Things you were shockingly old when you learned

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Same with Sandy Shaw.
OK I was 32 when I found out this was a pun.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 10:54 (fifteen years ago) link

i don't know how to explain it but i used to think chickens had a really weird way of "mating", something to do with the rooster's legs. (!!?!?) :)

Ludo, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 10:55 (fifteen years ago) link

I thought penguins were as tall as humans until that march of the penguins movie

I CRIED (G00blar), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 10:56 (fifteen years ago) link

"that SHIFT + 6 = ^. I think I figured it out a month or so ago. I always wondered how people got that character."

^^^Dude, you beat me by a month. Thanks!

I once spent a half hour trying to eject a cd from a Mac before someone finally told me there's an eject button on the keyboard. I was going through all these crazy menus and preferences...

Nate Carson, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:10 (fifteen years ago) link

I think I was like 16 or 17 when I learned that cows and bulls were the male and female versions of the same animal and not two distinct animals.

What sort of seemingly basic facts did it take you a surprisingly long time for you to learn?

― filthy dylan, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 5:30 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink


I did not know that oxen were cattle until about a week ago.

With a little bit of gold and a Peja (bernard snowy), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:23 (fifteen years ago) link

I thought penguins were as tall as humans until that march of the penguins movie

loooool one of my friends thought this and it was since passed into running joke territory.

I think I've done that Mac eject button thing too :(

Pronounced lapels like 'labels' for years until corrected but happily don't dress well enough to use it often

The Slash My Father Wrote (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:34 (fifteen years ago) link

My girlfriend was shocked to learn, at the age of 33, that a 'Flea Circus' is actually a rather charming mechanical toy, and is in no way operated by any parasitic insects.

Huey in Bristol (Huey in Melbourne), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:56 (fifteen years ago) link

Ismael, at the age of 32, is shocked to learn the same thing. This thread is getting embarrassing

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:57 (fifteen years ago) link

WAT! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea_circus

Øystein, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:59 (fifteen years ago) link

I thought penguins were as tall as humans until that march of the penguins movie

one of my friends thought this and it was since passed into running joke territory

no but seriously, what is this about?

negotiable, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:01 (fifteen years ago) link

i mean i can see that there's rarely anything to size them against in the big white antarctic, but why would anyone then automatically think okay here's a bird i could play tag with

negotiable, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:03 (fifteen years ago) link

u could still play tag w/it tho

SNAKES! (ice crӕm), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:04 (fifteen years ago) link

But you could make the same assumption with ostriches in the big yellow desert (or wherever they live), and in that case you'd be right!

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:07 (fifteen years ago) link

I'm still in touch with several grown adults who genuinely believe there's 'something' to supernatural claims about ouija boards, despite its fairly obvious origins in parlour games / illusions which utilised the (admittedly fucking spooky) ideomotor effect.

Huey in Bristol (Huey in Melbourne), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:08 (fifteen years ago) link

aw no-one said 'where babies come from'

Cittaslow Mazza (blueski), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:14 (fifteen years ago) link

I've had a lot of experiences in my adult life with mispronouncing words I understood as part of written text, but hadn't heard aurally in the context of conversation etc. For example, I was well into my twenties before I knew the word "vehement" wasn't pronounced veh-hee-ment. I wish others would politely correct you when you do that instead of letting you blindly sound like an idiot.

Sugar hiccup, Makes a pig soar and swoon (Pillbox), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:16 (fifteen years ago) link

I'm a bit like that, but now I'm in the habit of saying works incorrectly, I can't get out of it. Canal is not pronounced can-el, but there's fuck all I can do about it now.

NotEnough, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:39 (fifteen years ago) link

^ This happens to me all the time too - so much so that I actually now find it quite amusing when I realise, midway through a sentence, that a word I've never heard before is looming at the end. I suppose that people who talk a lot, rather than reading, must find the same with spelling. It only annoys me when some moron uses it as an opportunity to score cheap points (sadly fairly often)

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:40 (fifteen years ago) link

I was going to start a thread like this, but it was going to be more about 'life lessons' that took you forever to learn, rather than trivia.

Anyway it's taken me this long to fully realize how unreliable first impressions can be when it comes to people.

invisible jet (wanko ergo sum), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:42 (fifteen years ago) link

but why would anyone then automatically think okay here's a bird i could play tag with

haha

Ant Attack.. (Ste), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 13:57 (fifteen years ago) link

TAL have an episode on this in the "best of" section on their wesite. people who thought unicorns were real, etc., lots of awkward silences at cocktail parties: good stuff.

rent, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:00 (fifteen years ago) link

i like to tag birds. (runs)

Sugar hiccup, Makes a pig soar and swoon (Pillbox), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:01 (fifteen years ago) link

There's a penguin here and he wants to say "you didn't touch me ner ner ner"

Mark G, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:12 (fifteen years ago) link

I thought penguins went "weh weh weh"

╓abies, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:14 (fifteen years ago) link

I'm still in touch with several grown adults who genuinely believe there's 'something' to supernatural claims about ouija boards, despite its fairly obvious origins in parlour games / illusions which utilised the (admittedly fucking spooky) ideomotor effect.

