Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain Which Things Everybody Knows That They Just Now Learned

People Explain Which Things Everybody Knows That They Just Now Learned
File:Dying candle.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

You were "today years old" when you learned....what?

You learn something new every day, even if you don't think you do--but when you're aware that you learned something that you really should have known, boy, you are really aware.

At the same time, you're like...how did nobody ever tell me this? Was I supposed to divine this from thin air on my own?


u/Lawvamat asked:

What did you just recently learn that "everybody knows"?

Here were some of those answers.

Hoodwinked

I went to Venice with my school and a group of girls told me that they eat their tampons after they are done with them. It was for some stupid reason like to regain their iron or something. I believed it and even the teachers played alone. I went back home to the UK and for about 6 months after the trip I still believed this lie. It wasn't until I asked my mum whether she ate her tampon.

She was HORRIFIED. Then she burst out laughing. I can't believe my whole class tricked me for so long.

BruverJack

 A Nest Is Not At Home

Birds don't live in their nests.

My wife is never going to let me forget that this was a mind-blowing revelation for me.

Basstracer

Earth To Stars

The North Star isn't unique because of its brightness, it's unique because it doesn't move, always stays north, while the others rotate around it.

mjt9119

For extra trippage: the north star changes over time. The ancients had a different one from us. The point in the sky that north points to moves over time, making a complete circle every 26,000 years.

ETA: the relevant Wikipedia article.

pterrorgrine

To Extend Where No Pencil Extended Before

I don't think everybody knows but I just discovered pencil extenders are a thing. I was just complaining on social media that I had a bunch of unusable pencils worn down to 2 inches, and just as I pressed send, I thought "there's probably something for that." I'm 41 and I've drawn all my life, never knew they existed.

portsherry

Just Dandy

Dandelions (the yellow flowered weed) and Dandelions (the fluffy white weed) are the same plant.

I'm 29 and my dumb @$$ didn't connect that they have the same name.

ali_whi

Not A Bent Arrow

Oh man, for the longest time I thought the phrase "straight and narrow" was "straightened arrow" e.g. a person goes through a rough patch but now is on the 'straightened arrow' because you know, a straightened arrow flies straight and true while a warped one is all wild an erratic. Oof.

Don't get me started on my misunderstanding for an alternative word for crossing.

Bashful_Tuba

Bones In Your Face

That babies are born with a full set of baby and adult teeth already in their heads. Their teeth don't form when it's time for them to get them, they just push down out of their gums because they were always there.

RayDeaver

It Was Really A Farm

When I was a kid, we had a huge dog that attacked a girl (because she was throwing rocks at him), so we had to get rid of him. My parents told me that they took him to a farm, where he would be happy and free, thinking he was dead.

Six months later, a farmer showed up at our house asking to give the dog back because he ate the cab of the farmer's truck.

AdeptLength

Be S-Pacific

Not me but a friend of mine graduated high school and that same summer we discovered he didn't know which ocean was the Atlantic or Pacific

MangoBrando

How Is Candle Work?

I learned this a few months ago and shared it on Reddit, which was apparently the first time many people learned this.

The wax in a candle actually fuels the flame. The heat from the flame melts the wax around it. The wick then draws the liquid wax up towards the flame. As the wax gets closer to the guy and therefore is warmed up even more, it goes from liquid to gas, and then the vapors burn to sustain the flame. Everyone seemed to think that the wax was just there to keep the wick vertical, but no, the wax actually feeds the flame.

MasteringTheFlames

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Stefan Molyneux; Charlie Kirk
@StefanMolyneux/X; Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Far-Right Podcaster Gets Epic Fact-Check After Claiming Charlie Kirk Never Called Anyone A 'Fascist'

Stefan Molyneux, an Irish-born Canadian White nationalist podcaster who promotes conspiracy theories, White supremacy, scientific racism, and the men's rights movement, jumped to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's and his fellow hatemonger Charlie Kirk's defense on X.

Writer Peter Rothpletz (Peter Twinklage) shared Trump's widely criticized Truth Social post about Rob Reiner after the actor, writer, director, philanthropist, and activist and his wife were murdered.

Keep Reading Show less
Tucker Carlson; Donald Trump
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images

Tucker Carlson Dragged After His Conspiracy Theory Prediction About Trump's Speech Is Way Off

Former Fox News personality turned far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson was widely mocked after he made a bold prediction about what President Donald Trump would announce during his primetime address to the nation on Wednesday—namely that the U.S. would go to war with Venezuela.

But it turns out Carlson was very, very wrong. The speech was nowhere near that consequential and Trump spent the majority of it complaining about former President Joe Biden.

Keep Reading Show less
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; JD Vance
Andres Kudacki/Getty Images; Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/Getty Images

AOC Has Iconic Reaction After She's Asked If She Could Beat JD Vance In 2028 Presidential Election

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had quite the response to recent polling that suggested she could beat Vice President JD Vance in a hypothetical 2028 presidential election.

A new poll from The Argument/Verasight shows Ocasio-Cortez narrowly edging out Vance in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup, with 51 percent of respondents backing her and 49 percent supporting him.

Keep Reading Show less
marathon runner on starting block
Braden Collum on Unsplash

People Break Down The Greatest Comeback Stories They've Ever Heard

At the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, runner Billy Mills won the 10k meter race—the first and still only runner from the United States to win Olympic gold in the 10k.

Mills is a member of the Oglala Lakȟóta tribe of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux Nation) from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Mills' Mother Grace died when he was 8 years old and his Father Sidney died when he was 12.

Keep Reading Show less
Close-up of the shocked face of baby monkey.
Photo by Jamie Haughton on Unsplash

People Who Work In Someone Else's Home Share The Most Revealing Things They've Noticed

Going into strangers' homes isn't the most fun thing to do.

I always get nervous.

Keep Reading Show less