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!

Holland is part of the Netherlands, not the same as

i actually heard an interview this year on radio between two headmasters, one from a high-achieving comprehensive and one from an independent school. they were talking about problems during covid, and the comprehensive one said about having to keep the fackade in place at school
i assumed it was some social distancing measure, akin to a stockade. then it became obvious he meant facade, but didn't know how to pronounce it. i was so embarrassed for him

@alexdgr8

I heard that too!

I was also embarassed for the poor chap

@00100001

I didn't know that a pony is just a small horse until a year ago or so.

I thought ponies were different animals, a bit like a donkey is different, but similar to the horse.

What?! Same here! I thought they were different from sort of from the same family. I started on the Xmas wine last night and now feel too hung over to process this new info!

@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.

I doubt very much your 10 year old can change a tyre

There are 9 countries in the Sahara, you’ll need to watch Michael Palin’s travel TV series Sahara which is in the continent of Africa.

Regarding maps, I was shown an image of the UK turned through 90 degrees so Scotland was to the east and Cornwall to the west. I didn’t recognise it.

I am horrendous with geography and the placements of countries! Honestly hopeless.
I'm trying to learn though

@Prokupatuscrakedatus

Tigresswoods

Drenthe
Gelderland
Groningen
Flevoland
Friesland
Limburg
Noord-Brabant
Noord-Holland
Overijssel
Utrecht
Zeeland
Zuid-Holland</div></div>

No that is interesting. I wonder how many I'll remember if it even comes up at a quiz night...

Old neighbours fans and The Sullivan’s fans .... I just found out that Mrs. Mangles from Neighbours and Mrs. Jessop from the Sullivans, was actually played by the same actor, Vivian Gray.

I grew up being taught and saying ... The Ukraine. Now, many years later, I have a Ukrainian daughter in law, and she and her family have never heard of it being called “The” Ukraine.

(The) Ukraine

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18233844

Can I say about Holland and the Netherlands that the whole of the country has been referred to as “Holland” for ages, and that nobody is offended

Football fans singing “Hup Holland Hup”

The thing I never get is why Dutch people are called “Dutch” , they call themselves “Nederlands” or say I am a “Hollander”, “Dutch” sounds like what Germans call themselves in German (Deutsch) and I always wonder if English language speakers got confused at some point

I definitely think your beliefs comes from images. The pig going to the market definitely had a basket in my story book. 🤣 So that's what I believed!

I always did think nights in white satin was nights. However, I do remember the TV advert! There definitely was some kind of advert with a woman and a Knight on a horse. So it makes sense as to why So many people would think knights.

We are being tricked! 😆

@ThroughThickAndThin01

It’s not Knights

But it should be.

I always imagined the knights with white satin cloaks billowing in the breeze as they ride their chargers (not phone chargers) towards a mysterious castle silhouetted against a moonlit sky. And look, can you see, up at the top of the tallest tower , a single light shines from the topmost turret window.....

See, in my mind the knights were probably luxuriating in white satin sheets, probably alongside some damsel or other.

If I think that, I've got another "think" coming. Etc etc.

I always imagined the knights with white satin cloaks billowing in the breeze as they ride their chargers (not phone chargers) towards a mysterious castle silhouetted against a moonlit sky. And look, can you see, up at the top of the tallest tower , a single light shines from the topmost turret window.....

SAME. I have no idea why, either, since I didn't grow up in the UK and presumably didn't see the same adverts featuring satin-y knights.

@Tigresswoods

So if "Holland" is a part of The Netherlands, what's the other part called?

This is actually no ‘holland’. The Netherlands has twelve provinces: Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, Noord-Brabant, Utrecht, Flevoland, Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, Gelderland and Limburg. Every province has its own capital.

Isn't Holland the conglomeration of 2 of those, Misty?

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

Ohhhhhhh shit!

Yes, but it isn’t an official province name (historically maybe). My DP is Dutch and he gets very exercised about the misuse of the terminology!

The reason that Pontefract sounds Welsh is because that part of the UK around Leeds was one of the last ‘Welsh’ or British-speaking’ kingdoms in England (Elmet), along with Strathclyde and Dunmonia (West country). The whole country used to speak the language that Welsh came from ‘British’/‘Brittonic’. When the Anglo-Saxons arrived the language was overtaken by ‘Old English’ but lived on in Wales, and places like Strathclyde, Elmet etc (Cornish is a mix of Welsh and Old English). Even London the name of London itself from is though to originate from the British language).

So if the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans had never arrived, in all likelihood we would all have been speaking Welsh!

Fab info Misty!

It's a great thread, this. Who would have thought such an education about geography and kidneys was coming our way!

Brilliant thread thank you, wasted a good few hours of my day and I learned loads.

As for HR executives, sadly most of them are the same ilk, overpaid admin temps with access to your personnel file, in a department that doesn't technically need to exist.

After a decade of being a union rep sadly feminist (bullshit attempt at a binary joke) 1001010101 whatever her name is, basically represents the majority of her kind.

Thanks op for starting a great thread.

And thanks for everyone for your awesome insights, the language post at the end was exceptionally enlightening.

I had never heard the word 'cis-gender' spoken aloud, only seen it written down, so I felt a little foolish when I pronounced it 'si-gender' (si, like short for Simon), only to be corrected by DD 13, who told me it's 'sis-gender'... It feels odd that there are new words that my children are having to teach me, rather than the other way around!

Took me forever to understand the difference between North America (the continent) and the USA. Again am degree educated. Baffled me for years

@alexdgr8

i didn't realise that at a boxing/wrestling match, at the beginning of each round when they say, seconds out ! round 2, the seconds are people who support assist the contenders. like in duelling. i'd assumed it was an antiquated way of saying, time's up.

OMG Seriously. 😮