# Have you ever gained knowledge that you ultimately regretted? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528 "2002-11-29T19:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/41 "2002-12-03T15:20:25Z")
SPOILER ALERT! When I discovered that there is no Santa Claus. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/42 "2002-12-03T15:32:21Z")
Thanks **PublicBlast**! So do you have to buy them from a special supplier? Or if they’re just like normal boxer briefs, could you buy any brand? And I hadn’t realised that women wore the special stuff either. What is the deal with conventional bras for women then (not Victoria’s Secret stuff - I mean just normal brassiers for everyday support)? Are they allowed, do you just wear them under your Mormon vest thing? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/43 "2002-12-03T16:11:20Z")
No Santa! AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH! Seriously, I’ve never learned something that I later regretted. There were moments when I didn’t like what I was learning at the time-- but in the end it really was for the better. ---
**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/44 "2002-12-03T16:28:13Z")
No offense taken, PublicBlast. Actually, I was sort of poking gentle fun at you with my post! 😉 I knew it was a religious “garment”, but I always thought it was like a “One-sie”. The significance of it being “UNDERWEAR” still baffles me. Why not a blazer or a shawl or a cloak or something? Why underwear? And if so, then why do they allow the occasional donning of lingerie? I’m 46 and still do the occasional pajama party. Sometimes we’re down to our skivvies, sometimes in jammies. What can I say? Girls just wanna have fun! ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/45 "2002-12-03T16:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Synthesis \* > \*\*Finding out that my wife of 10 years was a lesbian… \*\* Me too! (Not your wife, mine!) Partner for 6 years, wife for about 3 months before I found out!!? Why the hell not make it obvious at least 3 months earlier?! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Alto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Alto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alto)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/46 "2002-12-03T19:06:58Z")
As a kid I really liked _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe._ I’ve never been able to enjoy it the same way since I discovered it was a Christian allegory. And I loved \*Puck of Pook’s Hill \* and _The Wind in the Willows_. Then I took a class in which we discussed their imperialistic and class assumptions. Now when I read them, I can never wholly shut up that little voice saying, “Ah, but you know what this is _really_ about.” ---
**Author:** ![PublicBlast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/779978/32.png) [@PublicBlast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PublicBlast)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/47 "2002-12-03T20:57:29Z")
To **istara** : 1) We buy them from a special catalogue. Mail-order or the occasional specialized retail store located where there are lots of Mormons. 2) My wife wears a regular bra over or under the garment depending on the bra and her mood. To **EchoKitty** : I’ve wondered the same thing about why it’s underwear and not a uniform or robe. I guess the idea is that we at least _try_ not to make them a regular topic of conversation, so if we wear our sacred garments under our clothes, we don’t wear them on our sleeves so to speak. In other words, we still get the effect of wearing special clothing every day, but we bypass some of the inconvenience and weird looks that other folks who wear their religious clothes outside get. (Extremely orthodox Jews, for example.) Of course, this has the unintended effect of really disturbing people who eventually find out about our clothes, but what can ya do? 🙂 By the way, IIRC we are not the only religion with sacred underwear: orthodox Parsi men wear a sacred undershirt. Can someone correct me on this if I’m wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Suspenderzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Suspenderzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suspenderzzz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/48 "2002-12-03T21:04:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alto \* > \*\*As a kid I really liked _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe._ I’ve never been able to enjoy it the same way since I discovered it was a Christian allegory. And I loved \*Puck of Pook’s Hill \* and _The Wind in the Willows_. Then I took a class in which we discussed their imperialistic and class assumptions. Now when I read them, I can never wholly shut up that little voice saying, “Ah, but you know what this is _really_ about.” \*\* I have had the same experience with a favorite book of mine, “Greensleeves” by E.J. McGraw. There is (or was) a certain, hard-to-pinpoint magic about this book, and I read it about once a year (still do) since I was about 18. There was so much deepness and wisdom, and it seemed that the older I got, and the more often I read it, the more layers of wisdom and meaning that previously went over my head I began to understand. Then, through a friend-turned-nut (long story, don’t ask), I was introduced to the world of the Recovery Industry (ominous music). It was quite a shock to realize that all that magic and wisdom in the book is really just a recital of the 12-stepper doctrine of which the author is obviously a member. How disappointing. I still read the book from time to time (old habits die hard), but a lot of the magic is gone, and a lot of the former enchantment has been replaced by simple annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![lovelyluka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f475e1/32.png) [@lovelyluka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lovelyluka)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/49 "2002-12-03T21:08:06Z")
My mother once thought I had “caught” her and her then-boyfriend in bed together, when I had NOT. It was one of those, “Oh, you didn’t know? Nevermind.” Bleeeehhhh… As a side note, I wish I didn’t know anything that I have been learning in organic chemistry. It’s just too painful ☹ ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/50 "2002-12-03T21:55:52Z")
[list=1] [li]Finding that one of my friends had joind the KKK, and they got arrested for trying to blow up a chemical plant[/li][li]FInding out the guy who gave me my dog (and was in my house), was a serial killer[/li][li]Finding out one of my freinds had cheated on his wife(who was also a freind of mine)[/li][/list=1] ---
**Author:** ![SteveSteve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SteveSteve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveSteve)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528/51 "2002-12-04T02:49:29Z")
I really didn’t need to find out that I enjoyed having shitty selfish sex with women I didn’t respect or sometimes even like. Kind of puts a damper on your “I am not a piece of crap” theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-gained-knowledge-that-you-ultimately-regretted/139528.md?page=2)