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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't know that when pumping gas the gas would stop when the tank was full. The first time I pumped gas with my dad he had me put in $10 so that's what I always did. It was a couple years into driving when I complained about my $10 going from filling the whole tank to half the tank and my friends busted out laughing.

HAHAHAHA. This is awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What an advent calendar is. I bought a few at Costco the other year without really looking at it, thinking it was cute and I could give it out as part of bday presents.... for birthdays of my kids’ friends from their Jewish preschool. Whoops! The first mom was like, thaaaaanks

You win the thread!

[Anonymous]

Wrote in one of my college papers "escape goat" rather than "a scape goat".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrote in one of my college papers "escape goat" rather than "a scape goat".

And then I learned it wasn't "a scape goat" but "a scapegoat".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very well traveled, but just recently realized that Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas are geographically the same city. The Missouri River defines the state borders and just splits the city in half. I always thought these were two completely different cities nowhere near each other.

are they the same city then - i thought they just bordered each other. surely they aren't administered by the same local government for instance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference between e.g. and i.e. Was blissfully using them interchangeably until my mid 40s.

I correct my coworker's in formal documentation on this ALL. THE. TIME. Thank you, high school Latin class.

"i.e." = in essence

"e.g." = example given

Right?

I think of it as

ie= in other words
eg= for example

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That a "yamaka" and a yarmulke are the same thing. I just thought I had never seen "yamaka" written out.

Dh thought “epitome” was pronounced ep-ih-tohm, and didn’t realize it was the same word that we all pronounce as ee-pit-oh-me.

I had an English teacher who would praise us for mispronouncing words like that. She said it was a sign that we were reading lots of challenging books

That is such a sweet and face-saving correction I will remember.

[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.

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 17 year old recently informed me that up until a few weeks ago, she thought Martha's Vineyard was the personal estate of Martha Stewart.

I worry.

It isn't?

I think I wasn't sure about this for a while myself - FWIW, mom of 17 year old, despite the lack of understanding, I think I'm okay. Fairly successful and well-educated.

[Anonymous]

How to tell left from right. I am semi-ambidextrous. High school marching band.

[Anonymous]

I was 32 when my sister pointed out that it is "Sherbet" not "Sherbert".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was 32 when my sister pointed out that it is "Sherbet" not "Sherbert".

My mind is blown.

[Anonymous]

Irregardless is not a word.

Then it took me about a year to completely stop saying it, and now I don't hesitate to tell close friends because if I hear it I start saying it. Ugh. Most of them don't believe me either.

My cousin was extremely upset that age age 32(?) she didn't know what a "taint" was! lol.

[Anonymous]

This isn’t mine, but my mother’s. She is very proper. To give an example, she addresses birthday cards to male children as “Master John Doe.” That level of proper. She has never, nor would she ever, utter something as crass as the F word. That’s what makes this hysterical. At some point in her life, she heard the phrase “shot his wad,” and had no idea what that referred to. She interpreted it as “he gave his all,” so she would occasionally describe someone who had put in grueling hours at work and she would say, “He has really just shot his wad.” The first time I heard her say this, I was too shocked and horrified to respond. The second time, a year or so later, I could barely keep myself from laughing out loud, and decided it was my dad’s duty to speak up, so I didn’t say anything. The third time, a couple years later, Mom even referred to a woman “shooting her wad.” At that point, it occurred to me that Dad wasn’t correcting her (surely he knows what it means, right?!), and that she was probably uttering this phrase to people outside of our family, since she was so clearly unfamiliar with its meaning. I steeled my nerves, sat her down and explained it to her. It was so awkward for me that I don’t even remember how she reacted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very well traveled, but just recently realized that Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas are geographically the same city. The Missouri River defines the state borders and just splits the city in half. I always thought these were two completely different cities nowhere near each other.

are they the same city then - i thought they just bordered each other. surely they aren't administered by the same local government for instance?

No, they are definitely not the same city. Different governments, school systems, etc.