# D'oh! Late realizations.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 2, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030 "2008-02-02T23:22:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/41 "2008-02-04T16:49:50Z")
Massive is not a random made-up word. Things are massive when they have lots of mass.
Also, ponies aren’t baby horses.
> [@StGermain](#):
>
> Arby’s = R.B. = Roast Beef (sandwiches). I won’t even tell you how old I was when I made that brilliant connection.
>
> StG
Nope. From the Arby’s website FAQs:
> [@](#):
>
> Q. Does the name Arby’s stand for R.B., as in, roast beef?
> A. Close! Arby’s is named for the company founders, Leroy and Forrest Raffel, the Raffel Brothers, also R.B.
---
### Author:  [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/42 "2008-02-04T16:57:07Z")
[QUOTE=Student Driver]
Reading the Altoids tin after a good 15-year mint habit was my saddest “d’oh” moment.
[/QUOTE]
Why? What’s in Altoids? Is it people? Its people isn’t it.
[QUOTE=StGermain]
Arby’s = R.B. = Roast Beef (sandwiches). I won’t even tell you how old I was when I made that brilliant connection.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I’ll be…you’re right!
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane]
For the first twenty years of my adult life, I thought that “hoi polloi” meant the elite.
[/QUOTE]
I just learned that word the other day while watching a rerun of Just Shoot Me. 😛
Here’s one: I was in 8th grade before I realized that The Underground Railroad was neither sub-terrainean nor an actual train.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/43 "2008-02-04T16:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=commasense]
And yet somehow, it was only today that it dawned on me that “encourage” means “en-courage,” i.e. to give courage, as “empower” means to give power.
[/QUOTE]
Ah, but what does courage mean?
The root of that word is cor, meaning heart.
Cordial, concord, discord, core, coronary, cardiac, myocardial.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/44 "2008-02-04T17:01:03Z")
[QUOTE=jali]
I remember being about 9 or 10 years old. I was reading a novel with a character named Penelope. I pronounced it Penn-elope. My mother gently corrected me.
[/QUOTE]
I had the same thing with Hermione until I saw the first Harry Potter movie.
---
### Author:  [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/45 "2008-02-04T17:15:52Z")
[QUOTE=Justin Credible]
Why? What’s in Altoids? Is it people? Its people isn’t it.
[/QUOTE]
No, just horses. Baby horses, to be precise (ie ponies). Think about that next time you eat jello.
[QUOTE=Brown Eyed Girl]
Of course, I’m the one that was laughed at in fourth grade for actually pronouncing breakfast: Break. Fast.
[/QUOTE]
4th grade? Didn’t a family member correct you before then?
---
### Author:  [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/46 "2008-02-04T17:17:00Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P]
I was probably about 20 when I figured out submarine…sub-marine…below-water. To give myself some credit, before then I had never really given it much thought.
[/QUOTE]
I realized that, oh, about 30 seconds ago. :smack:
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/47 "2008-02-04T17:19:48Z")
Count me in as someone else who liked his brother’s favorite band, Chick-a-go. It never occurred to me that they were from Shicawgo.
---
### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/48 "2008-02-04T17:26:26Z")
[QUOTE=jali]
I remember being about 9 or 10 years old. I was reading a novel with a character named Penelope. I pronounced it Penn-elope. My mother gently corrected me.
[/QUOTE]
Because of course it’s “Peen-a-lope”.
I watched Three’s Company for years, years I tell you, before I caught on to the whole Jack had to pretend to be gay to live there portion of the show. I just thought that Roper and Furley were dicks for no good reason.
---
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/49 "2008-02-04T17:29:41Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]
No, just horses. Baby horses, to be precise (ie ponies). Think about that next time you eat jello.
[/QUOTE]
Ponies aren’t baby horses, they’re small horses.
---
### Author:  [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/50 "2008-02-04T17:30:51Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]
Baby horses, to be precise (ie ponies).
[/QUOTE]
Get ready to learn about [ponies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony)!
---
### Author:  [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/51 "2008-02-04T17:36:41Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]
No, just horses. Baby horses, to be precise (ie ponies). Think about that next time you eat jello.
