Have you ever found yourself realizing that there are some things that you were interpreting wrong? If yes, then it’s okay because there are more people who misunderstood some common things and they all confessed this after someone on Reddit asked “What took you an embarrassing amount of time to figure out?” The question that received more than 39k upvotes was soon answered by many people who decided to share their personal and funny stories.
People confessed how long it took them to realize how some items and things work or how someone else had to explain this to them. One user shared that it took 9 months for them to finally realize how to use a French press correctly. Another Redditor revealed that it took them a while to understand how the fashion world and its runway shows work and that “those ridiculous over-the-top dresses exhibited at fashion shows are not intended to ever be worn in real life.”
What are some of the things you had to take some time to understand? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
More Info: Reddit
#1
I was 50ish when I realized that the little piggy that goes to market wasn't going f**kin' shopping.
Image credits: dramboxf
#2
That those ridiculous over-the-top dresses exhibited at fashion shows are not intended to ever be worn in real life; they are like concept cars of the fashion world, intended to showcase the designer's creativity and vision.
Image credits: Unobtanium_Alloy
#3
That the state Montana is literally the word ‘mountains’ in Spanish. Didn’t realize until I was physically in Montana, staring up at some mountains, and thought ‘wow! Mountains are so pretty! Montañas… Montanas… montana, oh.’
Image credits: clean_da_erf
#4
When I was younger I thought 'feat' was a very popular rapper. ie Eminem feat 50 cent etc.. I was like damn this feat guy appears in a lot of songs..
Image credits: fr0896
#5
Before my cataract surgery I thought Hellboy wore aviator goggles. Post surgery I saw they were remnants of his horns.
Image credits: MollyXDanger502
#6
When I was like 5 my dad would constantly make the following joke:He'd put his hand on my head and squeeze lightly a couple times while saying "I'm a brainsucker. What am I doing?" After a quick pause he'd follow up with the punch line "Starving!", but he always stretched out the pronunciation for the word so it sounded to me like "Star...ving"
For years I thought it was a lame joke where the punchline somehow referred to the fact that brainsuckers were aliens and came from the stars or something like that.
I was sitting in class one day and I must have been 10-12 years old before I realized "He's calling me dumb! The joke is that I dont have a brain so the brainsucker is starving!"
I was at least smart enough to never tell him this, because I'd never live it down if he knew it took me five years to figure out the joke.
Image credits: stevenjackson121
#7
That chickens always lay eggs without needing to mate with a rooster.
Image credits: TheGodfearingLegend
#8
I didn't realize until my late teens/early 20s that "chemical castration" means taking pills which render you infertile, not necessarily dipping someone's balls in a vat of acid. Yea this one is pretty embarrassing.
Image credits: MGrooms94
#9
K-9 stands for canine.. took me 29 years.
Image credits: flaaaden
#10
That my childhood hamster did not, in fact, run away.
Image credits: kifflington
#11
That breakfast actually means breaking the fast.
Image credits: droidarmy99
#12
In 'Lady and the Tramp' the humans are called Jim dear and darling. I was in my 30s before I realized that wasn't their actual names, it was what lady heard them calling each other.
Image credits: spacepunk17
#13
My French press. I owned one 9 months before I realized the coffee grounds go UNDER the plunger and not ON TOP of it. I was always so annoyed having to clean the top of the plunger after lowering the coffee into the water.My girlfriend stared at me like I was the stupidest person she’d ever met trying to formulate how to politely fix this.
Image credits: RollinDeepWithData
#14
When I was younger I had no idea that New York and Newark were two different places. I kept thinking people saying Newark were trying to say New York, but had a speech impediment or accent, or just didn't know how to pronounce it.
Image credits: ChickenGoose
#15
How to use a staple remover.Until I was was in my 40s, I’d just use the staple remover to “bite” the long side of a staple and kind of tear it back through the paper.
Then someone showed me how to properly use a staple remover by “biting” the crimped side of the staple to bend the crimp and kind of straighten out the staple again. Once kind of straightened, “bite” the long side of the staple and the staple will back out the same holes it went in without further tearing the paper.
Image credits: slider728
#16
When you do something wrong but with enthusiasm, and someone says, “A for effort,” I didn’t understand that it meant an “A” as in school report card grades. It never made sense because in my head, “E” is for Effort, like “C” is for Cookie. I finally had someone explain it to me sometime after I turned 30.
