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

[Anonymous]

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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

(Ie) In other words (single item)
(Eg) example(s) given (as many as needed)

Everything above is incorrect:


"What is the difference between the abbreviations i.e. and e.g.?
The most looked up abbreviations in our online dictionary are i.e. and e.g., probably because they are often confused for one another.

Both of these are abbreviations of Latin expressions: i.e. stands for id est, which means “that is” in Latin. It introduces a rewording or a clarification of a statement that has just been made or of a word that has just been used, such as:

The cough may last for a short period of time—i.e., three to five days.

E.g. stands for exempli gratia in Latin, which means “for example.” It introduces one or more examples that illustrate something stated, such as:

Submit a sample of academic writing—e.g., a dissertation chapter.

Because their usage can seem similar, these abbreviations are often confused. One trick to keeping them straight is to remember that i.e. and that is both share an i and that example and e.g. both share an e.

You can also try substituting the English for the abbreviation to check:

The cough may last for a short period of time—that is three to five days.

Submit a sample of academic writing—for example, a dissertation chapter.

Another frequently seen Latin abbreviation is et al., which means “and others.” It is usually styled with a period, because the Latin words that it stands for have different possible endings, and et al. is the root: et alii (masculine), et aliae (feminine), and et alia (neuter). Since English nouns don’t have grammatical gender, et al. makes for an all-inclusive version of “and others.”

Source:https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/i.e.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Well into my 30's, I thought vanilla/strawberry/chocolate ice cream was "napoleon flavored" until realizing it was actually Neapolitan. Oops

Me too! I also thought there were two versions- chocolate/strawberry/vanilla, and chocolate/cherry/pistachio. Only later did I realize they had different names.

Remind me of the other name. It began with a P.

Spumoni

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:That realtor is not pronounced "real-uh-tor"

again, this is regional.

Jewelry and Realtor are pronounced differently depending on where you were raised.

Huh. I always just assumed that these were simply commonly mispronounced words, rather than words with multiple pronunciations that are considered correct. Like mixing up the vowels in “nuclear” by pronouncing it “nook-you-lar.”

No one so far has offered up the supposed correct pronunciations. So I’ll still with the allegedly incorrect versions.

New-clee-are

[Anonymous]

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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”

Oh wow... I always pronounced it like the messenger of the Gods...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in grad school when someone had to explain what “take a dump” meant.

In high school, one guy said he’d meet us an hour later. Completely naive, I asked what could possibly be that necessary. At which point he choked out that he needed to use the bathroom. Everyone was snickering, and I obliviously asked why he couldn’t just take about three minutes and go. So, this poor guy was completely red and told one of the girls to explain while he fled. I’d never been constipated in my life, so taking 30 minutes to just sit and then needing to shower and relax after (figure out a year later that he was going to manually handle the issue, since we were all going dancing) was completely foreign.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Nope. I’ve taken frozen cookie balls on a tray (ready to bake), refrigerated cookie dough ready to portion and bake, and a cookie jar (mason jar with dry ingredients for an exotic recipe that’s best fresh, recipe around the neck).

[Anonymous]

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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?

... But you would eat your full grown cat or full grown dog?! Weirdo. Age to me does NOT determine whether or not I will consume something...... An old cat is still a CAT

Yes but it’s still weird to eat a tiny cute baby little lamb. Creepy. I’d rather snuggle with one.

Lamb doesn’t want to cuddle with you... Kick you or pfth on you, sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here! These are all great! There are still so many day to day things I don’t know how to do even now: sew a button, change a tire, any kind of DIY home repair.

I’m sure I’ll get flack for this, but I also have no knowledge of financial stuff. DH is in that field and handles it all. He discusses decisions and options with me but I have to have him explain it to me like I’m 5 so I can understand. I’m good with staying within a budget and saving, but I don’t understand anything else about financial planning.

https://skilltrekker.com/

No reason you can’t learn now, with or without kids.

[Anonymous]

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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.

High, not highest. He’s considered a prophet, like Adam, David, Abraham, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did not know until college that pickles came from cucumbers.

Technically, you can pickle any vegetable (or hard fruit or rind).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just found out that Carolyn Keene, author of the Nancy Drew series, was actually several different authors writing under that pen name!

This is true and of many kids’ series: Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Survivors, etc.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Be that as it may, not all interstates now (or before) had mileage based exits

Also, they count the miles from south to north and west to east, which seems upside down and backwards. And the posts between the mile markers are generally 1/10 of a mile. It's not just the beginning of the interstate, the count starts (generally) at the borders of states.

And US highways count and are numbered in the other direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realized in my 30s, nevertheless is one word not three.
For the cookie exchange parties, I thought it would be a cookie buffet, not cookie take out.
I used to think Stephen and Steven were pronounced differently; and the rapper Eninem was named like the candy, M&M.

Wait, our cookie exchanges are like secret Santa gift exchanges. Not like takeout, order what you want. More like, this game a what you get.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I had no idea that you should NEVER mix ammonia and bleach until the first year of law school (I was 25). My torts professor used it as an example of something that any "reasonable person" would be assumed to know. It freaked me out because I clean with both of those things. I could have poisoned myself.

For some reason, I knew since I was a child that you shouldn't mix cleaning products. I thought EVERYONE knew that. In my twenties, I was working at a restaurant. A coworker was using dish soap and Clorox spray cleaner together. I was nearly in a panic, couldn't convince her that it was dangerous, and I fled the kitchen certain she was killing everyone. It wasn't until YEARS later that I learned the problem is specifically bleach and ammonia. And then I was like "Ammonia? Who uses ammonia?" Didn't realize it's in window cleaner and other common cleaners.

Better to be cautious!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:That soap doesn’t kill germs but makes them slip off.

I feel so stupid by never assuming otherwise.

Wouldn't washing with just water do the same then?

Yes, possibly. Soap is a mix of hydrophilic (water-loving) and hydrophobic (water-hating). The hydrophobic portion of the molecules can attach to other hydrophobic molecules (fats and oils). Any germs in the oils on your hands will not be washed away with water.