4th grade? Didn’t a family member correct you before then?
[/QUOTE]
As Gary Larson once cartooned: “Horses hooves? There’s always room for ground up hosese hooves.”
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/52 "2008-02-04T17:38:55Z")
[QUOTE=brownie55]
As Gary Larson once cartooned: “Horses hooves? There’s always room for ground up hosese hooves.”
[/QUOTE]
Yum. I’d eat those.
What I won’t eat is tongue. I could never eat anything that’s been inside a cow’s mouth. That’s gross! I’d rather just have an omelette.
---
### Author:  [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/53 "2008-02-04T18:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=twickster]
Ponies aren’t baby horses, they’re small horses.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Zjestika]
Get ready to learn about ponies!
[/QUOTE]
woosh… boom. Sorry, that one had a small sonic boom on the end.
Did you guys not read the thread, or assume that I [didn’t](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9439849&postcount=41)?
---
### Author:  [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/54 "2008-02-04T18:37:25Z")
[QUOTE=tdn]
I had the same thing with Hermione until I saw the first Harry Potter movie.
[/QUOTE]
I was reading Sirius as Sirus throughout the novels.
---
### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/55 "2008-02-04T23:04:12Z")
I was in my fourth year at a liberal arts college when I learned what “liberal arts” meant.
---
### Author:  [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/56 "2008-02-05T00:35:10Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain]
Arby’s = R.B. = **R** oast **B** eef (sandwiches). I won’t even tell you how old I was when I made that brilliant connection.
StG
[/QUOTE]
Well, eek, I had never made that connection. Never have eaten at the place, either, as it seemed to look a bit like “yes much beef and hamburgery things we will sell you, but we are NOT at all like that other place …” but, seriously, I just somehow supposed it was from some company owner’s nickname, or some such thing. Oh well, perhaps it has now gone away to be replaced with some other foodplace-thingy.
Bah, huh, though - I find it saddening to have to learn about mistakes I have made that I didn’t even previously know about. :eek:
I feel stupid. I will drown myself now. ☹
---
### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/57 "2008-02-05T00:53:53Z")
[QUOTE=Celyn]
snip But, seriously, I just somehow supposed it was from some company owner’s nickname, or some such thing. Oh well, perhaps it has now gone away to be replaced with some other foodplace-thingy.
[/QUOTE]
According to the training session I went through when I started working at Arby’s the name came from Raffel Brothers’, the people who started the chain. They say the similarity is just a coincidence but I have my doubts.
---
### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/58 "2008-02-05T04:34:52Z")
Long ago I heard the expresion, “Education is not a putting in, but a drawing out.”
Although my vocabulary and knowledge of Latinate roots are large, it just hit me a couple of weeks ago that the very word “education” reflects this fact, “e -” meaning “out” and “duc(e)” meaning “draw”.
---
### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/59 "2008-02-05T16:30:08Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
Long ago I heard the expresion, “Education is not a putting in, but a drawing out.”
Although my vocabulary and knowledge of Latinate roots are large, it just hit me a couple of weeks ago that the very word “education” reflects this fact, “e -” meaning “out” and “duc(e)” meaning “draw”.
[/QUOTE]
WOW! I’ve known the word “educe” and its meaning for some time, but I never connected it with “educate” until just now. More ignorance fought.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-late-realizations/436030/60 "2008-02-05T16:42:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> According to the training session I went through when I started working at Arby’s the name came from Raffel Brothers’, the people who started the chain. They say the similarity is just a coincidence but I have my doubts.
Considering that an “RB” is a common abbreviation for a Roast Beef sandwich, I’d be very skeptical. The fact that it can also stand for “Raffel Brothers” is a cute coincidence that may have clinched their choice of name.
> [@](#):
>
> Long ago I heard the expresion, “Education is not a putting in, but a drawing out.”
>
> Although my vocabulary and knowledge of Latinate roots are large, it just hit me a couple of weeks ago that the very word “education” reflects this fact, “e -” meaning “out” and “duc(e)” meaning “draw”.
That’s a wholly new one to me, although, in my defence, I never heard that expression before.
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