# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/161 "2005-06-09T00:33:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Misnomer** > I have lived in this house for 26 months. It took 24 of those months for me to discover that the ceiling fan in the master bedroom has more than one speed. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **ouryL** > So it took me two years to discover I had under cabinet lighting in the kitchen I can top both of you lame-brains. I have one of those kitchen faucets that pulls out and becomes a sprayer. When you turn it on, water runs normally. You push a button on the black rubber piece on top and the spray action starts. I spent **10 years** turning the water off and back on again to get it to go back to normal water flow before I discovered, quite by accident, that there are \*two buttons \*under the black rubber piece. The second button turns the water back to normal flow. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/162 "2005-06-09T01:50:03Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I spent **10 years** turning the water off and back on again to get it to go back to normal water flow before I discovered, quite by accident, that there are \*two buttons \*under the black rubber piece. I think we have a winner! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/163 "2005-06-09T02:34:24Z")
How about taking me 20+ years to realize that not everyone takes Tylenol like candy nearly every day for nearly every day headaches? Took an emergency admission to the hospital the other day to really bring the point home. This morning I realized, as I listened to the radio that I’d been pronouncing phelgamatic incorrectly inside of my head for years, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/164 "2005-06-09T03:09:58Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Guess what!! > Duct tape was once called duck tape. > [From DuctTapeGuys.com](http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/DT101/) > I guess we know about as much as anyone about duct tape origins - so we’ve become the “experts,” or the conveyors of folk lore - as the case may be. It was actually rather hard to find anyone to admit to the actual invention of duct tape. The closest we got to a consistent story was the Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division who made the stuff for the U.S. Military during World War II. The original use was to keep the moisture out of the ammunition cases. Because it was waterproof, people referred to the tape as “Duck Tape.” Also, the tape was made using cotton duck - similar to what was used in their cloth medical tapes. Military personnel quickly discovered that the tape was very versatile and used it to fix their guns, jeeps, aircraft, etc. After the war, the tape was used in the booming housing industry to connect heating and air conditioning duct work together. Soon, the color was changed from Army green to silver to match the ductwork and people started to refer to duck tape as “Duct Tape.” (By the way, “Duck Tape” is now a registered trademark of Duck® brand (a division of Henkel Consumer Adhesives) in Avon, Ohio psst… **ouryl** read posts #118, and #122😃 ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/165 "2005-06-09T04:07:12Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > So I watched a TV special about Jimmy Rodgers and was surprised they didn’t mention the pork sausages. Jimmy dean was the guy who died on the motorcycle, wasn’t he? James Dean was the actor that died in a car accident. Jimmy Dean is a country singer and maker of delicious pork sausage. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/166 "2005-06-09T04:11:54Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > James Dean was the actor that died in a car accident. Jimmy Dean is a country singer and maker of delicious pork sausage. “The eggs come from real chickens, the cheese comes from real cows, and the sausage comes from Jimmy Dean.” :eek: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/167 "2005-06-09T07:47:51Z")
**Corner Case** , I have that same damn ceiling fan! When I was small and the teacher would ask us for words that began with “x”, I would always call out “Xing!” (pronounced “Zing”) and then wonder at the patronizing nod I received. After all, didn’t anyone else notice all the street signs announcing "Ped Xing"s and "Deer Xing"s? it still irks me that it’s an x, not a cross, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/168 "2005-06-09T11:39:12Z")
> [@Mynn](#): > > How about taking me 20+ years to realize that not everyone takes Tylenol like candy nearly every day for nearly every day headaches? Took an emergency admission to the hospital the other day to really bring the point home. IANADoctor, of course, but it sounds like a visit to a neurologist wouldn’t be a waste of your time. I used to pop aspirin and Tylenol like candy, too. Two visits to a neuro and he prescribed some lovely stuff that’s nearly eliminated my migraines and the nearly-daily headaches. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/169 "2005-06-09T12:18:49Z")
A few years ago I was having a discussion with someone in a chat room about music when the topic turned to **The Beatles**. I spelled the band name **“Beetles”** and the other guy spelled it **“Beatles.”** I eventually noticed the discrepancy and it suddenly dawned on me that the band name is spelled Beatles. I swear to God I never knew it up until then. I then realized that it was a fun play on words; Beetles spelled with the word “Beat.” Also, it was in college when I learned **Martin Luther** and **Martin Luther King** were two different people. