different speed limits and the basics of how the engine, clutch and brakes work.

There’s absolutely no reason anyone old enough to drive can’t do the things you’ve listed.

Agree. This is a won’t

If I said I can’t do washing machines. Can’t set them, can’t put detergent in, can’t even open the door, how would that go down do you think...

Here's another geography one - the magnetic North Pole is actually the magnetic South Pole and the magnetic South Pole is actually the magnetic North Pole.

The magnetic North Pole attracts the north end of magnets so it has to be the magnetic south.

I was wandering around local roads with an American friend a few years ago and she piped up "oh it's so good there are so many restrooms available to use...."

I was puzzled for a while as I couldn't see any public loos so asked what she meant and she said "all the TO LET signs, see!" And pointed at various flats available to rent out

The Gambia is The Gambia and not just Gambia because it was originally named The River Gambria in Portuguese. It's official name is The Republic of The Gambria, hence The Gambria for short.

@PrinnyPree

That the numbers on the toaster dial indicate time (ie minutes) rather than levels of toastiness.

Surely it's the same end result though?