# Things you didn't know but everyone else did **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673 "2003-02-12T21:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/41 "2003-02-13T18:22:19Z")
About 15 years ago I was playing pictionary and I was supposed to draw “spatula”. I looked at the word and could not for the life of me figure out what a Spa-two-la was. I finally gave up and told them I had no idea what I was supposed to draw. Laughter ensued after they informed me that it was a spatch-u-la. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/42 "2003-02-13T18:24:23Z")
Until two years ago I didn’t know that Jerry Lewis and Jerry Lee Lewis were separate people. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/43 "2003-02-13T18:31:00Z")
Greywolf said, "In the ER one night while I was pregnant with my son, I had to have blood drawn. Afterwards, my arm began to bleed around the edge of the bandaid. My husband very helpfully asked me if I needed a “gau” to clean it up. A gau? I had no idea what he was talking about until he handed me a piece of gauze. Yes, my husband thought gau was the singular form of gauze. " That’s hilarious! My sister thought a single article of clothing was a “clo” and two articles was “clothes”. She’d always ask my mom if she could get a new clo when they went shopping. ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/44 "2003-02-13T18:42:50Z")
**B.Pants** mine is a lot like yours. When I was younger, anytime I said “Hey dad, you know what?!?” he’d reply “No, but I know Who.” I thought that was the stupidest thing to say. I always thought he was implying that he didn’t know what I was going to tell him but he knew WHO I was talking about. :smack: When I was about 22, I turned to my boyfriend and said “Hey! You know what?” and it HIT me!!! haha I started laughing and laughing and laughing. Not because the joke is all that funny, but because over my 22 years on earth I’d never once "got’ my dad’s joke. haha My boyfriend (husband now) also thought it was hilarious. It was one of those moments where I was trying to tell him why I was laughing so hard, and it took me about half an hour to get it out. What a ditz. haha ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/45 "2003-02-13T19:00:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalhoun \* > \*\*Greywolf said, "In the ER one night while I was pregnant with my son, I had to have blood drawn. Afterwards, my arm began to bleed around the edge of the bandaid. > My husband very helpfully asked me if I needed a “gau” to clean it up. > > A gau? I had no idea what he was talking about until he handed me a piece of gauze. Yes, my husband thought gau was the singular form of gauze. " > > That’s hilarious! My sister thought a single article of clothing was a “clo” and two articles was “clothes”. She’d always ask my mom if she could get a new clo when they went shopping. \*\* Actually, that’s a type of word formation. “Pea” (from “Pease”) and “Cherry” (from “cherise”) were formed exactly the same way. Maybe your father was just ahead of the curve. For awhile, I thought the “exit only” signs on highways meant that if you took the exit accidentally, you could not get back on the road you were leaving. Eventually, I realized it meant the lane was for exiting only. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/46 "2003-02-13T19:23:53Z")
My father related a funny little story from his college days. When he was getting registered for his classes everyone kept telling him to go see Dean Smith, then Dean Jones, then Dean Brown, etc. (names made up) My dad thought to himself, “wow, there sure are a lot of people named Dean around here.” He had no idea that a _dean_ was a title! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/47 "2003-02-13T20:11:21Z")
As a naive young boy during the mid to late 1960s (A.D.), I had a friend who’s older sister was pregnant. I asked, “How can she be pregnant? She’s not even married!” I was being taught the birds and bees quite well, thank you very much, I just hadn’t ever made the connection that non married people could have sex. :dubious: Oh, to be six again. Well, actually… I’m glad I got over that hurdle fairly early in life. ---
**Author:** ![Mith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mith)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/48 "2003-02-13T20:52:56Z")
I was 14 when I finally found out that “hunormous” was NOT A WORD. I guess when I was young, I blended enormous and huge together and nobody had the heart to tell me it wasnt legit until I hit highschool. I’m 25 and I’m still not sure… do birds have sex? ---
**Author:** ![Sparklo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Sparklo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparklo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/49 "2003-02-13T21:10:42Z")
I used to think there was a band named Haulin’ Oats. Now I know [better](http://www.hallandoates.com). ---
