You ever have one of those times when someone points something out, that once they point it out it’s completely obvious, and obvious that you knew it, but you say, “Wow, I’ve never thought about that before.” Then, you feel like an idiot, because you knew, it’s just that you’ve never actually sat down and explicitly contemplated that idea?
I can’t think of an example, but I’m wondering if there’s a word for it.
Man. What a good question. I knew it fundamentally, but I’ve never verbalized the sentiment before. Now I feel like and idiot, because it’s been burning at my soul, but I’ve just never sat down to express the question before.
The phrase a priori knowledge is sometimes used to express that notion, although the term has some other uses in formal logic, so it may not be the best choice (i.e., might confuse some people).
My favorite example is feminism: it’s not like folks were unaware that women did not have the same opportunities that men did (and etc), it’s more that they never questioned that or considered that things might conceivably be different.
I wonder if it’s simply intuition you’re speaking of. I checked M-W and one of the definitions is “the power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference.” I think intuition may have a little linguistic baggage, however - the word seems to bring to mind TV movies with psychics in them.
If you ever take a research methodology class in college, you tackle this sort of epistemological question…“How do we really know anything?” … and eventually it drives you insane. 
I always say “that is something that I always knew but never realized until now.”
Two of my classes this semester: the history of knowledge and the philosohy of knowledge, reading Russell, Goldman, Descartes, Hume, Frege, etc.etc…
To be honest, I hate those classes, because it just seems to like a lot of people saying basically you can never be completely sure that you know anything…even that you exist or ever did.
That’s for another post though…
Be sure to read Charles Taylor and his theory of hermeneutic epistemology.
Somehow I just knew you were going to say that.
Another way of saying it is that there are things on the subconcious mind that are not conscious, thus you don’t think about.
For example, I read voraciously. I had this word on my mind… Pitney Bowes. I was thinking to myself “Pitney Bowes, Pitney Bowes, where did I hear that word from?” I had to Google it to find out it was an office supplier, and then supposed that I saw the words in Forbes. I was right! There was an ad in the magazine. So it was almost subliminal as well.
Meaning what, exactly? 
Epiphany is close, although I would say that’s more of a sudden intuition, rather than having something pointed out to you.
Armand: I just never realized John Wayne walked like that