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

[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 just did, too! Sorry, PP.
Penis- way-la.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is kind of lame, but that you paid the city for water. When my husband and I bought our first house we had no idea that you had to pay the city for water until we got a notice that the city was going to cut off our water. We are both law school graduates.

Another law school friend - who was raised in Houston, which is large and diverse - admitted that until she was in law school she didn't realize that the "whole Jewish thing was that they did not believe in Jesus." Like, she didn't know that Jews don't consider Jesus the Son of God.

I very recently explained this to my 40 year old sister.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know about Jewish beliefs either until I was far too old. Especially since I am Christian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That you were supposed to tip your mail carrier at Christmas. I grew up with immigrant parents and can't remember them ever discussing/doing this - had no idea people did until I was an adult and in my own house.

And school bus driver.

and the people that pick up the trash and cleaning person

All of these examples are related to tipping etiquette which came to be a the dawn of the Starbucks age - so this doesn't really belong in this overall, general category of "commonly known things"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On highway exit signs, if the exit is on the right, the exit number is on the right of the sign. If the exit is on the left, the exit number is on the left of the sign.

No way. Please tell me that you are making this up.

DP, but this is true

This goes along with the gas gauge arrow discussion. That one I knew, this one I did not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For a word game competition in college i pronounced Sobriquet as so- bri - que - T.

Everyone laughed at me . Worse when it was their turn to speak, they delibertely purposely mispronounced all the words they were using i.e. K - nife, buffe-T, etc. The audience, the comp and all the participants were in stiches!

I still die a thousand deaths when i think of this.

On a related note (there is a theme here), I pronounced hyperbole as hyper-bowl. My BF at the time asked if it was a larger version of the superbowl. Cringe!

You are not the one who should be embarrassed by this.

Confession, I have never had reason to speak the word but if I did I would probably say the T, that's what it sounds like in my head--even though I have 2 years of college French and even though DH and I enjoy pronouncing French place names in the US (like Des Moines) with (more or less) correct French pronunciation.

An acquaintance of my DS is in his early 30s and we are constantly amazed by him. He thought bathroom fans are required by code specifically to get rid of smells (he called it the s***fan, maybe he thinks it's what the s*** hits??). He asked me one day if there are still nuns.

I thought Hermès was pronounced “Her-mees “ until a posh friend explained it was “Air-May”

No, it's not. There's a slight 's' at the end, but the 'h' is silent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9UTCQhxG0A

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How vulgar the word sucks is.

I'm not a native English speaker so I was developing my vocabulary through various sources. While in college here, I had an interview for summer internship with a pretty high-up-on-the ladder corporate HR guy who I'd contacted through an acquaintance. At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer asked: "How is the weather down there?" -- you know, small talk -- and I replied, in my most polite voice: "Hot, as usual. It sucks".

I did get the position but my original referral got back to me pretty quickly telling me never to say 'it sucks' at a job interview. I'm sure they had a good laugh about it behind my back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That the exit numbers on 270 indicate how many miles you are from the start of 270. I just assumed they were random numbers and skipped numbers in the event future exits were built. Not one of my smartest moments.

It's not just 270. It's all interstates. I just learned this last week... my boyfriend was explaining to me that if we are at exit 16 and need to get off at 26 we have 10 miles to go. I had no idea.

I did, however, always know that the numbers start over at state borders.

Not necessarily. There are a number of states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, NH, Vermont, Delaware, Rhode Island, most interstates in New York) where the interstate exits are not based on mileage, but are in sequential order

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is kind of lame, but that you paid the city for water. When my husband and I bought our first house we had no idea that you had to pay the city for water until we got a notice that the city was going to cut off our water. We are both law school graduates.

Another law school friend - who was raised in Houston, which is large and diverse - admitted that until she was in law school she didn't realize that the "whole Jewish thing was that they did not believe in Jesus." Like, she didn't know that Jews don't consider Jesus the Son of God.

I very recently explained this to my 40 year old sister.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know about Jewish beliefs either until I was far too old. Especially since I am Christian.

Something else you may not know. Muslims believe in Jesus, and hold him in the highest regard.

[Anonymous]

Thank you jojoba poster! I was going to be smug about knowing everything on this thread, but that one got me.

Also in reply to siding abroad is so expensive, it wasn't for me. I was on financial aid in college, and that carried over to my school's study abroad program. Pls mine was in a developing country, so my stipend went a lot farther.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is triathlon pronounced TRI ATH A LON? Because that’s how everybody in the history of the world (that Ive ever heard) pronounces it. Still wondering.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+pronounce+triathlon

How did you think it was pronounced?

NP and runner. I've only ever said triathalon! Marathon, triathalon!

That’s how everyone pronounces it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is triathlon pronounced TRI ATH A LON? Because that’s how everybody in the history of the world (that Ive ever heard) pronounces it. Still wondering.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+pronounce+triathlon

How did you think it was pronounced?

NP and runner. I've only ever said triathalon! Marathon, triathalon!

That’s how everyone pronounces it!

Not everyone who can read!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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? [b]My social studies class laughed.[/b]

I just did, too! Sorry, PP.
Penis- way-la.

Why can't you read? There is an N before the S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is kind of lame, but that you paid the city for water. When my husband and I bought our first house we had no idea that you had to pay the city for water until we got a notice that the city was going to cut off our water. We are both law school graduates.

Another law school friend - who was raised in Houston, which is large and diverse - admitted that until she was in law school she didn't realize that the "whole Jewish thing was that they did not believe in Jesus." Like, she didn't know that Jews don't consider Jesus the Son of God.

I very recently explained this to my 40 year old sister.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know about Jewish beliefs either until I was far too old. Especially since I am Christian.

Something else you may not know. Muslims believe in Jesus, and hold him in the highest regard.

They believe he existed and was a prophet. They don't believe he was divine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That the exit numbers on 270 indicate how many miles you are from the start of 270. I just assumed they were random numbers and skipped numbers in the event future exits were built. Not one of my smartest moments.

It's not just 270. It's all interstates. I just learned this last week... my boyfriend was explaining to me that if we are at exit 16 and need to get off at 26 we have 10 miles to go. I had no idea.

I did, however, always know that the numbers start over at state borders.

Not necessarily. There are a number of states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, NH, Vermont, Delaware, Rhode Island, most interstates in New York) where the interstate exits are not based on mileage, but are in sequential order

Mileage based exits are federally mandated now, so the states that haven't switched yet will be doing so soon (or lose federal highway funding). Massachusetts is starting next summer and will be done by 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm PP. Definitely not true, though it may be true that you went to a station that doesn't have the switches. I went to a station yesterday and flipped the switch/ wedge thing like nothing. I do it every week.