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

[Anonymous]

I love this thread. I just realized that you do not have to bake cookies to go to a cookie exchange! Most of the time they will not turn you away at the door.
(no, I do not take away cookies with me, either.)

Technically true, but you will not be invited back next year if you don't bake cookies to share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was super late to learn just how much the college process is money related.

Hard work by the student is critical, but the money part is such a huge role. (I am not taking about the poor performing exception kid who gets in due to legacy/donor.)

My awesome young cousins worked hard and attended elite SLACs. My child had similar stats that gained admittance.

This is great and an achievement on all counts (no hooks).

But, here is the difference that I learned late: Great academic achievement and scores intersect with family income to determine the outcome.

Our family makes just above the amount resulting in less aid, making many schools too expensive. We’ve made a financial decision and I am confident my kid will do fine and thrive at the local state school.

My cousins family could pay full freight and their kids graduated from upper tier SLACs.

So when parents are like “yay, kid is going to/graduated from school X.” Unless earned as a full ride, the families don’t add “good thing we make $Y to have made it a reality.”

The dumb part is my older sister encountered this exact scenario in 1990s, but somehow I didn’t really get it.

Wish I’d learned earlier. Duh.

I would agree with all of this. I am amazed at how much money can buy. I was working at a university abroad and a youngish AMerican grad student showed up 'for a visit'. She set up meetings with faculty and administrators, etc. Apparently she was 'greasing the skids' for her upcoming Fulbright application by making sure that everyone (including the educational affairs officer at the embassy in small country X) would already have met her and know how great she was. She bought her own plane ticket and stayed a week. How can another young grad student who doesn't have money for international travel, hotels, etc. compete with this kind of back door mularkey? I later heard another story about a woman who didn't get a Fulbright, so she went and lived in the country for a year at her own expense and got herself invited to all of the embassy functions, 'volunteered' at the university and lo and behold, she got the grant the following year. I literally had not idea that people did this kind of thing or that it was considered legal or par for the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How to make the gas pump itself at the pump by clicking that switch on the handle.

I’ve tried 500000 times and I can’t do it. My DH does.

You physically can't do it? It's like a kickstand for a bicycle. It's just a little wedge thing that locks into place. I learned this when I was 15 and learning to drive (25 years ago)

It's not available in every state. It's not allowed in NY. You have to hold the handle the whole time there.

This is not true at all. I live in NY and I use them all the time.

It is true- I'm from NY and had to put my wallet in the handle to keep it pumping.

[Anonymous]

Well now I understand why public restroom toilet paper is as thin as an oil blotting sheet

Haha oil blotting sheet; so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I married my husband he didn’t know Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday.

My dh too. Every few years, he asks me "What day is Thanksgiving on this year?"

Mine too! Blows my mind!!

To be fair, the day of the week used to vary until the Depression. Retailers asked FDR to make Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday of November as a way of officially kicking off Christmas shopping season. The heir to one of the major, historic retailers told me of the conversation his father had with the president. Pretty cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in my 40s before I realized that couscous is pasta.

It isn't pasta. It is semolina grain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I married my husband he didn’t know Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday.

My dh too. Every few years, he asks me "What day is Thanksgiving on this year?"

Mine too! Blows my mind!!

To be fair, the day of the week used to vary until the Depression. Retailers asked FDR to make Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday of November as a way of officially kicking off Christmas shopping season. The heir to one of the major, historic retailers told me of the conversation his father had with the president. Pretty cool.

Sorry, I meant 4th Thursday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The saying that "It's always in the last place you look" is literal. It's the last place because you found it! Don't know why that never clicked for me.

NP I don't interpret it this way. I think of it as the last place you would look because you don't think it would be there. For example, my kids don't hang up their coats and when they are running around looking for them the last place we would look is in the closet! But, sometimes it is there so it is the last place we would have looked!

Yeah, I think this is how most people mean it, though the phrase I've generally heard is along the lines of "Why is it always in the last place you'd think to look?" It's a pretty useful saying if you can't retrace your steps or remember when you last saw the thing. Plenty of times I've found keys in the refrigerator or freezer, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The saying that "It's always in the last place you look" is literal. It's the last place because you found it! Don't know why that never clicked for me.

NP I don't interpret it this way. I think of it as the last place you would look because you don't think it would be there. For example, my kids don't hang up their coats and when they are running around looking for them the last place we would look is in the closet! But, sometimes it is there so it is the last place we would have looked!

