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

Piotr Szczerek snatching a hat from a young fan of Kamil Majchrzak at the U.S. Open
ESPN

CEO Who Snatched Tennis Player's Hat From Kid At U.S. Open Speaks Out To Apologize

Piotr Szczerek became the internet's latest super villain a few days ago thanks to a viral video showing him snatching a tennis player's hat from a young fan.

Szczerek, the CEO of Polish paving company Drogbruk, was shown wresting the hat that tennis player Kamil Majchrzak had autographed for the boy at the U.S. Open, sparking major outrage.

Keep ReadingShow less
Riley Moore; Tim Walz
Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images; Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

MAGA Rep. Dragged After Falling For Obviously AI-Generated Video Of Tim Walz Mocking Trump

West Virginia MAGA Republican Representative Riley Moore was mocked after he flipped out online over an obvious deepfake video of Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz disparaging MAGA's Dear Leader, Republican President Donald Trump.

Moore joins other gullible individuals who have fallen for AI-generated false representations of prominent Democrats. The depictions are so ludicrous, only someone easily fooled would fall for them.

Keep ReadingShow less
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

RFK Jr. Gets Hilariously Brutal Reminder After Asking People What Their First Jobs Were

Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was widely mocked after he published a post on X on Labor Day asking people to share what their first job was—a rather odd question from a man who faces regular criticism for being utterly unqualified for his role overseeing the nation’s public health apparatus.

Kennedy wrote the following on X:

Keep ReadingShow less
man singing on stage
Austin Neill on Unsplash

Jobs That People Romanticize Too Much Until They Actually Do Them

As children, most of us try on different future identities and occupations. As a 5-year-old, I thought being either a firefighter or a nun would be ideal.

My plans changed as I got older.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kristi Noem
CBS News

Kristi Noem Dragged After Making Wild Claim About How Trump Saved LA By Sending In Troops

Longtime MAGA acolyte Kristi Noem lied on Face the Nation in a desperate bid to justify Republican President Donald Trump's retaliatory act of sending the National Guard and active duty Marines to Los Angeles without cause.

Public perception has largely been against Trump's targeting of major cities in states governed by his political rivals.

Keep ReadingShow less