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/170 "2005-06-09T12:48:37Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by **ouryL** > > Guess what!! > > Duct tape was once called duck tape. > > From [DuctTapeGuys.com](http://DuctTapeGuys.com) > > I guess we know about as much as anyone about duct tape origins - so we’ve become the “experts,” or the conveyors of folk lore - as the case may be. It was actually rather hard to find anyone to admit to the actual invention of duct tape. The closest we got to a consistent story was the Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division who made the stuff for the U.S. Military during World War II. The original use was to keep the moisture out of the ammunition cases. Because it was waterproof, people referred to the tape as “Duck Tape.” Also, the tape was made using cotton duck - similar to what was used in their cloth medical tapes. Military personnel quickly discovered that the tape was very versatile and used it to fix their guns, jeeps, aircraft, etc. After the war, the tape was used in the booming housing industry to connect heating and air conditioning duct work together. Soon, the color was changed from Army green to silver to match the ductwork and people started to refer to duck tape as “Duct Tape.” (By the way, “Duck Tape” is now a registered trademark of Duck® brand (a division of Henkel Consumer Adhesives) in Avon, Ohio > > psst… **ouryl** read posts #118, and #122😃 :smack: And I just “got” **ouryL** ’s username! (Uh, maybe; is it oral or aural?) ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/171 "2005-06-09T12:48:39Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > A few years ago I was having a discussion with someone in a chat room about music when the topic turned to **The Beatles**. I spelled the band name **“Beetles”** and the other guy spelled it **“Beatles.”** I eventually noticed the discrepancy and it suddenly dawned on me that the band name is spelled Beatles. I swear to God I never knew it up until then. I then realized that it was a fun play on words; Beetles spelled with the word “Beat.” > > Also, it was in college when I learned **Martin Luther** and **Martin Luther King** were two different people. After lo these many decades I had never considered that the name could be thought of as “ **Beat-leas** ”. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/172 "2005-06-09T12:49:50Z")
:smack: **Beat-les**! ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/173 "2005-06-09T12:51:14Z")
> [@Lisa-go-Blind](#): > > “The eggs come from real chickens, the cheese comes from real cows, and the > sausage comes from Jimmy Dean.” :eek: 🙂 I see you had the same reaction to that commercial that I did. I guess you would call that long pork sausage. :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/174 "2005-06-09T13:28:05Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > IANADoctor, of course, but it sounds like a visit to a neurologist wouldn’t be a waste of your time. I used to pop aspirin and Tylenol like candy, too. Two visits to a neuro and he prescribed some lovely stuff that’s nearly eliminated my migraines and the nearly-daily headaches. Yeah, well … I’m in the process. My brand spankin new GP is systematically knocking out the possibilities (sinusitus, allergies, etc) and the next things to try after eliminating those are MRA (already did an MRI, brain tumor scan, echocardiogram and cat scan). We’re treating my “episode” like a TIA, but eliminating all the headache/migrane possible causes and treating the headache/migranes before we assume it was a TIA related to the whole stupid APS/hughes syndrome thing. He’s got an allergist and neuro in mind. Thanks for your concern. 🙂 [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![NoPretentiousCodename](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/82dd89/32.png) [@NoPretentiousCodename](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoPretentiousCodename)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/175 "2005-06-09T15:58:02Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > :smack: And I just “got” **ouryL** ’s username! (Uh, maybe; is it oral or aural?) Oriole? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/176 "2005-06-09T16:05:22Z")
> [@dinahmoe](#): > > Just realized today that the dog and cat in “Get Fuzzy”? Satchel and Bucky? Satchel Paige and Bucky (F’ing!) Dent. Not a smart girl, here. 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). ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/177 "2005-06-09T16:26:54Z")
There are two reasons why a fictional construct has a name. One is why the parent (or owner, in this case) gave them the name. The other is why the author picked the name. The real reason, of course, is the reason the author chose to give the name, which is the case here, according to [wiki](http://wikipedia.lotsofinformation.com/wiki/index.php?title=Get_Fuzzy). ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/178 "2005-06-09T18:39:53Z")
> [@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). Maybe a play on “buckteeth” (being bucktoothed, etc)? ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/179 "2005-06-09T22:21:30Z")
Set the way-back machine to high school in the 1970’s: Theatre teacher: We are going to be doing a one-act by Henrik Ibsen. Me: You mean that guy from Laugh-In? Theatre teacher (witheringly): No, not that guy from Laugh-In. Once I got to college and learned about Russian playwrights, I had my explanation. (Henry Gibson \<\> Henrik Ibsen. Hey, they sound similar and my high school teacher didn’t, y’know, educate us!) ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805/180 "2005-06-09T22:39:41Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Set the way-back machine to high school in the 1970’s: > > Theatre teacher: We are going to be doing a one-act by Henrik Ibsen. > > Me: You mean that guy from Laugh-In? > > Theatre teacher (witheringly): No, not that guy from Laugh-In. > Once I got to college and learned about Russian playwrights, I had my explanation. (Henry Gibson \<\> Henrik Ibsen. Hey, they sound similar and my high school teacher didn’t, y’know, educate us!) If it makes you feel better, when I was studying Ibsen in highschool (he’s Norwegian by the way) my parents made constant Henry Gibson jokes. I’ve never seen Laugh-In though so they left me just plain bewildered 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simple-thing-you-finally-figured-out-that-made-you-feel-stupid/306805.md?page=10)