We had a thread about this a long time ago, if someone wants to dig up a link.
I didn’t get the Time flies like an arrow/fruit flies like a banana play on words until it was brought up in a thread recently. I also saw the commercial for the first “The Santa Clause” movie several times before catching the Claus/Clause honynym. A recent thread also taught me that pineapples don’t grow on trees.
What are some of the things that you were the last one to figure out?
I’m deeply ashamed to admit that I thought ponies were “adolescent” horses, i.e. not fully grown yet. I’m certain that this was taught to me as a child so I suspect that a number of members of my family believe this. Someone mentioned this recently in a thread about “stupid things you’ve overheard” and I had to look it up. (For the record I was aware that Shetland Ponies were a breed of small horse, but thought they were named ponies because they resembled immature horses.) Feel free to heap your ridicule upon me.
They don’t? Well … looks like you were second to last. :smack:
I’ve used Windows and other MS software for years, but I only recently learned that you could select a block of text in one document, then select another block of text in a second document, then go back to the first document and enter control-v or use the paste button, and it would replace the first block of text with the second.
I guess I just didn’t need to know it badly enough.
The thing with calico cats only being female. If I hadn’t read that in the dope, along with the lesson in genetics, I would have thought someone was either an idiot, or pulling my leg if they had made such a claim.
When I was in my mid twentys that my wonderful girlfriend at the time was banging anything that moved . She wasn’t picky about thier gender either 
Just a few years ago (age 19) I learned that the pimentos in olives were actually peppers stuffed in there, as opposed to naturally occuring. I knew that olives had pits, I just didnt make the connection for some reason.
That’s preposterous. Next thing you know you’re going to be telling me money doesn’t grow on trees either.
I never knew that “spic” was a racial epithet. I only learned this a couple of years ago when Hubby’s workplace was doing a racial sensitivity seminar. We were talking about it and he said that day’s lesson had been about casual use of racial slurs and mentioned some of the examples the instructor had used.
“‘Spic’?” I repeated. “Wait a minute. I don’t think that means what I thought it meant. I always thought it meant someone who was compulsively clean-- like a germaphobe. You know, as in ‘Spic & Span’?”
He still laughs about that one.
I’m still getting shit about that at work. I should have left well enough alone but I had to go and ask around to find out if I was the only one who didn’t know that. I was utterly crushed to find out that I was alone in that department.
I just learned last week that ‘souvenir’ isn’t spelled ‘souvenier.’ This really bums me out because it only reminds me of the fact that until last year, I thought ‘carburetor’ was spelled ‘carberator.’ sigh I used to be pretty proud of my spelling ability.
On the other hand, I’ve known that pineapples don’t grow on trees for a long time. They’re in the bromeliad family. (I checked to make sure I spelled bromeliad correctly, by the way. :dubious: )
Until I saw it print, I used to say “part of the course” instead of “**par for **the course”, though no one ever corrected me. I’m hoping they didn’t notice.
If we are talking about the general population here, I don’t think it’s even close to fair to say “everyone” knew how to spell ‘souvenir’ and ‘carburetor’ but you. I don’t think “everyone” knows how to spell ‘cat’ and ‘rock’ yet.
I didn’t know that about pineapples, either. I mean, they just seem like they grow on trees. I’ll try the So.
Money and pineapples are bromeliads.
So is Spanish Moss, so there is obviously something that hasn’t been completely thought out here.
Hold a pineapple in your right hand, a wad of Spanish moss in the other. Ask your average Joe or Jane, “These are related how?” and he’s gonna say, “Ah, they’re both plants? I think?”
I just recently learned “for all intensive purposes” should be “for all intents and purposes”. It just seems to make more sense my way. In my defense the first two Google hits for “for all intents and purposes” are about the error so it seems I’m not alone.
Pineapples grew on trees for me until this thread, right here.
<mini-hijack>For the masses yet to be educated about pineapple birth.</mini-hijack>
Until two years ago, I thought the ‘No Child Left Behind’ act had to do with school bus drivers checking their vehicles for sleeping kids at the end of the route.
I swear, I really thought this.
I did not know, until I found out about it on this board a few years ago, that the phrase “elbow grease” referred to work. I thought it was a kind of grease.