# Simple thing you finally figured out that made you feel stupid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805 "2005-06-04T00:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/201 "2005-06-10T18:39:15Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > I’m a voracious reader, and have an extensive vocabulary. I think by now, at 41, I’ve learned the pronunciation of most of those words. I’ve always had the same problem. But I’m only 30, so I’m sure there are some words I know from reading them that I don’t know how to pronounce. 😉 > [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Well, it’s because you know that certain places are to the north, east, south, and west of wherever you are. For example, I know from looking at a map that Saint-Henri is west of downtown and the Village is east. Laval is north and the river is south.\* Problem with this is, it’s so obvious to the locals that the river is to the south (or that the mountains are to the west, or the north), that they don’t bother to explain to befuddled visitors how they know which way north is. I dealt with this twice on visits to graduate schools as a prospective student- people in Boulder and Pasadena would give north-south-east-west directions, and I felt like a fool for having to ask how they knew which way was north. They generally would tell me once I worked up the courage to ask, though. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/202 "2005-06-10T19:13:30Z")
> [@BrianJ4](#): > > My family mocked me for my pronounciation of ‘tukson’ and ‘Edinburg’. > > My brothers friend was well into his teen years before he was told that a bridge in our cit was not NAMED ‘Pavement Narrows’. > > 😃 Oh gods - I can still hear my folks laughing at Epo-skopull-aliens. And my partner at all the entrances for that great big famous California Natural State Park, Vista Point. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/203 "2005-06-10T19:27:18Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > Well, more precisely, alfalfa is a type of hay. Even more precisely, hay is made from various types of grass, as **WhyNot** posted. Straw is also made from grass. Alfalfa is _Medicago sativa_, which is a type of legume; most definitely not a grass. Both hay and alfalfa are fed to animals, which I guess is where the confusion lies. Straw, on the other hand, is inedible. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/204 "2005-06-10T19:43:55Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > Problem with this is, it’s so obvious to the locals that the river is to the south (or that the mountains are to the west, or the north), that they don’t bother to explain to befuddled visitors how they know which way north is. I dealt with this twice on visits to graduate schools as a prospective student- people in Boulder and Pasadena would give north-south-east-west directions, and I felt like a fool for having to ask how they knew which way was north. They generally would tell me once I worked up the courage to ask, though. Unless it’s near sunrise or sunset, everyone has this problem. I think just about everyone in a strange town needs to orient the “map in their head” to the four directions. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/205 "2005-06-10T20:10:51Z")
Growing up, we would always drive past a sign for [Woodsedge Ave](http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Woodsedge+Ave,+Budd+Lake,+NJ). I **always** parsed it as wood-sedge, and it made no sense to me. After years of this, I finally saw it properly: woods edge. Doh! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/206 "2005-06-10T20:11:24Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I think just about everyone in a strange town needs to orient the “map in their head” to the four directions. Only if the natives of the town in question give directions using the four directions. If that’s not the case, I generally have no idea which way north is, and couldn’t care less. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/207 "2005-06-10T20:24:46Z")
(And of course I think of another right after my post goes through.) The signs on the highway that say “Exit Only”? I always thought that meant the exit was only an exit, and not an entrance. So you had to watch out when you were exiting, because you couldn’t get back on the highway. It wasn’t until I started driving that I realized it meant that **the lane** was exit only. (I still think my signs would be useful.) ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/208 "2005-06-10T20:24:56Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > Problem with this is, it’s so obvious to the locals that the river is to the south (or that the mountains are to the west, or the north), that they don’t bother to explain to befuddled visitors how they know which way north is. I was raised in Denver. West was always toward the mountains. On a job interview I once got hopelessy disoriented trying to navigate from one Dallas suburb to another via meandering rural roads. It was around Noon, near the equinox, so sun directly overhead, and no landmarks at all. At 22 yrs. old, it had never occured to me that you could somehow NOT know which way was which. Interesting aside: While lost, I happened upon a highway department surveying crew. They were unable to provide directions. NONE of them could tell me which way north was either. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/209 "2005-06-10T20:26:38Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > Even more precisely, hay is made from various types of grass, as **WhyNot** posted. Straw is also made from grass. Alfalfa is _Medicago sativa_, which is a type of legume; most definitely not a grass. Both hay and alfalfa are fed to animals, which I guess is where the confusion lies. Straw, on the other hand, is inedible. I’d be interested in where you’re drawing that distinction from: I grew up on a farm, and never knew anyone who described alfalfa (or Lucerne, as we tended to call it when I was young) as being anything but hay, the real distinction being “Hay – green stuff you cut down and bale to use as feed” and “Straw – the stuff left over from harvesting grain that you use as bedding.” In my experience cattle will eat some kinds of straw, but its nutritional value is limited. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/210 "2005-06-10T20:27:10Z")