Yeah, I think this is how most people mean it, though the phrase I've generally heard is along the lines of "Why is it always in the last place you'd think to look?" It's a pretty useful saying if you can't retrace your steps or remember when you last saw the thing. Plenty of times I've found keys in the refrigerator or freezer, for example.

Whenever I lose something, I always picture it in the refrigerator and go look there. Yet, I have never once found anything in my fridge that didn't belong there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in my 40s before I realized that couscous is pasta.

It isn't pasta. It is semolina grain.

Semolina is the stuff left after milling flour. It’s not a whole grain. Couscous is a pasta. Pastas can be made from many grains and even some non-grains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in my 40s before I realized that couscous is pasta.

It isn't pasta. It is semolina grain.

Yes, it’s made from a wheat-like grain - just like pasta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve shared this one before. When my husband started a new job and purchased some very nice dress shirts, I wanted to be helpful and get them ready for him. I opened them, removed all the straight pins, threw out the cardboard under the collars and the little plastic tabs tucked into the collars. I washed and ironed them and had them all ready to wear. The first time my dh put one on, he asked where the collar stays were. I had no idea what a collar stay was. I felt so bad that I went back to Nordstrom and bought brass collar stays, which he still uses 20 years later.

Uh-oh, I am pretty sure neother.me nor DH has any idea what these are, and he has worn a suite to work every day for the last 20 or so years. PP - off to Google!

Depends on the type of collar he wears. A straight collar should have little slots for collar stays sewn into the back of the collar points; a button down collar will not. Starch is not a replacement for a collar stay. And yes, the collar stays should be removed when the shirt is laundered and put back in before wearing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was super late to learn just how much the college process is money related.

Hard work by the student is critical, but the money part is such a huge role. (I am not taking about the poor performing exception kid who gets in due to legacy/donor.)

My awesome young cousins worked hard and attended elite SLACs. My child had similar stats that gained admittance.

This is great and an achievement on all counts (no hooks).

But, here is the difference that I learned late: Great academic achievement and scores intersect with family income to determine the outcome.

Our family makes just above the amount resulting in less aid, making many schools too expensive. We’ve made a financial decision and I am confident my kid will do fine and thrive at the local state school.

My cousins family could pay full freight and their kids graduated from upper tier SLACs.

So when parents are like “yay, kid is going to/graduated from school X.” Unless earned as a full ride, the families don’t add “good thing we make $Y to have made it a reality.”

The dumb part is my older sister encountered this exact scenario in 1990s, but somehow I didn’t really get it.

Wish I’d learned earlier. Duh.

I would agree with all of this. I am amazed at how much money can buy. I was working at a university abroad and a youngish AMerican grad student showed up 'for a visit'. She set up meetings with faculty and administrators, etc. Apparently she was 'greasing the skids' for her upcoming Fulbright application by making sure that everyone (including the educational affairs officer at the embassy in small country X) would already have met her and know how great she was. She bought her own plane ticket and stayed a week. How can another young grad student who doesn't have money for international travel, hotels, etc. compete with this kind of back door mularkey? I later heard another story about a woman who didn't get a Fulbright, so she went and lived in the country for a year at her own expense and got herself invited to all of the embassy functions, 'volunteered' at the university and lo and behold, she got the grant the following year. I literally had not idea that people did this kind of thing or that it was considered legal or par for the course.

Along these lines I never knew it costs a shit load of money to be an exchange student. Like 16k, just for the program. I thought it was a sponsored thing where you only paid for a plane ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I married my husband he didn’t know Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday.

My dh too. Every few years, he asks me "What day is Thanksgiving on this year?"

Mine too! Blows my mind!!

To be fair, the day of the week used to vary until the Depression. Retailers asked FDR to make Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday of November as a way of officially kicking off Christmas shopping season. The heir to one of the major, historic retailers told me of the conversation his father had with the president. Pretty cool.

Well that still happened about 40 freaking years before my husband was born. So he has zero excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH thought lamb was a type of sheep. He didn’t realize it was a baby sheep.

This may explain why so many people eat it. I think it’s crazy - I wouldn’t eat a puppy or kitten why would I eat a little lamb?

Grown sheep, AKA mutton, is tough and gamey. Definitely an acquired taste. Lil' dead baby sheep, OTOH, are delicious!