Things that you couldn't believe YOU didn't know

[Zulu Romeo]

As a companion piece to the other thread about things you couldn't believe others didn't know about, now is the time to express your own ignorance (past or present) about things we all really ought to know.

For instance, during the time when the 50th anniversary events of the start of World War 2 were going on, the TV was replaying historical moments on news bulletins as if the news was being broken for the first time. Mentions of Hitler were all over the news, combined with footage of Churchill walking around and being photographed, and for a moment, I thought that the big fat chap giving the V-sign while wearing a dark overcoat and top hat was Hitler. (Mind you, this was also around the time when I thought that pop singer Tracy Chapman was a man.)

So... are there any things you can't believe you didn't know or got wrong? Fess up!

 

[Jetfire]

I couldn't believe Milli Vanilli were lip syncing...they seemed so good and I loved that one song...Blame It On The Rain.

 

[Rii]

Reading fantasy novels as I child I was not aware that the the 'w' in 'sword' was silent. I knew what a sword was from audiovisual media, and whilst reading I knew from context that a sword was a type of weapon, but it took a surprisingly long time to make the connection.

Then there was that time when I asked mother what 'phallic' meant...

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Then there was that time when I asked mother what 'phallic' meant...

My lawyers have insisted that I don't comment on that.

 

[RoJoHen]

Until I was about 18, I always thought "Piano Man" was sung by a black woman.

 

[Lindley]

For someone who works with computers, there were a great many simple tasks which I did not know how to do on Windows until a couple of years ago. I simply didn't have much experience with the OS.

 

[Deckerd]

Everything about the internal combustion engine, judging from my OH's expression every time I ask him something. Oh and electricity for the same reason.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Everything about the internal combustion engine, judging from my OH's expression every time I ask him something. Oh and electricity for the same reason.

Most cars nowadays seem to have so much electronics controlling their operation that there's precious little you need to know or can do apart from how to check and top up the various fluids, check and adjust the tyre pressures, have the car serviced once a year, and call the breakdown service.

 

[mari]

I didn't know how to pronounce "epitome" until I started listening to Weezer in my early 20s. And I used it all the time in high school. Nobody ever corrected me!

Then there was that time when I asked mother what 'phallic' meant...

I once asked my mother what "ejaculate" meant... and in the context of "Anne of Green Gables", it meant "exclaim". Really.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I didn't know how to pronounce "epitome" until I started listening to Weezer in my early 20s. And I used it all the time in high school. Nobody ever corrected me!

It's pronounced differently to the immunological term "epitope."

 

[Jetfire]

I don't know why, but when I was little I saw a "The Punisher" comic and until I was a little bit older I thought he was "The Pusher".

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ Heh. When i was a kid and played the boardgame "Clue" i thought Colonel Mustard was pronounced "Colonial" Mustard.

I never said i was a genius.......

 

[Haggis and tatties]

When i left secondary school at 16 i could not tell you how many feet were in a inch.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

When i left secondary school at 16 i could not tell you how many feet were in a inch.

But now you know, right?

 

[Haggis and tatties]

^^Yeah....I learned more from my working life than i ever did at school, my 4 years at secondary school were nothing more than a open prison were all you did was copy out of books and get the belt...i can assure you when my last day came i ran out of those gates and never looked back....one of the greatest days of my life.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I don't know how to read music or play a musical instrument. I am tone deaf and musically dyslexic (whatever the term for that is, dysmusia?). I have tried to learn, but my inability to establish an absolute tonal scale in my head makes it almost impossible. Play three or more notes in succession to me, and I usually can't tell if the last one was higher or lower in pitch than the first.

ETA: dysmusia -- http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn133-tone-deaf.html

 

[Deckerd]

I was a good pianist but I wasn't good enough so I gave it up.

 

[sojourner]

^^Yeah....I learned more from my working life than i ever did at school, my 4 years at secondary school were nothing more than a open prison were all you did was copy out of books and get the belt...i can assure you when my last day came i ran out of those gates and never looked back....one of the greatest days of my life.

So, um, how many feet are in that inch?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

"Too many notes, dear Mozart." I sympathise with that opinion.

 

[RoJoHen]

^^Yeah....I learned more from my working life than i ever did at school, my 4 years at secondary school were nothing more than a open prison were all you did was copy out of books and get the belt...i can assure you when my last day came i ran out of those gates and never looked back....one of the greatest days of my life.

So, um, how many feet are in that inch?

SO many!