# Things everyone knew but you **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785 "2006-11-01T21:32:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/121 "2006-11-04T10:17:04Z")
[QUOTE=Jake] There’s a town in MA called Worchester, but pronounced “Wister” or some such. Didn’t know this until a year ago. Better yet, Google this town and they give you no idea how to pronounce the name of their town! Looking for tourists, perhaps? 🙂 [/QUOTE] Given the bizarre pronunciations of many place names in the US, I don’t see why anyone not from MA should know this. I sure didn’t, until I moved here. Of course I had pretty much never heard of the city until I moved here. Tourists don’t go to Worcester MA BTW, unless they are really REALLY lost. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/122 "2006-11-04T12:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=pimaspinner] \[For the masses yet to be educated about pineapple birth.](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=pineapple+plant&btnG=Search+Images)\ [/QUOTE] :eek: Those things are just scary looking. I think I will confine my pineapple/betenoir iinteraction to the tame kind that comes in little cans. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/123 "2006-11-04T12:16:16Z")
[QUOTE=Absolute] Oh my god. No, that can’t be. I must be misinterpreting your post. No way. - checks dictionary \* DAMNIT! Well, I’ve got **Tengu** beat - I’m now in my _third_ year of college. Although I’ve been going around pronouncing it ‘seeg’. Stupid Europeans…let’s not even talk about hors d’oeuvres, okay? Whore’s doovers. [/QUOTE] Tsk. Flippin’ uneducated Merrycans. They are Horses’ Doofers. From horses. Nothing to do with ladies of negotiable affection. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/124 "2006-11-04T12:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=AudreyK] IIRC, coconuts with their husk are about the same size as pineapples sans crowns, both roughly the size of (American) footballs. Husked ones are grapefruit-size. [/QUOTE] Yes but could an African sparrow carry one? Anyway I’m sure there’s much more recent ingorance I should fess up to, but for the time being I’ll go with: It wasn’t till the 7th grade that I figured out it was “Point of view”. I wrote “Point of you” in an book report. Although I’d like to point out I think my version still makes a certain amount of sense. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/125 "2006-11-04T21:45:46Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Wait, isn’t it “toe the line”, like what old school boxers had to do (think Far and Away)??? [/QUOTE] You’re essentially correct – the variant specific to prizefighting is _toe the scratch_, while those _toeing the line_ might be engaged in any one of several activities. [From _World Wide Words_:](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-toe2.htm) > [@](#): > > _Toe the line_ is actually the survivor of a set of phrases that were common in the nineteenth century; others were _toe the mark_, _toe the scratch_, _toe the crack_, or _toe the trig_. In every case, the image was that of men lining up with the tips of their toes touching some line. They might be on parade, or preparing to undertake some task, or in readiness for a race or fight. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/126 "2006-11-05T17:22:10Z")
[QUOTE=betenoir] Yes but could an African sparrow carry one? [/QUOTE] African _swallow_, dear. ---
**Author:** ![scott62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@scott62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott62)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/127 "2006-11-05T20:49:03Z")
[QUOTE=HPL] I thought pineapples came from pineapple trees as well. A few months ago, I was asked why I wear my watch on my dominant hand. I replied I was never told otherwise, and at that point I start noticing that most of the people around me wear their watches on their non-dominant hands. [/QUOTE] Most people do this because when watches needed winding it was easier to wind (without removing the watch) with the stronger of their two hands ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/128 "2006-11-05T21:09:10Z")
[QUOTE=scott62] Most people do this because when watches needed winding it was easier to wind (without removing the watch) with the stronger of their two hands [/QUOTE] That, and if you wear it on the arm you use most, it gets dinged and scuffed up pretty quick. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/129 "2006-11-05T21:33:29Z")
I just today found out that Sigmund Freud’s middle name was Schlomo! ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/130 "2006-11-05T22:21:14Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] I just today found out that Sigmund Freud’s middle name was Schlomo! [/QUOTE] I did not know this. This is how I’m going to refer to him in my paper now. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/131 "2006-11-05T22:24:23Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Up until last year I didn’t realize that the name of the band _Lipps, Inc._ was a pun. (Yeah, I expect to get a few :smack: s with that post.) [/QUOTE] :smack: You learn something new every day. I always read it as “Lipps, Incorporated,” too. I’m just too literal for my own good sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/132 "2006-11-06T01:11:10Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that you could run more than one software program at a time under MS Windows. I used to close each program before starting up a new one. [/QUOTE] My mother is still convinced (no matter how many times I tell her otherwise) that she has to completely turn the computer off before she’s disconnected to the internet. Also, she seems to think now that she needs to be connected to the Internet to use any other programs (like MS Word). [QUOTE=Black Train Song] It took my wife to point out to me (in a rental car) that the little picture of the gas pump in the instrument panel also has an arrow next to it indicating which side of the car the gas fill thingy is on. Who knew? …everyone but me. [/QUOTE] I noticed that not too long ago, except that there’s not always an arrow. However, in my 2002 Malibu the dashboard indicator is on the same side as the fill-door, but I noticed in a rental Himself & I got not too long ago that it was the same (albeit the opposite side) - but neither had/have the arrow. My personal one (which I might have mentioned in the last thread, I don’t remember right now) is that while I’ve been a big fan of cop/lawyer shows & books for years, I never realized that an “indictment” (pronounced/read “in-dict-ment”, phonetically) was the same thing as the word pronounced “in-dite-ment”. Whodathunkit? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785/133 "2006-11-06T01:45:48Z")
I checked my car the other day, my 2006 almost-brand-new car, mind you, and yes—there was an arrow by the gas gauge pointing right. Where the fuel goes in. Never would have noticed it otherwise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-everyone-knew-but-you/378785.md?page=6)