# Stuff that took you too long to realize
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506
**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:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/41 "2012-08-07T19:25:41Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#):
>
> I didn’t know until recently that you can’t parallel park against the flow of traffic.
> [@Bass\_Chick](#):
>
> You don’t parallel park in a lane facing oncoming traffic. You should be pointed in the direction that you’ll be driving when you pull out of your parking space.
And I assume **Sister Vigilante** meant “you can’t” in the sense of “you’re not allowed to,” not “it’s not possible.” Otherwise, I’m puzzled too.
---
### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/42 "2012-08-07T19:26:50Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> Ah. I’ve read about it here, and in the news, but was doing the Godzilla thing myself.
>
> Thanks.
Glad to know I’m not the only Canadian who didn’t get it!
---
### Author:  [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/43 "2012-08-07T19:31:34Z")
> [@Bass\_Chick](#):
>
> You don’t parallel park in a lane facing oncoming traffic. You should be pointed in the direction that you’ll be driving when you pull out of your parking space.
Wait, she was crossing into the oncoming lane and parking facing toward the oncoming traffic? Got it.
Yes, don’t do that.
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/44 "2012-08-07T19:34:42Z")
> [@lost4life](#):
>
> Wait, she was crossing into the oncoming lane and parking facing toward the oncoming traffic? Got it.
> Yes, don’t do that.
I couldn’t figure it out either. If that is the real meaning, yes, it is batshit insane and should be self-explanatory not to do it.
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### Author:  [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/45 "2012-08-07T19:46:52Z")
Being a good father is not that same as being a good husband.
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### Author:  [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/46 "2012-08-07T20:06:35Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#):
>
> On a lot of cars, including mine, there’s a U-shaped thing fastened to the inside of the little door that covers the fuel intake. It’s there to hold the gas cap while you’re fillling up. One does not, in fact, have to place the gas cap on the roof of the car.
I’ll be damned, now I feel like an idiot.
I was in my forties before I got a riddle that I heard as a kid:
Q: What did the bald man say when he got a comb for his birthday?
A: I’ll never part with it.
Maybe my losing my hair had something to do with it.
---
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/47 "2012-08-07T20:20:01Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#):
>
> I was in my forties before I got a riddle that I heard as a kid:
> Q: What did the bald man say when he got a comb for his birthday?
> A: I’ll never part with it.
>
> Maybe my losing my hair had something to do with it.
A few years ago I was getting annoyed by always having to keep my comb in my pocket, where it felt uncomfortable most of the time. And my damn hairbrush in my medicine cabinet, where it took up so much valuable room. Then I realized – I’d been shaving my head for about 6 months.
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### Author:  [@iftheresaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iftheresaway)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/48 "2012-08-07T20:30:13Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#):
>
> On a lot of cars, including mine, there’s a U-shaped thing fastened to the inside of the little door that covers the fuel intake. It’s there to hold the gas cap while you’re fillling up. One does not, in fact, have to place the gas cap on the roof of the car.
>
> I figured this out last year, and I hadn’t even been driving for 30 years yet. Another victory for my keen powers of observation. I’m pretty much like Sherlock Holmes, really.
Another gas related one I just noticed this afternoon: when you put that tab down so the gas pumps automatically, there are several notches so you can make it pump faster. That would have been nice to know in the middle of winter when I was standing around waiting for my gas to pump.
---
### Author:  [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/49 "2012-08-07T20:35:40Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#):
>
> On a lot of cars, including mine, there’s a U-shaped thing fastened to the inside of the little door that covers the fuel intake. It’s there to hold the gas cap while you’re fillling up. One does not, in fact, have to place the gas cap on the roof of the car.
>
> I figured this out last year, and I hadn’t even been driving for 30 years yet. Another victory for my keen powers of observation. I’m pretty much like Sherlock Holmes, really.
> [@iftheresaway](#):
>
> Another gas related one I just noticed this afternoon: when you put that tab down so the gas pumps automatically, there are several notches so you can make it pump faster. That would have been nice to know in the middle of winter when I was standing around waiting for my gas to pump.