**Author:** ![smalltowngirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@smalltowngirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smalltowngirl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/50 "2003-02-13T21:27:53Z")
When I was about 9, the four members of my family were going home in my mom’s convertible MGB. (Yes 4 - mom driving, dad in the passenger seat holding my 4-yr old brother, and me riding the hump with my legs wedged behind the two seats). Mom was trying to “beat the rain home”, and hit a corner at about 35-miles an hour. Needless to say, we slid head-on into the nearest telephone pole. If I HADN’T had my feet wedged behind the two seats, I would have flown out over the windshield and slammed head-first into the telephone pole. As it was, I scraped the hell out of my shins and broke the rear-view mirror with my forehead. Dad squished baby brother into the dash, busted bro’s lip and had a bruise on his forehead - Mom had no booboo’s at all. I remember being upset that night because mom and dad wouldn’t let me go to sleep - they were worried I had a concussion and I just was tired, so why couldn’t they leave me alone? The next day at school, and for YEARS afterwards, when someone asked me what caused the wreck, I told them what dad told me that night, that “a nut behind the steering wheel” caused it. At 9, when he told me that, what I heard was that an actual nut, inside the steering column, had locked up, preventing mom from turning the car the right way on the road. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I caught the look on my mother-in-law’s face and realized what exactly I had said. Poor mom, I never understood why she left the room when I told that story. BTW, her and Dad divorced within a year of that incident… STG ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/51 "2003-02-13T21:30:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > \*\*I had a lot of those – I was a voracious reader, but didn’t get a chance to use these words in conversation. > > So I was humiliated over _epitome_, which I had been loftily pronouncing eh-PI-tome, and _ennui_, which I was offering as en-YOU-eye. > > Both of those were high-school moments I’d rather forget. > > - Rick \*\* You mean they _aren’t_??? Wait… I think I know epitome… (e-pi-toe-me, right?) Buut what’s ennui supposed to be then? ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/52 "2003-02-13T21:49:05Z")
On-we, dood. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/53 "2003-02-13T22:01:20Z")
It was ages before I realised that “fascimile machine” was not a fancy word for photocopier. I just sort of assumed you said “fascimile machine” when you were trying to sound snooty, like you’d say “manufactured housing community” instead of “trailer park.” It wasn’t until they became more common and I actually SAW one in action that I realised it wasn’t the same at all. (Though at the time you could in a pinch make a really craptacular copy on the fax if you had to.) My embarassing mis-pronounciation was “hirsute.” For some reason I’d always read it as “hirsuite” and pronounced it “her-sweet.” It’s pretty common, actually, I think. One day in our high school physics class the teacher had been going on for quite some time about something and finally someone asked him “Are you talking about the Himalayas?” He’d been pronouncing it “him-ALL-yas” the whole time. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/54 "2003-02-13T22:07:55Z")
I have no idea what “TMI” stands for in Doper-speak. I gather it indicates “adult content,” but I can’t for the life of me figure out what the actual words are… ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/55 "2003-02-13T22:19:27Z")
TMI = “Too Much Information”. In other words, “this is probably more than you really wanted to know, but…” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/56 "2003-02-13T22:19:27Z")
TMI=Too Much Information Can be used in everyday conversation as in: “Man I have this scap on my ass that just keeps…” “Whoa, dude! TMI!” ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/57 "2003-02-13T22:27:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Carnage \* > \*\*TMI=Too Much Information > > Can be used in everyday conversation as in: > > “Man I have this scap on my ass that just keeps…” > “Whoa, dude! TMI!” \*\* Thanks, man. ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/58 "2003-02-13T23:28:44Z")
What a great thread. I have to tell on my wife too, I know she’ll forgive me. She grew up in a european home with parents having thick english accents. A wonder that no one ever called her on it but, it was after we were married, she was talking about driving on the hive-way, her way of subconciously combining ‘hi-vay’ and highway. I was incredulous and I still raz her about it. As for myself, I remember the moment when I heard somebody say the word, ‘macabre’ as I was reading it. I had never put the two together but imagined it spelled something like, ‘macob’. And I remember thinking, 'why don’t I ever hear anyone use this strange word, which I thought should be spelled, ‘McAber’. ---
**Author:** ![Copper\_moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@Copper\_moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Copper_moon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/59 "2003-02-13T23:29:33Z")
I’m with you on the pronouncing read words differently. I remember my aunt laughing her butt off when I told her I was trying to be non-CHAL-ant about something. I had heard the correct french pronunciation but had never connected it to the written word. Some more that stumped me are; receipt, recipe, respite, misled, the Thames (rhymes with James) and the name Hermione. I also read a book when I was little about a black horse named Satan. My little naive (another of THOSE words) mind never thought about the devil’s moniker but instead mentally pronounced it Saton - rhymes with baton. I felt like a real dunce when I figured it out near the end of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673/60 "2003-02-13T23:52:41Z")
I recently learned that the blue reflectors on the road indicate that there’s a fire extinguisher on the sidewalk at that spot. Not sure if everyone else knew that or not. (BTW, there was a recent [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160688) that dealt exclusively with words you mispronounce while reading them). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-didnt-know-but-everyone-else-did/154673.md?page=4)