# Stuff that took you too long to realize **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506 "2012-08-05T09:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/301 "2012-09-06T19:33:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I know it is carnival, but I prefer my version - carnivore. 🙂 No no, **Life is a Carnivore** \*\* is a song by the Band. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/302 "2012-09-07T13:11:10Z")
When slicing through an avocado, _don’t_ hold it in your left hand, use a very sharp kitchen knife, with a rapid and forceful motion, directly in the direction of your left palm. Because sometimes the knife will slice right through the pit and keep going. You’d think that after 33 years on the planet, I would have picked that up. Apparently not, though, until yesterday, when I learned it the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/303 "2012-09-07T18:56:40Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Hold your hands out in front of you with the index fingers up and the thumbs out at a right angle. The hand that makes an “L” is your left hand. > > Learned that in my 30’s. You left out that hands are palms out. I knew someone who used that rule and had their hands palms in. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/304 "2012-09-11T16:51:45Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > _Amo, amas, amat_ = “I love, thou lovest, he/she/it loves”. But you knew that really. Accidence will happen. D’oh! It’s been 20 years since I spoke Latin, and it shows. Longer for the Romans, of course. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/305 "2012-09-11T17:42:04Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > I think I was in high school when I found out the spicy sauce often put on tacos is tobasco sauce, not tobacco sauce. And, it’s actually tabasco! 🙂 ---
**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:** [September 12, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/306 "2012-09-12T05:46:03Z")
When you want to mail something certified return-receipt requested at the (U.S.) post office, you don’t have to write the article number onto the return card by hand; you can just peel it off the top of the certified mailing label and stick it on to the return card. Yes, that actually put it on the certified form for just that purpose. I had been writing in the umpteen zillion item number by hand. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/307 "2012-09-12T22:18:16Z")
The German word for “fall” or “autumn”, _Herbst_, is a cognate of “harvest”. I learned this a week or two ago when reading a Grimm’s tale that was in a Plattdeutsch dialect; here the word was _Hervest_ so I finally got it. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/308 "2012-09-17T18:14:44Z")
I’ve had my iPhone for over 2 years and I just realized that it has an edit feature in the photos. I accidentally touched part of the screen while looking at a picture and suddenly the image was in edit mode - I never noticed the “EDIT” button up in the corner before. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/309 "2012-09-18T00:17:23Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > And, it’s actually tabasco! 🙂 tobasco sauce is made with vine-ripened tomaccos. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/310 "2012-09-18T00:45:21Z")
Never being around guns, I had no idea until into my 30s that a shotgun and a rifle were different weapons. I was always amazed at the accuracy of clay pigeon shooters; one single shot to hit that moving target? Wow! ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/311 "2012-09-18T03:44:57Z")
I knew a rifle and a shotgun were different, but it wasn’t until I was 30 or so that I discovered clay pigeons were destroyed with shotguns. Well, my eyes rolled. What’s so damned difficult about hitting a hunk of pottery with a wide-spray hose? You may find this [**a good read**](http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1256161--america-in-guns-we-trust). ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/312 "2012-09-18T14:55:43Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > You left out that hands are palms out. I knew someone who used that rule and had their hands palms in. That had me confused, as I’ve always seen this action performed with the hands parallel to the ground, but I get it. I had the same problem; palms up or down? Also, which way does an L go again?:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/313 "2013-02-18T15:36:10Z")
Misunderstood line of dialog: In the 1984 classic “Red Dawn,” there’s a line where Ben Johnson is telling the Wolverines that it’s not safe to go into town. He mentions that some people have been found with their throats cut, “and word has it, it’s you.” Until this weekend, I had misunderstood that line. When I first heard it, and ever since, I thought the line was “Word has it, it’s Jews,” which made no sense to me. Anyway, lesson learned. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/314 "2013-02-19T01:01:02Z")
Spring onions (scallions) are a different plant from onions? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506.md?page=15)