What commonly known thing did you learn at an embarrassingly older age?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I threw a big dinner party last year and served quinoa. I pronounced it quinn-o-a. Everyone laughed at me, so it was a little embarrassing, but I'd never heard it pronounced before!

I was in line for lunch once, and heard a woman mispronounce this word, and a guy behind her loudly and rudely snicker, instead of whispering the correct pronunciation. No class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Boston was south of NYC until I was well into high school ?

Don't worry, I dated a guy born and raised in the D.C. area, who thought that NY was part of New England. I don't think that many people from this area have actually been to the North East at all, judging from some things I read on DCUM.

Well it does share a very long Eastern border with New England. And many of the people who work in NYC live in Connecticut, so are New Englanders. It's pretty easy to see why people get confused especially since most people think of the Big Apple when they think of New York.

[Anonymous]

Some of these remind me of a story from a sommelier I used to work with.

A customer looked at the very expensive wine list, and then ordered the "cor-CAHJ". Confused at first, the sommelier then smiled and said they were all out, and steered them towards the cheapest wine they had. The customer had likely been looking for the cheapest item, and saw that the CORKAGE fee was $15, and tried to order it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a reader more than a talker, I grew up mispronouncing several common words based on their phonetic spelling. Misled (MYzled), Infrared (InFRAIRed), etc.

I proudly stood up to do a book report in 8th grade, and pronounced a quote with the word chaos as "chah- oss" and the teacher laughed and called me out.

I also had only ever read the word sonofabitch, and didn't really know it was 3 words ... So I got really angry at my cousin at a family reunion and yelled YOU SAH-NOFFFFA-BITCH! I had no clue it was son- of - a - bitch.

I read out loud the word peninsula as, "pen-iss-SWAY-la" thinking it was a foreign country...maybe Venezuela? My social studies class laughed.

[Anonymous]

I learned how to pronounce "charcuterie" this year.

To be fair, it wasn't a popular fad until the past few years, and I don't eat much meat or cheese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just found out that Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks were married for like 40 years. How did I not know that?

same!

Thanks to CBS Sunday Morning, I am now fully informed.

[Anonymous]

I had 3 immigrant grandparents (and my only native US born grandmother was raised by her immigrant mother and grandparents and spoke fluent German!), and grew up in a place where there were a lot of older people born outside of the US. Until I was in middle school, I thought most older people did not speak English well because most of them were born outside of the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That it's astigmatism and "a stigmatism."

me too!

This raises an interesting spinoff. Do you correct your spouse when they say something like this? I do, because I don’t want others to think less of my spouse. However, I appreciate it can be viewed as patronizing. I always struggle whether to say something.

Do you have a super formal relationship with your spouse? I would abs. say something in private but maybe I have boundary issues.

I would definitely say something- but because he laughs at me for doing it all of the time. I am typically the one who makes mistakes like these (we call them "marys" in my family- long story). When he makes a mistake - I love it. He is more of the wordsmith and I am the numbers person in our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That it's astigmatism and "a stigmatism."

me too!

This raises an interesting spinoff. Do you correct your spouse when they say something like this? I do, because I don’t want others to think less of my spouse. However, I appreciate it can be viewed as patronizing. I always struggle whether to say something.

DH and I absolutely correct each other, although never in public. But if he's telling me a story and misuses a word, I will question him or correct him with a smile. This is lighthearted and not at all mean. I'm an English major and he studied mathematics, so yin and yang. He corrects my math as often as I correct his grammar and usage. He corrects my flubs will question my word choices sometimes. Sometimes, we will argue over who is correct and we'll have to Google while we are laughing ove it all. I've been given several gift items that say, "I am silently correcting your grammar." I'm a nerd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being a reader more than a talker, I grew up mispronouncing several common words based on their phonetic spelling. Misled (MYzled), Infrared (InFRAIRed), etc.

I proudly stood up to do a book report in 8th grade, and pronounced a quote with the word chaos as "chah- oss" and the teacher laughed and called me out.

I also had only ever read the word sonofabitch, and didn't really know it was 3 words ... So I got really angry at my cousin at a family reunion and yelled YOU SAH-NOFFFFA-BITCH! I had no clue it was son- of - a - bitch.

I read out loud the word peninsula as, "pen-iss-SWAY-la" thinking it was a foreign country...maybe Venezuela? My social studies class laughed.

I gave a presentation during my first year of college in an Intro to Business type seminar class on Warren Buffett. I pronounced his name like Buffet. Repeatedly.

CRINGE!

[Anonymous]

Those signs over stoplights that say, "Left turn signal" (?) ...I thought these were just nice reminders to please use your turn signal at this intersection.

I've had a driver's license for 32 years! Just figured this out (sign indicates this is the signal light for left turns...pay attention!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I threw a big dinner party last year and served quinoa. I pronounced it quinn-o-a. Everyone laughed at me, so it was a little embarrassing, but I'd never heard it pronounced before!

That was on a commercial a few years ago, but he pronounced it “Queen-oh!”

https://youtu.be/TobvW77tuwQ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought car detailing meant someone would put little stenciled designs on your car. I was in my 20s and out with a friend. I made a comment about how I couldn’t imagine anyone having that done and I saw so few actual detailed cars when I was out and about. Honestly, even when I hear it now, I have to take a second and make a mental correction.

Thanks for th laugh. You explain it so well that I wouldn't want my car detailed, either!

[Anonymous]

That the underground railroad was not a train filled with slaves running in a tunnel.

[Anonymous]

I didn't have my own car that I actually had to take care of until I was 28- in high school and college did it, and then I lived in Manhattan until 28 so no car of my own. Anyway, it took me WAY too long to get my tires rotated when I got my car because - as I asked my friend - why would you need to get your tires rotated? Don't they just rotate when you drive?