Sometimes the simplest or most obvious things are the things you learn late.
I've been shopping at DSW for 20 years now, and I was literally today years old when I realized 'DSW' weren't just random letters, but stood for 'Designer Shoe Warehouse.'
Yeah, that one made me feel pretty stupid!
Luckily, I'm not the only one. Redditors know of many obvious things they only recently realized, and are eager to share.
It all started when Redditor itsochepel asked:
"What obvious thing did you recently realize?"
A House Is Not A Bed
"That birds don't live in nests. Nests are just where they keep their eggs. Birds just sleep in trees."
– Rey_Reddits
"Pretty much, yes. Even ground birds like chickens and quail will roost in trees when they aren't setting eggs."
– pokey1984
"what now. this has ruined me"
– ipk9
"Can I offer you an nice egg in this trying time?"
– B_Sharp_or_B_Flat
Worst Kind Of Typo
"That there is a typo on my email in my resume. Somehow it went unnoticed for 6+ months..."
– burtreynoldsthepope
"I sent out resumes once saying that “I am an excellent poof reader""
– Maelstrom_Witch
"If I read that on a resume I wouldn’t be surprised if I thought it was done intentionally as a joke because it would seem too funny to be an accident."
– CORN___BREAD
If I Had Only Realized
"I played through nearly all of Fallout 4 (I didn’t buy the game until fairly recently) without realizing there’s a jump button. If I got trapped someplace, I just restarted from a previous save and complained about what kinda idiots didn’t make it so you can jump. But I’m the idiot."
– TracksuitBear
A (Confusing?) Family Tree
"My grandson just figured out I am his mothers mother. He just can't understand why I tell him we have to ask his mom to do some things. Why can't I just tell his mom we are going to do something? I am her mom therefore her boss!"
– Individual_Serious
"That’s so cute. Reminds me of when my younger niece realized that her half sister (who does not live with her) was her sister too. Just like my older niece is her sister. She was amazed. She told me “I saw daddy and Kay yesterday. We had so much fun. Did you know that Kay is my sister?!”"
– BusyButterscotch4652
"My nephew still doesn't understand that his uncle is my brother, and his mom is my sister. He'll go back and forth on it constantly. "But uncle is MOMS brother!" Yes, and just like how you have a sister, uncle and I also share a sister - your MOM.
"Additionally, my niece used to gently grab my mom's arm any time I called her mom and would go "no aunty, that's MY Gramma." Yes, I know, but she is still MY mother. "That's mommy's mom, she's my grandma. Not yours." Hunny that is because she is my mother. Your mom and I share a mother. "She is mommy's mom. Not yours." Oh you dear thing. That's not how it works."
"They're lucky they're cute lol"
– Burnt_Your_Toast
Punny Names
"That Men's Wearhouse is a pun."
– Hustlasaurus
"Holy sh*t, I didn't even notice it was spelled Wearhouse cuz my mind filled in the rest."
– TheJerilla
"Also the Beatles, I recently realized"
– UnabashedPerson43
"I'm ashamed. All my life. All my life, sitting right there in front of me...."they must've thought beetles would make a cool name because the bugs are cool. That's so RaNDOmm. HuRr""
– DaBigadeeBoola
I'd Like Some "Pepsi"
"Growing up, my grandparents religiously had a 3:00 PM “Pepsi” time. Like Tea Time, I guess, but with Pepsi. Every time we were over there, it happened. We all enjoyed a crisp, fizzy, cold Pepsi."
"At 43 years old, I was telling that story this week, when I suddenly realized theirs were most likely spiked."
– Fire_In_The_Skies
There's A Difference?
"When getting an eye exam you are asked which looks better 1, or 2. If they are identical or too close to call, you have a 3rd option. The same. They never told me that."
– No_Lecture9474
"Every time I’ve gotten an eye exam, I’ve felt like I’m failing a test I studied for everyday lol"
– VenturiMask
Not Too Long Then
"Driving through South Dakota with my family and I was so amazed by the vast fields of livestock. I turned to my husband and asked him how long it must take for the farmer to round up all the cows each night and get them into the barns. My husband laughed so hard."
"Apparently cows don’t sleep in barns at night!"
– NashvilleJM
Ohhh, That's Why!
"Soft drinks are called soft drinks bc they don’t contain alcohol. Hard drinks do."
– heres-to-life
"I used to think soft drinks only meant carbonated drinks because they felt soft and fizzy on your tongue. Then I saw it on a canister of Kool Aid and it clicked."
– BronxBelle
"Have been bartending for 16 years and learned this right now"
– Delicious-Plantain-3
Named For Us
"Will smith and Jada smith named their kids after themselves. Jadan smith and Willow smith. Why I never put that together is beyond me"
– TalkQuick
"Will Smith's first son from his previous marriage was Willard too, although I think it's a family name."
– MisterEvilBreakfast
Reverse
"That Alucard from Castlevania just means Dracula backwards..."
"Felt so dumb for not seeing the extremely obvious"
– dershmoo
"Let me tell you a story about Ekans and Arbok."
– dandroid126
Aptly Named
"Pipe cleaners aren’t just for arts and crafts."
"They’re also for cleaning pipes."
"I'm 35 and oh so ashamed of myself."
– GozerDaGozerian
"When I was a kid I always wondered why they called them pipe cleaners because the only pipes I’d ever seen were waayyyy bigger than them (household drain pipes etc) and thought it was stupid to make them so small. I was in my 30s when I found out they were for tobacco pipes."
– sliderfish
Never Realized
"Limu the Emu is named Limu because of Liberty Mutual, not because it rhymes with Emu"
– BamboozledKoala420
Using A Screwdriver
"Lefty loosey, Righty tighty."
– Trussmagic
I actually learned a lot from this list, and boy do I feel silly!
