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

y'know the white pointy hat racists in usa?

the ku klux klan apparently

not the klu klux klan

Just googled Spendthrift. It's the complete opposite to what I thought too .

I'll also admit to once thinking that Center Parcs was all undercover. YY to a PP blaming the old ads!

also is it just me or are the sex pistols a play on words??

piss tools??

Hmm, I thought IoW was part of GB and first website I checked said same, so now we need something authoritative.

Wikipedia supports me:
Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England, Scotland and Wales in combination,[31] but not Northern Ireland; it includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland, that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, which are self-governing dependent territories.[31][32]

It references this old government page, which certainly doesn't suggest anything special for IoW. webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121015000000/http:/www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/LivingintheUK/DG_10012517

Can't see anything which excludes Wight from GB

Yes indeed sparklingbrook and lweji thanks for pointing out my typo.

There's blatantly a whole R4 docu-comedy to be had out of the IoW's identity. Step forward, Mark Steele or Tom Wrigglesworth.

The guy on the video has a coherent position, i.e. Great Britain is the mainland only and the smaller islands belong to one of the constituent countries and to the UK but not to GB. Against this position, he says that Scotland, Wales, and NI are all countries, the word principality doesn't appear. So if he's wrong about that, he might be wrong about GB too.

Confusingly, GB appears to have an informal meaning as well as a geographical one, e.g. I doubt anyone from the IofW would be excluded from Team GB in sports!

Slow internet here so my last post was in response to your penultimate one, Dad3.

Great Britain includes all of England, so pretty straightforward that includes Wight (which historically used to be part of Hampshire), just as Anglesey is part of Wales and Shetlands are part of Scotland, so they too are part of GB. All makes perfect sense to me.

I used to think that Dunkirk and the Falklands were in Scotland.

That Arkansas and Arkensaw were different places.

My DH still insists that when people parachute out of planes, they briefly stop falling and go UP when the 'chute first opens.

I once had a 2 hour argument in a pub with one of my friends as she was adamant that penguins are fish and chickens are rodents. I'm still not sure if she knows they're birds.

There is a town called Falkland in Scotland, it has a Palace too.

I wonder if the pistols in Sex Pistols were a reference to "Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"

@Gendris: Wow. The penguins I can understand (she probably hasn't seen one) but ... chickens?

I thought a black comedy was a comedy about black people, like The Cosby Show.

Years ago, shortly after we moved to the US, I was watching the news one lunchtime and they reported that civil war had broken out in Georgia. I was completely panicked!! Who knew there was another Georgia in Europe...

Omg @ dividing the top of a fraction by the bottom. I am really thick.

Rabbit - your DH is definitely wrong about the parachute (well, the exception would be if there was a strong updraft of air). We are used to seeing footage of parachute opening where the cameraman has yet to open their chute, so they continue falling fast while the parachute brakes the observed person so the vertical separation rapidly increases.

It's as nonsensical as suggesting your car moves backwards when you brake.

I'm about half way through and am being very smug about the virgin birth and artic lorries and very astonished about Gibraltar, Arkansas and Arkansaw.

I'll also admit to once thinking that Center Parcs was all undercover. YY to a PP blaming the old ads!

That one is forgiveable

Didn't it used to be an island and somehow got moved?

No

Are you absolutely sure about that?

I only learnt this week that it's Time Square not TimeS Square. Who knew? Not me and I'm 37

The largest member of the [weasel] family is the wolverine - Oh, goodness, a wolverine is a real animal!

I didn't know that either, Normal. Older than you but never been to NY.

I wonder why so many of us think that Gibraltar is an island.
I thought it was until I read something here. DH thought it was too.

While we're on geographical ones, did you know Edinburgh is further east than Cardiff?

And Norwich is further north than Birmingham.

It's Time Square?

But I've been to Times Square!

Or at least I thought I did, I had no idea!