# Totally wrong stuff you believed to an embarrassingly advanced age **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477 "2007-06-18T16:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/21 "2007-06-18T18:14:11Z")
Count me in on the pineapple dumbwagon. Huh. I thought ‘gigolo’ was pronounced ‘GIG-O-LO’ until the Deuce Bigalow movies. I haven’t seen them, but I heard the radio ad and said to myself, “What the hell’s a jigolo?” Doh. Well, in my defense, that’s how it’s _spelled_… ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/22 "2007-06-18T18:15:38Z")
I used to think that \*\*all \*\* old people were wise, you know, due to them having stored up years and years of knowledge. Ronnie Reagan finally cleared that one up for me. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/23 "2007-06-18T18:30:35Z")
[QUOTE=Spiff] I used to think that \*\*all \*\* old people were wise, you know, due to them having stored up years and years of knowledge. Ronnie Reagan finally cleared that one up for me. [/QUOTE] This reminds of what my boss told some corporate people. They had been in full charge of a missile development and test program for over 20 years (let’s just say twenty five for instance). Then the Navy decided to get a second source which put their noses really out of joint. In a meeting one of them huffed, “After all we’ve got twenty five years of experience.” My boss then remarked, “You mean you’ve got one year’s experience repeated twenty five times.” ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/24 "2007-06-18T19:08:01Z")
[QUOTE=cmyk] Thankfully, I knew that all my life, and never realized it was a common misconception. Here’s another preemtive one: The North Star (Polaris) is not (by a long shot) the brightest star in the night sky. That distinction belongs to Sirius. [/QUOTE] Huh, go figure. I always thought it was Rigel (and am now embarrassed to call myself a Physics/Astronomy major). Rigel is #7☹ ---
**Author:** ![StinkyBurrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@StinkyBurrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkyBurrito)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/25 "2007-06-18T19:19:31Z")
I thought the Washington Redskins were from Washington state until I was about 25. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/26 "2007-06-18T19:22:27Z")
[QUOTE=StinkyBurrito] I thought the Washington Redskins were from Washington state until I was about 25. [/QUOTE] I did too until right this very second. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/27 "2007-06-18T19:24:43Z")
I’m kind of on the opposite end of this sort of thing right now. Moved by a bad impulse, I began using the salutation \ et al., in my emails to one of the other departments I have to deal with here at work. One of those people has picked up on that, but he says \ et all, And I don’t know how to break it to him that he’s doing it wrong. It’s been at least a year now that he’s been doing this, and he’s working on an MBA too. I feel bad. I should have nipped that one in the bud. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/28 "2007-06-18T19:29:38Z")
[QUOTE=StinkyBurrito] I thought the Washington Redskins were from Washington state until I was about 25. [/QUOTE] Of course, given some of the place names up there, I don’t think they could be any more confusing if they tried. You’ve got Vancouver Island, Vancouver BC, and Vancouver WA–all different. And the main city on Vancouver Island isn’t Vancouver, as you’d expect, but Victoria. Then, just to be mean, somebody even decided to name a city in Washington State “Mount Vernon”! ---
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/29 "2007-06-18T19:34:52Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Then, just to be mean, somebody even decided to name a city in Washington State “Mount Vernon”! [/QUOTE] You think that’s bad? We’ve got Mount Lake Terrace, too. Is it a mountain? A lake? Someone’s porch? I don’t know! I just know the post office was as confused as I was by it back when I had to send car payments to a business operating from there. Fully a third of the payments came back to me. The lady at their end was very understanding. “Happens all the time, hon,” she said. Well, yeah, I imagine it did. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/30 "2007-06-18T19:39:58Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Pineapples do not grow on trees. [/QUOTE] Behold, [pineapples on the hoof](http://www.portaloha.com/SecretsOfHawaii/images/PineappleField.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/31 "2007-06-18T19:42:46Z")
Despite being born and raised a Catholic, despite attending a Catholic school for nine years, four years in a Catholic college: I still confused the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth, until very recently. Yes, many people do, but dammit, considering my upbringing… :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/32 "2007-06-18T19:54:19Z")
This one is very dumb. A few years ago I was thinking about our local football team, the Buffalo Bills. My thought process went like this: “The Bills? That’s a weird name for a team. What the heck is a “Bill” anyway? Why would they have named the team…_oh_” :smack: I didn’t know the pineapple thing until it was brought up awhile back either. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/33 "2007-06-18T19:58:45Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Behold, [pineapples on the hoof](http://www.portaloha.com/SecretsOfHawaii/images/PineappleField.jpg). [/QUOTE] You’re kidding me. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/34 "2007-06-18T20:14:50Z")
I’ve only lately managed to completely internalize the knowledge that Holland is directly adjacent to Germany. I always thought it was across the water in Scandanavia somewhere. The sad part is, I was still making this mistake up to a year after I’d actually been to Holland. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/35 "2007-06-18T20:16:37Z")
My boyfriend knows a woman who was a full grown adult when she found out that seahorses are real. She thought they were mythical, like unicorns and mermaids. I think that’s kind of wonderful - it’s like going to the zoo and seeing a dragon! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/36 "2007-06-18T20:32:07Z")
A previous incarnation of this thread taught me that “elbow grease” is an idiom meaning “work.” I thought it was a type of grease. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/37 "2007-06-18T20:33:08Z")
A lot of stuff in this thread. ☹ The pineapples one I learned from the previous thread, but it still freaks me out. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/38 "2007-06-18T20:41:43Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Then, just to be mean, somebody even decided to name a city in Washington State “Mount Vernon”! [/QUOTE] And another one named “George”. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/39 "2007-06-18T20:57:55Z")
_sob_ I tried to bring up **lno** ’s classic Jerry Lewis/Jerry Lee Lewis post as one that exemplifies what the OP is looking for. Alas it seems to be gone. _sob_ ---
**Author:** ![Barrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Barrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrington)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477/40 "2007-06-18T21:12:23Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Despite being born and raised a Catholic, despite attending a Catholic school for nine years, four years in a Catholic college: I still confused the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth, until very recently. Yes, many people do, but dammit, considering my upbringing… :mad: [/QUOTE] Don’t beat yourself up about it. I talked about this with my ex-wife recently - she has a similar background to yours, and is still a regularly church-goer and all that; I’m not a Catholic. Not only did she not know the difference, she wouldn’t believe me. :smack: Own confession: I was about 15 when I first discovered that I’d got the mechanics or sexual intercourse all wrong - women have this extra hole called the ‘vagina’. And it’s not at all the same thing as an anus. Luckily, I found this out long before I put my confused ideas about human reproductive organs into practice, but it was very embarrassing nonetheless. Blame woolly teaching. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/totally-wrong-stuff-you-believed-to-an-embarrassingly-advanced-age/408477.md?page=3)