People Reveal The Obvious Things They Didn't Realize Until Late in Life

20.

Mr. Dink from the 90s cartoon 'Doug'. He and his wife are 'dinks' because it stands for 'dual income, no kids'....

If you recall Mr. Dink showing things off, that's why...

"Very expensive!"

-EveyStuff

19.

I race cars in an amateur league. There is a blue 240sx with the name "blue Bayou". I always thought they were from Louisiana or something until the other day when I realized it sounds like "blew by you"

-McDewbie

18.

Whenever you see weather stations on the news and notice "Hey I wonder why they went with some random town in the area when there are other bigger ones nearby?" Its likely because there's a regional airport or small airfield. They all need accurate weather for planes to take off including wind direction, intensity, and barometric pressure...so they have all the equipment available to show the bigger picture locally.

-foreverkasai

17.

Jackie Chan is one person. My first language is spanish, so I always thought it was "Jack y Chan." The only movie I had seen him in was one with Owen Wilson, so I thought Owen Wilson was Jack and Chan was Jackie Chan.

-heyheyyouyou

16.

Sonic the Hedgehog's best friend is named Miles Prower. "Miles Per Hour."

How the heck did this take nearly 30 years of life to see.

-TheMike85

15.

In Spanish, hats are called "sombrero" because they make "sombra" (shade)

-rocketpants

I'm Spanish. I just reallized that.

-TheUnknownsLord

14.

I have heard the words hors d'oeuvres many times.

I have seen the words hors d'oeuvres many times.

I only put together that they are the same word last week.

-intangible-tangerine

13.

A chum bucket is where you'd keep fish guts, possibly explaining why Plankton's restaurant ain't so busy.

-MoonpiesForMisfits

12.

No me but a boss of mine just realized you can count the steps on a ladder to tell how tall it is.

-shootthemoon88

11.

There's a meme going around about making sure your young kids go to classmates' birthday parties because it's devastating to be a kid and have nobody come to yours. And I thought that I was damn lucky that even though I didn't cast a wide net of friends, everybody always came to my birthday party.

My mom was a teacher at my school. It never occurred to me until recently that SOME of those kids had a vested interest in making sure they came to my birthday party.

-gameshowutopia

10.

Why they are called "contact" lenses.

-Kesira22

"Feels like there's something in my eye." —me, at my first contact lens fitting

-nayhem_jr

9.

Ore-Ida potatoes. Crossed Oregon state line where factory was, into Idaho. Just then realized name.

-vicsfoolsparadise

8.

PGP encryption that a lot of large businesses use stand for 'Pretty Good Privacy'.

It's good to know data security is so important.

-farleyx1

7.

Cul de sac means 'bottom of the bag' as in the only way out is where you came from. And my first language is French :/

-dayglo98

6.

WWE wrestler The Undertaker's long-time valet was named Paul Bearer as in someone who carries your casket.

I'm embarrassed.

-silentjosh817

5.

The blacks of the eye are black because there's nothing there.

It's just a hole.

You're seeing inside their eyeball, but you can't see anything because there's no light in there.

-Zorafin

The red pupils that you get from flash on a camera are from that light shining on your retinas and their blood supply. Some other animals, like cats, have a special tissue behind their retinas which can reflect back blue, green, or yellow light with flash.

-fortheviewersathome

4.

Always thought whipped cream was difficult to make. My friends and I would get excited and impressed that this crepe place would make their whipped cream in-house, as advertised for an extra $1.50.

Can't begin to tell you how dumb I felt one day when I realized... It is literally whipped... cream.

-ftwoo

3.

Despite living in various houses growing up my dad's closet would always smell the exact same way; he said it was the "mothballs" that he used.

Later when I tried pot for the first time I said "This smells like mothballs!"

Everyone looked at me funny, and it still took days until I finally realized what that meant.

-Sabrick

2.

When I was a little kid, my dad had some friends over to drink beer and watch a movie. My mom made me play in the other room, because "this wasn't a movie for kids." So I was playing in the living room as the men laughed, cracked jokes and loud music blasted from the other room.

Eventually I wanted to see what the fuss was about, so I crept into the room in time to see a beefy, mostly-naked man chained to a bed. Immediately the men start shouting "get him out of here! Turn off the movie! He shouldn't see this!" and they hustle me out of the room.

Being about six or seven, I put the pieces together and think "they were watching that man get tortured!"

Later, in my teens, a different answer occurred to me. "They were watching adult movie... they were watching gay bondage" But it didn't make sense. None of them were gay, my mom was right there.

Years later I realized what should have been obvious given my long association with the stage show: they had been watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I walked in on the scene where Rocky breaks free of Frank's bedroom to run for freedom.

-Bears_On_Stilts

1.

At the end of first grade the teacher asked the class "so who wants to stay here with me next year?" We all threw up our hands up excited, and she picked one of us. That kid stayed behind when we went to second grade.

I think about this once in a while and feel thankful she didn't pick me.

Last time I thought about this I realized that I've been missing the mark. That specific student was being left behind that year and the teacher did it in the smoothest way possible.

-Turok1990