Patricia Grisafi
We’re always learning and growing right? So sometimes that means you figure out that something you thought you knew as a kid perhaps a little too late in life — and you’re embarrassed. Don’t be! It’s only embarrassing if you cling to a belief that is obviously incorrect — like the fact that ponies are NOT tiny horses and also that narwhals are real and do exist in the world. On Reddit, people are sharing the things they learned at a late age, and you know what? We’ve all been there.
1. Puffer Fish
“That puffer fish don’t use air to inflate.” — skewed-perceptions
2. Flying South
“I learned, when I was 46 years old, that my pet ducks we had as children, did not in fact fly south for the winter. Every winter. My entire family laughed at me when my mom let that little fact slip, after she had a few too many glasses of wine.” — RusselTheWonderCat
3. Itchy Bananas
“I thought everyone’s mouth got itchy when eating bananas. Almost 40 years old and find out I’m somewhat allergic to them.” — tbr6742
4. Riding A Bike
“I learned how to ride a bike at the ripe age of 24.” — newhvac
5. Roadrunners
“That roadrunners are not the size of an emu.” — PURKITTY
6. Drafts
“The the longest time I always heard of sports teams “Drafting” people. And I am tall, so as a kid I was constantly afraid I’d get drafted for the state basketball team just out of the blue, I thought it worked like a military draft. I learned this wasn’t the case when I was like 10-12.” — Asone2004
7. Needing Glasses
“That I needed glasses. At age 21 my friends were hassling me about being dyslexic because I kept getting words mixed up (second year at Uni). Until then, I had just been reading by looking at the shape of words and guessing the words based on the context and wider story. I had been reading this way for years and survived Uni before finding out my prescription was +1.50. The optometrist said it was amazing I hadn’t noticed. When I put the glasses on, everything was in 4K Ultra. I can now see individual letters.” — CasualPhilosopher25
8. X-Rays
“That those funny X-rays of odd objects inside of someone is not as a result of someone swallowing it whole.” — raspberrypigeon
9. Disney
“I thought the D is Disney was just some random symbol, kinda like a backwards G. It took me until like 7th grade to realize it and even as an adult I still can’t unsee the backwards G.” — Death-By-Lasagna·16 hr. ago
10. Abuela And Abuelo
“That Abuela and Abuelo were not my Cuban grandparents actual names.” — MarzipanJoy-Joy
11. Ponies
“Ponies are NOT baby horses.” — phrygN
12. Bra Color
“That if you wear a white bra, you can see it through a white shirt, but if you wear a nude colored bra, you can’t. I was 40 when a coworker shared this with me.” — midwesternvalues73
13. “Good Friends”
“That our next door neighbors were lesbians and not just ‘good friends’. Lovely people. Didn’t figure it out until I was in college.” — secretbaldspot
14. Cocaine
“So. Many. People. Do. Cocaine.” — LaborRelationsGuru
15. Narwhals
“That narwhals are real. I thought they were cute mythological creatures, until I saw a brooch a friend had and asked if it was part of the companies mythological line. She asked me if I thought narwhals were myths, like unicorns. I laughed and said of course they are. I was 35.” — katikaboom
16. Puffins
“That puffins are in fact NOT extinct. I had a 3rd grade teacher misinform me. I found the truth as a teenager in an embarrassing group setting where I was quite confidently wrong.” — shofawnda
17. Intents And Purposes
“It’s ‘for all intents and purposes’ not ‘for all intensive purposes.'” —charlessturgeon
Featured Image: Pexels