In 5th grade I remember being puzzled over the fire alarm signal vs. tornado signal. The bell would ring 3 times for a fire alarm and 5 times for a tornado. All I could think was that the bell was ringing so fast I can’t possibly tell how many times it rings —and how are they getting 3 and 5 rings out of it? It puzzled and confounded me immensely that I, the smart kid, couldn’t count bells but all my classmates could. I gave up on trying to figure it out and would never admit that I couldn’t count bells, confident in the fact that by following my classmates I could figure out whether I was supposed to go into the hall or out into the schoolyard. I maintained my state of ignorance throughout the better portion of high school too, when I finally realized that counting the bells was very akin to counting the rings of a phone not the individual dings of the bell. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/211 "2005-06-10T21:06:45Z")
I use to think there were two rap singers: the one called “Fiance” that I kept hearing about, and the one called “Be-younce” that I kept reading about. One day I had a :smack: :wally moment. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/212 "2005-06-10T22:18:26Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > I’d be interested in where you’re drawing that distinction from: I grew up on a farm, and never knew anyone who described alfalfa (or Lucerne, as we tended to call it when I was young) as being anything but hay, the real distinction being “Hay – green stuff you cut down and bale to use as feed” and “Straw – the stuff left over from harvesting grain that you use as bedding.” In my experience cattle will eat some kinds of straw, but its nutritional value is limited. I guess I’m really making a historical distinction, as grass was usually cheaper and easier to grow. Just the generic term “hay” brings to mind (at least, my mind) that semi-dried fodder derived from grass, which is important regarding the “hay vs straw” question. More specialized types seem to require a qualifier, e.g., “alfalfa hay” or “clover hay”. I’m not a famer, so I’ll defer to your experience and expertise. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/213 "2005-06-10T23:16:10Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I use to think there were two rap singers: the one called “Fiance” that I kept hearing about, and the one called “Be-younce” that I kept reading about. > > One day I had a :smack: :wally moment. Although it is true that Beyonce’s fiance is a rapper, the boom-pow girl herself is a singer and not a rapper. She’s Boom-Pow! because that’s what my hubby and son exclaim whenever she appears on my TV screen. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/214 "2005-06-11T00:06:23Z")
This will only be amusing if you’re old enough to remember when clocks and watches had hands: When I was young – and for years and years – for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why it was called the “second hand” when, obviously, it was the **third** hand . . . ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/215 "2005-06-11T00:36:26Z")
> [@silk1976](#): > > I never really got the full birds and bees story from my parents, so for a long time (until I took sex ed) I never knew that women had a vagina. I thought that there was something drastically different with a womans anus that allowed them to become pregnant. Wow. A near-compatriot. My mom, being a nurse but an upstanding Protestant, was a master at telling us just enough to make us think we understood about sex and get us to shut up for now. Being the oldest, and only having brothers anyway, I had no one to tell me these things in the closet while hiding. She told me that the baby comes out in a special place in the woman’s bottom (mind you, she’s fielding questions about her huge tummy from a 4-year old). For years after that I thought women had an extra hole in the butt cheek. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/216 "2005-06-11T00:49:40Z")
> [@Rube E. Tewesday](#): > > I’d be interested in where you’re drawing that distinction from: I grew up on a farm, and never knew anyone who described alfalfa (or Lucerne, as we tended to call it when I was young) as being anything but hay, the real distinction being “Hay – green stuff you cut down and bale to use as feed” and “Straw – the stuff left over from harvesting grain that you use as bedding.” In my experience cattle will eat some kinds of straw, but its nutritional value is limited. While Alfalfa is indeed a _kind_ of hay, I think the distinction in this case goes back to the kind of plant it is and the crop rotation posed by the original person who mentioned a rotation of hay year, alfalfa year, and a fallowing year. Alfalfa, being a legume, has a different place (agriculturally) in the rotation than any other form of hay (timothy, orchard grass, clover, etc.) Thence, the distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/217 "2005-06-11T02:44:41Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > While Alfalfa is indeed a _kind_ of hay, I think the distinction in this case goes back to the kind of plant it is and the crop rotation posed by the original person who mentioned a rotation of hay year, alfalfa year, and a fallowing year. > > Alfalfa, being a legume, has a different place (agriculturally) in the rotation than any other form of hay (timothy, orchard grass, clover, etc.) Thence, the distinction. Hmm…I’ve never observed that exact type of rotation, but I won’t be dogmatic about it, since farming practices differ widely. And **Terminus est** , no need to be so reasonable about it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/218 "2005-06-11T03:09:16Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Wha??? > > I remember a specific strip in which it was said that Satchel was named that because he was found, as a puppy, in a satchel. Bucky’s Bucky because he’s missing one of his upper eyeteeth. (How that makes him ‘bucky’ I’m not sure, but that’s what it said). Oddly enough, I’ve read a strip where Rob tells Satchel and Buck that they’re named after Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neill. Huh. Did Rob change his story somewhere along the line? My own: I had a flash of brilliance when I was about seventeen and realized that “quiche”, the food mysterious product I had read about was, in fact, the eggy pie dish my mom makes quite often and I had always thought of as “keish”. I call my dad’s mom bubbe. I’d never thought about why, and I never knew anyone else with a bubbe. I guess I assumed it was a made-up word. I was fifteen when I discovered that it’s the Yiddish word for grandmother. I am dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/219 "2005-06-11T03:29:52Z")
The convenience store chain Circle K is also an ‘O’ and a ‘kay’. Circle K = Okay. Sadly, I realized this only a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/220 "2005-06-11T06:01:36Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I then realized that it was a fun play on words; Beetles spelled with the word “Beat.” You’re kidding. I’m such a loser. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805.md?page=12)