Before I figured out the notches, I put the gas cap against the trigger to make it pump faster. :smack: My last 2 cars, the cap is attached with a plastic cord.
---
### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/50 "2012-08-07T20:50:13Z")
I just found out last week - thanks the the mockery hurled by my wife - that the word “brooch” (as in the piece of jewelry) is not pronounced “brooch” but is, in fact, pronounced “broach.” I knew that the jewelry thing was pronounced “broach” but I thought that it was spelled “broach” and was somehow a subtly different item than a “brooch.”
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/51 "2012-08-07T20:54:05Z")
> [@Skammer](#):
>
> I just found out last week - thanks the the mockery hurled by my wife - that the word “brooch” (as in the piece of jewelry) is not pronounced “brooch” but is, in fact, pronounced “broach.” I knew that the jewelry thing was pronounced “broach” but I thought that it was spelled “broach” and was somehow a subtly different item than a “brooch.”
Well I’ll be damned. I thought the real spelling was ‘broach’ too.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/52 "2012-08-07T21:07:54Z")
All the years as a kid I tried to fly kites, only to cry in frustration as they spun upside down and dived bombed into the ground. It wasn’t until I was in my 40s that I finally learned that that meant the wind was too strong for the kite and the solution was to add a longer tail.
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### Author:  [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/53 "2012-08-07T21:10:16Z")
> [@iftheresaway](#):
>
> Another gas related one I just noticed this afternoon: when you put that tab down so the gas pumps automatically, there are several notches so you can make it pump faster. That would have been nice to know in the middle of winter when I was standing around waiting for my gas to pump.
In most of the Self-Serve stations around NY (NOT NJ, for obvious reasons), there is no such tab to hold the pump nozzle trigger - you stand there and hold the trigger down (some people jam things into the trigger guard to hold the trigger down).
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### Author:  [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/54 "2012-08-07T21:23:23Z")
> [@SirRay](#):
>
> _Oh No, there goes Chicago!
> Go Go Chick-Fil-A!_
Don’t fear the peeper.
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/55 "2012-08-07T21:40:57Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> I couldn’t figure it out either. If that is the real meaning, yes, it is batshit insane and should be self-explanatory not to do it.
Obviously, you wouldn’t do this on a busy street, but a lot of people in residential neighborhoods think nothing of parking in front of their house on the “wrong” side of the street. This is technically illegal, but hardly ever ticketed.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/56 "2012-08-07T23:19:11Z")
This is going to sound really corny, but I was reading a Post Secret a few years ago that said, ‘‘I’ve learned that making the wrong decision is better than making no decision at all.’’ At the time I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, and had avoided applying for grad school for a couple years out of sheer terror I would make the wrong decision. So, I made a decision, and it honestly changed the way I live my life.
The other thing I’ve learned is that even though terrible stuff that happens in my life isn’t my fault, it’s still my responsibility. If I could summarize what it means to be an adult, it would be that.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/57 "2012-08-08T00:24:53Z")
I was 20 when I finally realized that Miss Kitty was Dodge City’s madam, and that’s why there were all those rooms at the top of the stairs inside the Long Branch Saloon. :smack:
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### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/58 "2012-08-08T03:27:43Z")
When I was a kid I used to hear my grandmother talk about cooking “arshtater”. I was probably well into my 20s before I realized she was saying “Irish potatoes”.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/59 "2012-08-08T05:41:31Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#):
>
> This is going to sound really corny, but I was reading a Post Secret a few years ago that said, ‘‘I’ve learned that making the wrong decision is better than making no decision at all.’’ At the time I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, and had avoided applying for grad school for a couple years out of sheer terror I would make the wrong decision. So, I made a decision, and it honestly changed the way I live my life..
And what I learned is that it’s impossible to make no decision. “Not deciding” is, in fact, deciding.
---
### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/60 "2012-08-08T06:19:24Z")
Women want men to listen to them, not hear how awesome you are.
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