― Huey in Bristol (Huey in Melbourne), Wednesday, November 12, 2008 7:08 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you couldnt get me in the same room as a ouija board

a country packed with ponies (sunny successor), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:42 (fifteen years ago) link

I was about 35 when I figured out Open Sesame = Open Says Me.

Rotgutt, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:44 (fifteen years ago) link

i used to think HAZCHEM was a foreign word for danger like Achtung

Cittaslow Mazza (blueski), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 14:45 (fifteen years ago) link

I just figured out, like 2 days ago, that the lyrics are "highway to the danger zone"

(until then, thought they were "I went to to the danger zone")

homosexual II, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:03 (fifteen years ago) link

ooh i like that

Ant Attack.. (Ste), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:07 (fifteen years ago) link

lol mandee those are even better

Uncle Shavedlongcock (max), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:22 (fifteen years ago) link

Nothing, as I'm not shockingly old.

Eric H., Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:23 (fifteen years ago) link

Misheard lyrics are always better. The singer of my old band had this (intentionally) corny line that went "sleep all day til the telephone ring / head to the bar and shake that thing", the latter half of which I always thought was "head to the barber and shave that thing".

monkey bonkers (╓abies), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:28 (fifteen years ago) link

My friend always thought that Op Ivy song Take Warning went "skate boarding", which is way better.

monkey bonkers (╓abies), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:30 (fifteen years ago) link

Same with Sandy Shaw.

Ok I sounded this out several times in several different ways and I still don't get how this is a pun. Help?

Kevin John Bozelka, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:40 (fifteen years ago) link

I think that 'Shaw' is meant to sound like 'shore' - I don't hear it either

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:42 (fifteen years ago) link

Sandy Shore.

Mark G, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:42 (fifteen years ago) link

Shaw is pronounced exactly the same as Shore, in England.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:45 (fifteen years ago) link

hows it pron in USA?

Mark G, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:47 (fifteen years ago) link

Well I guess it must be different, if people are having problems hearing it? Dunno.

I didn't even know it was her real name, tho.

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:48 (fifteen years ago) link

wasn't, rather

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:48 (fifteen years ago) link

I knew someone who, if my friend is to believed, is said to have uttered at age 18 "wait, you can't get pregnant if your clothes are on, right" while making out.

Their time's limited, hard rocks, too (mehlt), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:51 (fifteen years ago) link

'Shore' rhymes with 'oar'. 'Shaw' is the same as the first three letters in 'shopping' xp

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:53 (fifteen years ago) link

i'm loving this thread. so many discoveries!

baaderonixx, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:53 (fifteen years ago) link

WAT! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flea_circus

― Øystein, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 1:59 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

http://www.noonco.com/flea/movie.htm

My flabber hasn't been gasted quite like this in a long time :-/

StanM, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:57 (fifteen years ago) link

xp I only got that Sandie Shaw pun because I once attended a seminar about legal practice given by an English professor who made a big thing out of the difference between 'law' and 'lore'. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about

Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:59 (fifteen years ago) link

Wait - how the hell DOES a candle work?!

I know, right?!!??!

Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:00 (fifteen years ago) link

i too only figured out lipps, inc. lately. also, fear's lee ving. it never occurred to me until i was driving in the car one day and bam.

andrew m., Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:07 (fifteen years ago) link

I just now got Lipps, Inc. I say in my head "Lipps Incorporated" whenever I read that.

I was pretty close to thirty when I was told that "prevalent" is not pronounced pree-VAY-lent. I liked my version better. "The PREE-VAY-LENT opinion in this country is that Barack Obama will be a force of change."

⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ (Pleasant Plains), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:18 (fifteen years ago) link

I didn't realize until sometime in my sophomore year of high school that being forced to listen to Rush Limbaugh and James Dobson (Focus on the Family) every morning on the way to school was completely fucked up. My dad used to drive me to school everyday for years, and that shit was always on the radio.

z "R" s (Z S), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:25 (fifteen years ago) link

"i used to think HAZCHEM was a foreign word for danger like Achtung

― Cittaslow Mazza (blueski), Wednesday, 12 November 2008"

haha yes, i thought it must be turkish

Shacknasty (Frogman Henry), Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:30 (fifteen years ago) link

his albums are pretty wild (also an acquired taste)

famous instagram dog (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:53 (yesterday) link

Freakin' at the Freakers Ball is not exactly material you would expect from a children's author for ex.

famous instagram dog (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:53 (yesterday) link

he had quite the, uh, reputation on marthas vineyard.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:57 (yesterday) link

I'll just be honest with everyone and say I wasn't aware until I was older that Shel Silverstein wasn't Black.

pplains, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:58 (yesterday) link

he was kinda the gene simmons of children's book authors/songwriters.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 18:59 (yesterday) link

Oscar Isaac could probably play him if he shaves his head or wears a skull cap

Kurt Dandruff (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:02 (yesterday) link

Guys, this is all brand new info for me.

A friend not on here has informed me that his music has adult themes . . . I dont know how to feel about all this.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:02 (yesterday) link

He died in Key West which is one of my first homes. Man, I'm learning a lot tonight.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:03 (yesterday) link

Freakin' at the Freakers Ball

So curious and scared at the same time.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:04 (yesterday) link

I'll kiss yours if you kiss mine
I'm a-gonna boogie till I go blind

Kurt Dandruff (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:05 (yesterday) link

Need to know what he was up to on MV and also why PP assumed he was black.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:06 (yesterday) link

https://i.imgur.com/C7B8khC.png

pplains, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:48 (yesterday) link

"Need to know what he was up to on MV"

just infamous for skeevin' on the young women at the bars. nothing illegal as far as i know? but apparently he didn't age very gracefully. he practically lived at the playboy mansion in the 60s and he took that attitude with him in life.

still, he was no roald dahl as far as infamous vineyard-related kid's book authors go though. (roald didn't live there but his daughter tessa does and virginia neal did.)

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:55 (yesterday) link

Oscar Isaac could probably play him if he shaves his head or wears a skull cap

― Kurt Dandruff (Neanderthal), Wednesday, October 30, 2024 2:02 PM (fifty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've been saying this

Cast Oscar Isaac as Shel Silverstein pic.twitter.com/RZZ1ISc46A

— John M. Cunningham (@jmcunning) October 8, 2020

jaymc, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 19:57 (yesterday) link

Bobby Bare and Shel were great together. There’s a mammoth Bear Family box of their collaborations that I covet.

Cow_Art, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:05 (yesterday) link

Lol Jaymc I was about to be like really? You were? And then I scrolled down. Neither of you are wrong though - he absolutely could.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:14 (yesterday) link

I'm new to diving deep into country related things, so consider my awareness of the massive awesomeness of Bear Family Records something I was shockingly old to have learned.

dan selzer, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:31 (yesterday) link

Not just country, either. I have a fantastic Bear Family box of Louis Prima stuff.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:47 (yesterday) link

Bear Family was for the real freaks. Made Rhino seem like a label for casual music fans. All those 10+ disc boxes.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 20:56 (yesterday) link

Bought and loved those huge Bristol, Knoxville, Bristol, and Johnson City sessions

Booger Swamp Road (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:06 (yesterday) link

Boxes

Booger Swamp Road (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:06 (yesterday) link

big admirer here, I have Vinyl-On-Demand label boxes that are similar in intent although very different musically. no BF boxes tho.

dmt taking comedian podcaster (sleeve), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:24 (yesterday) link

pssst I hear that guy Ned has a bunch

dmt taking comedian podcaster (sleeve), Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:25 (yesterday) link

I just wish Bear Family had followed up the Lesley Gore box with other girl group boxes.

Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:36 (yesterday) link

Bear Family had an 8-LP box of JUST German-language Connie Francis songs.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:52 (yesterday) link

i lucked into a ton of CDrs of bear family stuff and have been playing them at the store. lots of other great small label country comps too. 21 Country Boppers! Hillbillies and Hicks Vol. 10! stuff like that. tons of fun. they sound great. tons of great r&b and doo wop comps too. and rockabilly. i love no-name rockabilly. its all fun.

scott seward, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:54 (yesterday) link

Captain Webb. Captain Webb. (oo-ee-yoo)

Super Space Detective!

Captain Webb. Captain Webb. (oo-ee-yoo)

Super Space Detective!

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I don't remember if there are any other lyrics. "The child audience were dressed in futuristic clothes and had gelled hair." Oh, hang on, it was released as a single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFkaigGXtis

Performed by The Spacewalkers. That's something I was shockingly old before I learned. It actually sounds like The Buzzcocks or Pete Shelley solo but with the vocals recorded in an office. It has a good beat!

Ashley Pomeroy, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 21:58 (yesterday) link

Classic crap 80s kids TV

Nasty, Brutish & Short, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 22:56 (yesterday) link


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