Image credits: Alisaurusrex82
#17
When I was growing up the family would often do road trips to Vancouver, at least once a year. Just outside Williams Lake I would always observe a construction site where some sort of log house is being built. It was always half finished.After like a decade I was maybe 18 and finally made the comment about them "still building that place". Apparently they build custom log homes on site and disassemble and ship them out.
Image credits: Regnes
#18
The black market isn't an actual market.
Image credits: smol_boi-_-
#19
The rapper Flo Rida is from Florida.
Image credits: tonybenwhite
#20
I realised a few years ago that cows don’t just naturally produce milk, they have to be pregnant/have a calf to produce it. Which is embarrassingly late to figure out.
Image credits: yllastocs
#21
When I was a kid back in the early 90’s I was obsessed with WWF wrestling. It didn’t hit me until years later that The Undertaker’s managers name, Paul Bearer, wasn’t his real name.
Image credits: LSU2007
#22
That when more than one person tells you they saw your husband with a woman who wasnt you, in his car, more than once, it probably means hes cheating on you, regardless of what he says.
Image credits: TimeTraveler3056
#23
That the ‘Teletubbies’ literally had tele-tubby’s, as in their stomachs were TVs. Figured this out at university.
Image credits: DryPencil_BluntPen
#24
How ring binders work. I thought you had to take out all the pages to add a new page to the back of the binder, which annoyed me in school because it could take a while having to realign all the pages to fit the holes in the binder. I was about 22 when I worked in a bookstore and my coworker saw me take all the pages out, after which she showed me how it actually works. I will never forget the look of disbelief on her face.
Image credits: axolotl_1994
#25
"You can't have your cake and eat it" doesn't mean "you can't obtain your cake then eat it"; it means "you can't still possess your cake after having eaten it".
Image credits: BuildMeUp1990
#26
That lambs were the same species as sheep.
Image credits: wellsheeeeit
#27
That the saying is “nip it in the bud” NOT butt.
Image credits: Designer_Ant8543
#28
That ringing in the ears is not a normal thing everyone experiences or a superstition that someone is talking about you. I was 30 when I realized that it is tinnitus, and not normal even though I've had it since I was around 13 (too loud music).
Image credits: delusionallysane
#29
That the saying is “kit and caboodle” and not “kitten caboodle.” Until I found out the real saying, I always pictures a big basket filled with kittens.
Image credits: Guac__is__extra__
#30
Took me 22 years to realize that the word “sayonara” is Japanese and not Spanish.
Image credits: highhiloona
#31
Took me 23 years on this earth to figure out that "several" was not in fact a way to describe seven of something. Every time I heard it/read it, I thought people were always just being oddly specific about the number of something. Got into an argument with my grandfather about it and didn't believe it meant more than a few until I looked it up..
Image credits: sirbingalo
#32
I thought that ponies were baby horses till I was like 24.
Image credits: RBXXIII
#33
That the actor who plays Jason Gideon on Criminal Minds is also Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride.
Image credits: Ratchel1916
#34
The light in the fridge turns off when you shut the door. :(
Image credits: Costner_Facts
#35
The microwave oven doesn't have to be running for the "Add 30 seconds" button to work.
Image credits: greenvortex
#36
I have worked in a salvage yard specializing in European cars for the last decade. Everyone here calls these very specific type of pliers "sob pliers", and not being well versed in tools I just assumed that's what they were called. Took me about 5 years to realize that they are calling them "Saab pliers" because they find them in Saabs.
Image credits: Wolfpackomega
#37
That you can just twist your deodorant a few clicks to get the little clear plastic safety lid off, instead of clawing and pulling at it till your fingers are raw.
Image credits: UnstuckTimePilgrim
#38
There's a Garfield comic from 1983 where Garfield says that he hates designer sweaters. Then he lifts an arm and says, "The lizard chewed a hole in the armpit." It took me until about 2017 to realize that he is referring to the Lacoste crocodile. I have spent basically my entire life referring to every hole that forms in a piece of clothing as being caused by "the lizard" but without actually getting the joke. I thought it was just the surreal, absurdist humor that Garfield is known for.
Image credits: Mk38
#39
The Y in Disney wasnt a p
Image credits: Snaper_XD
#40
Rocky Balboa was not a real person. Think I was 17 or so when I found out he was a fictional character.
Image credits: CrabPplCrabPpl
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