# 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:** 5
### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/81 "2012-08-08T16:15:56Z")
> [@AaronX](#):
>
> There’s no such thing as a momento.
>
> In English, anyway. Maybe it means something in Spanish?
In Spanish it means “moment”.
> [@Rich\_G7subs](#):
>
> You drive a Yaris? … and admit it? 😉
I drive a Yaris hutchback; I own half of another; and when I turn this one in, it will probably be in exchange for another.
Why wouldn’t I want to drive a car with five black holes? (one in each corner, letting you manoeuver in some incredibly tight spots, and one inside, letting you load amazing amounts of stuff).
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### Author:  [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/82 "2012-08-08T16:35:41Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> In Spanish it means “moment”.
>
> I drive a Yaris hutchback; I own half of another; and when I turn this one in, it will probably be in exchange for another.
>
> Why wouldn’t I want to drive a car with five black holes? (one in each corner, letting you manoeuver in some incredibly tight spots, and one inside, letting you load amazing amounts of stuff).
Just busting ya. I was stuck behind one going up a hill and it barely made it. I think the hamster was exhausted. 😛
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/83 "2012-08-08T16:37:21Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> In Spanish it means “moment”
:smack:
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/84 "2012-08-08T18:35:49Z")
> [@Rich\_G7subs](#):
>
> In a marriage you can be “Right” OR you can be “Happy”. Never the twain shall meet. Took me 18 years to figure this out.
And its twin brother: “Happy wife, happy life.”
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/85 "2012-08-08T18:40:08Z")
> [@Clothahump](#):
>
> And its twin brother: “Happy wife, happy life.”
I like to tease my wife “If you’re unhappy, I’m unhappy; if necessary you’ll guarantee it”.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/86 "2012-08-08T18:45:16Z")
Woody Woodpecker’s voice. I never realized that that’s exactly how a woodpecker would sound, if he could talk while he’s pecking wood.
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### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/87 "2012-08-08T19:33:31Z")
> [@SirRay](#):
>
> …(some people jam things into the trigger guard to hold the trigger down).
Luckily, living in NJ, I don’t have to worry about this very often. But when getting gas in other states, I wedge the gas cap into the pump handle to keep the gas flowing. This works really well and lets me clean the windshield or sit back in the car while waiting for the tank to fill, or at least just minimize touching the filthy gas pump handle.
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/88 "2012-08-08T19:40:08Z")
When I read the word “misled” I thought it was the past tense of “misle” (pronounced like myzzle) and could never figure out what it meant.
Once I bought a silk chemise for a girlfriend. She said, “Oh, it’s a shimmy!” “What?” “My grandmother had some of these, she said they were her shimmies.”
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/89 "2012-08-08T19:58:13Z")
On parallel parking on the opposite side as traffic flow:
> [@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.
You would think so, wouldn’t you? But there was a [whole thread on this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=637199) not too long ago, starting with facts but then leading to, “How can there be anything wrong with this?”
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### Author:  [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/90 "2012-08-08T20:00:35Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#):
>
> I think all new cars have this, but they certainly didn’t 47 years ago.
Good point. Or even 31 years ago, when I started driving.
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### Author:  [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/91 "2012-08-08T20:43:40Z")
Something I learned on a thread just like this on this board recently that made me smack my head:
The reason the hook you wind a vacuum cleaner chord around turns 180 degrees is so you can unspool it with just the flick of a wrist…I never ever realized that until someone here pointed it out.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/92 "2012-08-08T21:16:06Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> And what I learned is that it’s impossible to make no decision. “Not deciding” is, in fact, deciding.
Yeah, and Geddy Lee already told us all about that decades ago. We should have known.
(_If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice_)
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### Author:  [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/93 "2012-08-08T22:02:09Z")
It wasn’t all that long ago that I made the realization that coriander = cilantro and chick peas = garbanzo beans.
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### Author:  [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/94 "2012-08-08T22:16:36Z")
> [@Yarster](#):
>
> It wasn’t all that long ago that I made the realization that coriander = cilantro and chick peas = garbanzo beans.
Coriander is cilantro?! That changes everything!
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### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/95 "2012-08-08T22:21:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> “Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey” always seemed a bit too cutesy for me. My dad taught me the somewhat pithier mnemonic “Clock: Lock”.
I’ve always disliked it, too, for using “left” and “right” for something that’s twisting in a circle: for every part that moves “righty”, there’s a part moving an equal amount “lefty.”
It’s almost as bad as that moronic poem about the months, whose cadence and rhyme works with pretty much any combination: “Thirty days hath December, May, July, and November.” The only way to remember it is to already know the answer you need.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/96 "2012-08-08T22:24:41Z")
I’ve had my car for seven years - I discovered yesterday that it has a handle on the side of the seat to make it go up and down. I’m sure I must have known that at some point, but it was like learning it for the first time yesterday.
Also, it was only a few years ago that I realized that the sports brand name is “Title-ist,” not “Tit-leist.” 😃
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### Author:  [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/97 "2012-08-08T22:30:04Z")
> [@Why\_Child](#):
>
> Batteries (small appliances, not vehicular) - The flat end goes on the spring.
> “+ side,” “- side,” who cares?! The flat end goes on the spring. Always.
:smack:
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### Author:  [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/98 "2012-08-08T22:36:46Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#):
>
> I’ve always disliked it, too, for using “left” and “right” for something that’s twisting in a circle: for every part that moves “righty”, there’s a part moving an equal amount “lefty.”
I was amazed when I realized that screws follow the [Right Hand Rule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule#Direction_associated_with_a_rotation). The steps:
[ol][li]Make a “thumbs up” with your right hand.[/li][li]Point your thumb in the direction you want the screw to go.[/li][li]The direction your fingers curl (from knuckles to fingertips) is the direction you need to turn the screw.[/li][/ol]
> [@Yarster](#):
>
> It wasn’t all that long ago that I made the realization that coriander = cilantro and chick peas = garbanzo beans.
In cooking AFAICT, Coriander = seeds, cilantro = leaves.
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### Author:  [@benbo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benbo1)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/99 "2012-08-08T22:42:52Z")
> [@Dr.Love](#):
>
> I was amazed when I realized that screws follow the [Right Hand Rule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-hand_rule#Direction_associated_with_a_rotation). The steps:
> [ol][li]Make a “thumbs up” with your right hand.[/li][li]Point your thumb in the direction you want the screw to go.[/li][li]The direction your fingers curl (from knuckles to fingertips) is the direction you need to turn the screw.[/li][/ol]
Same rule applies to current flow in coiled wire - if it’s wrapped clockwise, current goes away - counterclockwise, current coming toward you.
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### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-took-you-too-long-to-realize/630506/100 "2012-08-08T22:48:58Z")
> [@divemaster](#):
>
> “Fido” derives from the Latin _fidelis_. Meaning “faithful.”
>
> Semper Fi
> fidelity
> Fido
>
> etc.
And from the Latin\* Felis silvestris catus\*, we get both Felix and Sylvester.
I only recently realized that the four grandiose notes that accompany the Warner Brothers logo displayed at the end of some TV shows are the notes for _As Time Goes By_, from the Warner Brothers movie _Casablanca_.
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