Obvious things that took you ages to realise!

[big ron]

The pronunciation of HYPERBOLE blew my mind when I heard it for the first time

Until that point, I always thought it was pronounced hyper-bowl

This applies to everyone, right?

 

[big ron]

HYPER BOWL

 

[big ron]

I went through my entire childhood watching Blue Peter and not realising that sticky backed plastic was just Sellotape

I assumed, right until now, that it was some sort of sheet of something?!

 

[lolly]

I was also taught that one pronounces praline PRAWLEEN and nougat NUGGET

I don't think I knew what praline was until I left home.

Nougat always was (and remains) NUGGET

 

[big ron]

NUGERT

 

[lolly]

The pronunciation of HYPERBOLE blew my mind when I heard it for the first time

Until that point, I always thought it was pronounced hyper-bowl

I was like that the first time I encountered a HERMIONE

strangely you don't get many Hermiones on the 13th floor of council flats. Or if you did, they would do the decent thing and pronounce it HER ME OWN

 

[Nancy]

SUPERLATIVE is another word that can take you by surprise in its pronunciation.

 

[lolly]

SUPERLATIVE is another word that can take you by surprise in its pronunciation.

And LONGEVITY

 

[Marina Salty]

SUPERLATIVE is another word that can take you by surprise in its pronunciation.

How did you pronounce this one before?

 

[Sheena]

And LONGEVITY

And THIS for that matter...

I never thought either word was pronounced in any way other than it's supposed to be.

 

[jyxz]

Segue got me good and proper

 

[Nancy]

How did you pronounce this one before?

Without the emphasis on the PER

 

[lolly]

And THIS for that matter...

I never thought either word was pronounced in any way other than it's supposed to be.

I assumed it was a hard G for years.

 

[RS]

I had to check hyperbole and superlative on dictionary.com. I would have never guessed they were pronounced like that.

 

[big ron]

Super lative hyper bowl

 

[RJN]

Segue got me good and proper

I knew how to pronounce the word but thought the written word was something else entirely until fairly recently

 

[COB]

That if you replace the W in WHAT, WHEN and WHERE with a T, you get the answer...

Misread this and thought the answers were HAT HEN and HERE

 

[Dark Carnival]

I discovered QUITE late that a rat is not just a male mouse.

 

[Sheena]

I was about THIRTEEN before I realised women didn't wee out of their arses

 

[Tisch]

I was about THIRTEEN before I realised women didn't wee out of their arses

Same but to be fair my sister TOLD ME THAT.

 

[K.C.]

The numbers on a toaster are minutes

 

[Sheena]

The numbers on a toaster are minutes

That's a myth which has long been disproved.

 

[K.C.]

That's a myth which has long been disproved.

Oh they made me feel so dumb for not 'knowing'!

 

[Kate]

I was about THIRTEEN before I realised women didn't wee out of their arses

I think SOME QUEENS STILL don’t know that we have THREE holes

 

[Sheena]

I think SOME QUEENS STILL don’t know that we have THREE holes

ARSE AND NOSTRILS

SEE!

 

[jyxz]

I think SOME QUEENS STILL don’t know that we have THREE holes

 

[Kate]

Just remembering the time when I posted on here about sitting on someone’s cock and Eileen was like “how does that work?” Like my clunge was up by my bellybutton somewhere

 

[vespertine]

ANEMONE is the word that bewildered me. Luckily it doesn't exactly come up in daily conversation.

 

[vespertine]

That 'fortnight' means fourteen nights. Hadn't a clue.

 

[Nancy]

I think SOME QUEENS STILL don’t know that we have THREE holes

Like a bowling ball?

 

[Kate]

Well they’re not in a triangle and you don’t want a finger in the piss one, but ok

 

[Lucille]

That deers SHED their antlers, I think I found out a year ago and it was mind-blowing.

 

[Pipo]

I read yesterday that corn contains an even number of kernels per row

 

[Pipo]

Also, last year I found out that BLUE bananas exist in South East Asia and apparently they taste like vanilla ice cream

Spoiler

this isn't an obvious thing, but I just wanted to share

 

[Alias #23]

I have NO IDEA what the fuck people are posting in the Wordle thread - although obviously I know what Wordle is as I am very up to the minute - so I’ve yet to realise that

 

[Indie]

WHAT? I always thought it was some sort of double sided art tape.

I'm 100% sure it's double sided. It's not sellotape.

 

[Indie]

And LONGEVITY

I work in a world where this is a common word. There isn't a concensus between people.

I don't mind if people say Long-jevity and long-gevity.

 

[lolly]

I'm 100% sure it's double sided. It's not sellotape.

It is double sided. It has a paper strip you remove to expose the second side, doesn't it?

 

[lolly]

I work in a world where this is a common word. There isn't a concensus between people.

I don't mind if people say Long-jevity and long-gevity.

I know both are used, but the 'correct' way (subject to the constant evolution of language blah blah blah) is with a soft g, I'm fairly certain.

 

[Indie]

I know both are used, but the 'correct' way (subject to the constant evolution of language blah blah blah) is with a soft g, I'm fairly certain.

You're probably right. Equally I'm not precious about eeeconmics versus ekencomics.