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Original poster

what stunningly obvious pieces of knowledge escaped you for years and years?

324 replies

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 25/07/2006 22:03

I managed 25 years of life without knowing who Pele was. I managed 36 years without knowing a dodge was a kind of american car. dh managed 25 years without realising that the name The Beatles was a play on the word beat. how do educated well-read people manage stuff like this? and don't you love it when you learn something like that?

OP posts:
Bumblelion · 26/07/2006 12:42

I always thought Mo-a-meadow was a place and I always wanted to go there as a small child as it sounded so lovely (from the song "one man went to mow, went to mow a meadow).

It was only when I got older that I realised the spelling and my mistake.

Northerner · 26/07/2006 12:45

Just remembered as a kid I thought Jeorpady (sp?) was a place, after hearing on the news that 'there are 150 jobs in jeporady'

Move to Jeapordy then!!

Original poster
thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 26/07/2006 12:57

my dh told me about gasometers a couple of years ago. I wasn't sure if he was having me on or not.

OP posts:
Original poster
thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 26/07/2006 12:59

suzywong - that's a classic!

OP posts:
anthonykiedisbitontheside · 26/07/2006 12:59

I used to thing that when people moved house they always swopped houses with the person that moved into their house.

poisson · 26/07/2006 13:20

kr they dont have a bell so the kids go in calmly an here isnt a mass stampede.

TH BATH* thing that is a piss take isnt it>

PiccadillyCircus · 26/07/2006 13:22

I used to think guerilla warfare was gorilla warfare and wondered why people were fighting with gorillas.

Tamil Tigers confused me as well .

KathyMCMLXXII · 26/07/2006 13:24

Until a couple of months ago I thought puffins were big, like, the size of large penguins - didn't realise they were more like blackbirds.

But this is not as good as my friend:
she thought cows were the size of sheep because she grew up in London and had never seen one except in pictures and tv.

poisson · 26/07/2006 13:27

pc iw as going to ask about the tamil tigers

Gemmitygem · 26/07/2006 13:27

I thought Gibraltar was an island till I was 28..

poisson · 26/07/2006 13:28

i htoguth the isle of wight was miels off the coast till ........erm...........................

PiccadillyCircus · 26/07/2006 13:29

i thought Gibraltar was an island until about a minute ago .

PiccadillyCircus · 26/07/2006 13:30

DH used to think the Beatles song "Ticket to Ride" was "Ticket to Ryde" and about going to th IOW.

Gemmitygem · 26/07/2006 13:31

Well it's cos everyone says 'the Rock of Gibraltar' and it really does feel like it must be an island. Then I went with my mum on holiday there, and wondered what the strip of land on the map was. Aha, it's actually joined to Spain!

As a kid I thought that everyone got more and more Northern accents as they got older (cos my grandparents had strong accents, parents just a bit and we had southern accents).

I also thought that the old days actually were black and white, and that's why the photos and films were in black and white. Durh!

themoon66 · 26/07/2006 13:31

LMAO at the owls having no bottoms and therefore no sex!!!

themoon66 · 26/07/2006 13:33

I still don't know if people say 'off her own bat' or 'off her own back'. I never use the phrase myself coz I'm frightened of getting it wrong. Am sure somebody will now enlighten me..... please?

poisson · 26/07/2006 13:33

i used to live in gibraltar

HappyDaddy · 26/07/2006 13:34

themoon66, at least you have an arse to laugh off.

foxinsocks · 26/07/2006 13:36

until right at the end of primary school I thought if you lost a limb, another one would grow back

PinkTulips · 26/07/2006 13:36

dp will be 26 in a few weeks and only discovered the other day that maggots are baby flies

can't think of any for myself... not claiming there are none, just to pregnant to think of any right now!

themoon66 · 26/07/2006 13:37

And I didnt know about the Axl Rose anagram either.

Or that people walked between the greens in golf, without hitting the ball along as they went.

Or that Parasols meant For The Sun.... and I did a spanish language course last year too!!!

PiccadillyCircus · 26/07/2006 13:37

I'm going to have to stop reading this thread before all my ignorance comes out .

Not sure what I thought maggots were really...

joelallie · 26/07/2006 13:42

I thought that BBC2 had adverts when I was a child.

Our old tv could only get BBC1 but I saw adverts at other peoples houses so I assumed that it was all other channels that had them. When we got a new TV I was devestated to discover that BBC2 didn't.

I also beleived that my Dad was a mechanic 'cos one day my mum and I took him to a garage to pick up his car on the way to work.

themoon66 · 26/07/2006 13:50

I always believed pineapples grew on trees in the same style as coconuts. I argued and argued I was right, until my mum produced a picture.

I also thought sprouts were baby cabbages.

poisson · 26/07/2006 13:51

wher do pineapples grown then