Things you were shockingly old when you learned

zoolander

lol I've had it get stuck a few times and pump an extra dollar or so unintentionally

I have never had it fail me, except for one glitchy sensor where it kept popping instantly

if it does fail, that means gas is pouring out the side of the car, right?

lol I think so. I don't think I've ever had it happen though.

the lever on a freezing day when you have no gloves or wanna sit in your car > no lever

sometimes I just start the car and start driving before the gas is done pumping

I have a friend whose scatterbrained mother drove off with the nozzle from the gas pump still attached to her car. Multiple times.

do they charge extra for that

I think you get in some small amount of trouble, but not enough trouble to remember the next time

i have been guilty on a few occasions of wedging gas cap into handle in lieu of lever. I have no illusions that this is safe or anything

I was a busdriver in college and one time drove several blocks from the lot with diesel gushing out (cap was not securely on). A car pulled up beside me and started yelling "you're leaking!"

and then his car exploded

I didn't know about the little lever until today.

I have yet to have a problem with the lever. If anything, it usually pops out too soon.

I usually siphon by mouth tbh

http://images.scribblelive.com/2014/3/9/1e3dc019-c48d-4b52-8ef5-cf9bd86964df_800.png

I was in my late teens before I learned that a movie clapboard was not just for effect or some vestige of "Old Hollywood" but was used to synchronize the sound reels with the film during editing.

LOL i only learned this a MONTH ago when my bf was making a short film, and was vexed over how to sync the (seperately recorded) audio with the iphone video and frend Nick goes "just use the clapboard dude" and I went OMG LIGHTBULB.

This happened to me exactly once

The gas gushing I mean

I was 37 when I learned the thing Trayce just posted.

because I learned it today

at 7:20 pm ET

Yah cos the "SNAP" sound makes a sharp spike in the audio editor which is "oh course, duh" and I dunno why I never thought about it before.

For a very long time - well into responsible salaried adulthood - I knew about the gas-pump lever, but felt like it was a splurgey extravagance to use it most of the time.

When I was younger, it was normal to pay for gas with cash (and to not have very much cash). So if you had precisely $10 to spend on gas, you meticulously squoze the handle while watching the counter intently.

$9.90 (squeeze), $9.93 (squeeze), $9.95 (squeeze), $9.96 (squeeze), $9.97 (squeeze), $9.98 (squeeze), $10.01 "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Nowadays everything is credit/debit cards and filling it up, so I've relaxed somewhat, but I will never forget that lost art.

$9.90 (squeeze), $9.93 (squeeze), $9.95 (squeeze), $9.96 (squeeze), $9.97 (squeeze), $9.98 (squeeze), $10.01 "FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Otm.

I still do this quite regularly btw (I tend to still pay for most things w/ cash)

While we're talking about gasoline-related trivia, I don't know if I was shockingly old when I discovered this or if it's a relatively recent development but apparently most/all gas hoses are connected to the pumps with some magnetic mechanism that allows them to easily disconnect in the event of someone mindlessly driving off with the nozzle still jammed in the side of their car. And no, thankfully, I did not learn this the hard way.

I was in my 40s (i.e. this decade) when I learned what the UK's "O-levels" and "A-levels" actually stood for.

I always use the gas pump lever because it gives me enough time to use the squeegee to clean the windshield.

it says "do not leave unattended" but imo just lock that little lever in place and then run into the store to buy a soda and chips

When I was much younger and gas was much cheaper, I once hit a station that advertised a free fancy premium carwash with a minimum $8 purchase of fuel.

I filled up my tank quicker than I thought I would and wound up at something like $7.75. So I sprayed the last quarter out on the ground as nonchalantly as I could.

Carwash did a good job washing the gasoline off my tires.

AMERICA

It's a good time to clean out accumulated trash from the week.

pplains, I want you to know I have submitted your name in nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of that story.

I was surpised the other day that I had gone this far in my life without knowing the word "defenestration".

Obviously not a student of the Thirty Years War.

Thanks, Phil. I mean, I did put out my cigarette first!

pplains was who that guy in The Birds was modeled after

orange mocha frappuccino while you waited, I hope

All these petril stories are greek to me tbh #neverdroveneverwill

i think i was 10 or 11 so not that old but i recall being confused by the expression "nuff said" thinking "who's nuff?"

"if so many people die at Gunpoint why do people continue to go there?"

IDK if "life lessons" are apt for this thread, but the fact that mocking others for "overcompensating" is often itself a sign of insecurity combined with laziness.

largely agree but hit us with some examples

I guess this came up for me in the context of having discovered relatively late that I really like lifting and that it does a lot for my mental and physical health and self-confidence. I had grown up with the received idea that anyone who lifted weights was "overcompensating" for something. But that kind of thinking was largely an excuse for me to not make self-improvement effort, and I imagine the same is true of a lot of the people who say that sort of thing.

What about mocking people for driving big honking pickup trucks?

yeah that's a good one. understandable as it's so connected to jock / bro culture in my mind. there's also the old "overcompensating for **something**" re: cars as tired dick joke. but yea it's such a lazy & easy thing to say, w/r/t fashion, even in casual conversation / arguments.

xp ha! yes. that one

that joke is just way past its sell by date

you might almost say it's overcompensating for something

i think i was 10 or 11 so not that old but i recall being confused by the expression "nuff said" thinking "who's nuff?"

Ha that just reminded me of when I was a young kid (maybe 10?) in school, a friend did the Bewitched thing where she said "witches honor!" and put her fingers either side of her nose. Somehow, I thought she'd said 'which is honor?" and I looked at her fingers, poked one and replied "that one!". Much to her confusion and weird expression.