Ridiculous things you've only recently realised you've been wrong about your entire life

[Seasidedolly]

I genuinely thought if you pulled the reverse cord on ceiling fans, it would circulate warm air.

My friend thought the yellow average speed cameras on motorways were there to look for missing children.

I had another recent revelation but I can't remember it now

Thanks to a cruel trick played on me by my older brother and my cousin I believed for much too long that some people had blue blood.

This isn't entirely stupid.
Oxygenated blood is bright red. deoxygenated blood is dark red, not really blood colour at all.

In the old days, before effective treatment, hemophiliacs tended to have many veins near the surface and thin skin, and lots of surface bruising. It made it look as if the blood in their veins was blue. As the royal family had a lot of hemophiliacs, the phrase blue blooded arose to describe them.

I thought timbuktu was in Scotland until I was about 25

And it wasn't until fairly recently that i realised motorbikes aren't exempt from speed limits. I thought they were allowed to go as fast as they wanted.

Silicon and Silicone are two completely different substances. - Well, that was my "whaaaat??!" for the night. Thanks! Now frantically reading a load of stuff I didn't know. I love it when that happens :)

Despite going to a grammar school, a fantastic university and living near Uxbridge my whole life... I only realised 2 years ago that people refer to 'Oxbridge' for Oxford and Cambridge uni, rather than the university of Uxbridge having a particularly fantastic reputation

Oh and I didn't realise that Wales, Scotland and Ireland had actual Capital city. I thought London was the only capital in the UK and that Cardiff, Dublin and Edinburgh were sort of "honourary" titles, but not real. and I'd lived in Cardiff for three years till I realised

When I was young I thought tripe was a type of fish.

kerbs "And while on the subject of glaciers, I was stunned when a friend saw penguins in South Africa, I thought they only lived in Arctic type places."

No penguins live in the Arctic. They live in the Southern Hemisphere and mainly in the Antarctic.

Tripe isn't fish?!?!!

Tripe is the stomach of a cow.

According to a dear friend it is delicious when cooked properly.

Frankly it could come out of the pan coated in diamonds and I still wouldnt put it in my mouth!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripe

check out the pictures and enjoy!

I only realised yesterday while watching "battleships" that Americans pronounce buoy "boo-ey"

I'm not sure if they pronounce buoyant correctly.

I live in Ireland. All. My. Life. I only realised 6 months ago that not only do we not have snakes-we also do not have moles or voles!!!!!
I went to college!!!!!

Fuck me starky!

tracy there are voles in Ireland though they are a relatively recent addition
www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/dick-warner/breaking-the-bank-vole-mystery-53682.html

starky Hate to break it to you but Dublin isn't in the UK.

Didnt St Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland, that being why Ireland doesnt have snakes and why he is a saint? Possibly.

I am an Atheist who was brought up with no religion whatsoever so I may be wrong about that.

SeriousShitGoingDown wait, what? It's in Ireland I know this, do I? is Ireland not part of the UK? Now googling, northern Ireland, I know that's separate, or is it? I got 16% in my year 8 exam and was told catagorically not to choose geography for a GCSE option "your educational needs will be better met elsewhere.." oh Lord, I clearly need to read an ordinance survey map or something.

northern Ireland is part of the U.K. (United kingdoms of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) Ireland/ Republic of Ireland is separate (they have a different currency too which confused someone I work with recently who failed to change £ to €)

MimsyBoroGroves Glad I'm not the only one! I blamed it on never having met a Penelope!

DrSausagedog I also thought the y in the Disney signature was a p. It bugged me during every Disney movie!

As children we pronounced lingerie as 'lin-ga-ree' and 'facade' as 'fa-kade'.

I still have to remind myself to pronounce cough as coff and not cuff

Apparently Billericay isn't in Ireland.

It sounds like it is.

I was in my 50s before we passed through it travelling south and I expressed surprise. Dh still hasn't stopped laughing at me.

I thought Thirsk was in Scotland

Fuck me Starky! "I thought London was the only capital in the UK and that Cardiff, Dublin and Edinburgh were sort of "honourary" titles, but not real.' ..... "Is Ireland not part of the UK?"

How did your googling of Northern Ireland go, Starky?

Ardal O'Hanlon (I think):

"St Patrick drove the snakes out of ireland. And also he drove out any written records of there ever having been snakes in Ireland. And also he drove out any fossils which would have proved the existence of snakes in Ireland."

I thought Center Parcs was completely indoors until I went there in my early 20s!

I am still laughing at the baby horse