Things you were shockingly old when you learned

I was shockingly old when I learned that some people didn't know oval meant egg-like.

> unless I'm missing a wider point?

that ovum = latin for egg?

I might ask for a fried ovum next I'm in a cafe, just to show off.

that just gave me a turquoise jeep flashback

If I read and assume correctly, the oval-egg pennydrop referred to goes something like this:

-- Subject knows perfectly well which shape "oval" refers to.
-- Subject knows perfectly well what the Latin word for "egg" is, and is also conversant with Latin-derived adjectival suffices.
-- When attempting to form a Latin-derived synonym for "egg-shaped" in her/his mind, subject thinks "let's see, the stem of 'ovum' with for instance '-al' at the end should be... oh, DUH"

I think that the people surprised by the gas-gauge-arrow thing are probably better people than me, or people with greater willpower than I have.

Because it appears in like 83% of those stupid clickbait lifehack slideshows.

I have, alas, clicked on a large number of those WACKY FACTS ABOUT EVERYDAY OBJECTS teasers one sees all the time. "15 ways in which you're wearing pants wrong. #7 will shock you."

Each time I travel down that rabbit hole, I know I will be disappointed. I also know that it will most likely include "hey, did you know there's a little arrow on your gas gauge that shows you which side the gas cap is on?" Other perennials are the little pocket in jeans and the little tab on the back of a dress shirt.

whoa buddy no spoilers

Okay, mh, but I'm just saying. #12 will BLOW your MIND.

What *is* the little tab on the back of a dress shirt all about?

Oh, it's just to hang up in a locker or whatever, but clickbait lifehack slideshow shitposts invariably present that as like mindblowing information.

took me until my early 30s to realize worsening reflux and chronic dehydration were not just happy coincidences

That does not sounds like a pleasant realisation, are you OK?

My favourite of all these life hacks is with those paper sauce containers you sometimes get at cafes and burger stands
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/heinz-tomato-ketchup-life-hack-get-out-of-bottle_uk_578df1fbe4b0885619b11d4a

oops, didn't check the link. that's not right: http://lifehacker.com/5931053/fan-your-ketchup-cups-for-maximum-condiment-volume-and-dunkage

Previously my workaround had always been to forgo the cups altogether, opting instead to pump ketchup directly on my tray's paper lining.

Oh, but that was from all the way back in 2012. Looks like lifehacks are all grown up now.

http://lifehacker.com/the-beginners-guide-to-using-a-strap-on-1797402479

the beginner's guide to using a strap-on to distribute ketchup

Did you know that your ketchup gauge has a little arrow on it indicating which side you should refill?

my friends would tell me as a kid that the way to get the yogurt off the lid for more convenient eating was to tap the lid before opening, back when occasionally we would get yogurts with school lunch. it never seemed to do anything

now decades later I have started eating yogurts almost daily and remembered this one cool lifehack and finally determined that all it does is make yogurt spatter out at you when you open the lid, which I then realised was probably the point

well done, barely-remembered schoolfriends: I was apparently pwn-resistant as a kid (whether because I opened them side on and the spray went elsewhere or I was just too oblivious to care about getting yogurt on my shirt), but you got me a couple of times 30 years later when trying to look semi-presentable for work, in the world's slowest practical joke ever

yoghurt that sprays upwards would worry me

the beginner's guide to using a strap-on to spray yoghurt

spray yoghurt now there's a marketing idea

remember when - was it Tango? - made those spray drinks for a while? that was a pointless acceleration of our imminent species death

And yet no-one has done this yet,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT5kI3zJFmA

speaking as somebody who loves cheese and peas I've never even tried to improvise that shit

Only disgusting savages don't love cheese and peas.

peas are bad and if u like them u are bad

cheesy beans on the other hand are unimpeachable

cheesy beans are mint, no question

you are v wrong about peas tho, not that I'm advocating cheesing them up

peas are bad and if u like them u are bad

wtf, i thought we were friends :(

i can tolerate peas as an additive to like a curry or whatever but standalone peas, whether mushy or otherwise, are not good

sorry lbi, you and i are done

mushy peas are occasionally done badly but done right they are the best vegetable

that is pure madness

have we done a 'best vegetable' thread? we need to put this issue to bed once and for all

I can only imagine the transatlantic shock and outrage if "mushy peas" was even included as a category

brb gonna start a nominations thread

Hot Peas and Vinegar is one of the human race's greatest achievement. bizarro get out, just get out now, I don't want to look at you.

Cheesy peas for posh folk

believe me i don't wanna be here either, u people are monsters

WHAT IS THE BEST VEGETABLE: nomination thread

Barron Trump was named after one of his dad's pseudonyms. Just heard that 10 minutes ago.

I mean, presumably. It could just as easily be a tribute to Trump's love of Red Baron (sp) frozen pizza.

I'd joke about that being the official pizza of the Trump tower cafeteria, but tbh it's probably some cheaper generic frozen pizza that's rebranded as Trump Pizza and marked up 400%

Shouldn't there also be a worst vvegetable poll?

Just learned today that all North American horses are immigrants (their prehistoric forebears on the continent having been driven to extinction).

i knew that, i win!

this is a spectacularly foolish one: i hadn't realized that the "dye in the pool that activates if you urinate" thing was an urban legend until this week. i am 33. in fairness i had assumed that it was either: a) something that was done in the past but not anymore, or b) something that was done in other countries (like maybe the US where it features as a plot line in movies and tv sometimes) but not in the UK.

3D chess is a real thing not related to Star Trek. 5 boards deep and invented in 1907.
I haven't worked out how the boards are positioned. Would think one needed to see everything at play clearly.
Or is the thing that anybody advanced enough to play it can keep everything in their head at all times anyway.

I don’t really think I had this misconception although I hadn’t thought too hard about it, but it’s come up in conversation: americans conflate the wall separating east/west Germany with the Berlin Wall. Then someone points out Berlin was fully in East Germany, and that the wall went around the entire western half of the city. Then there’s kind of a “hmm, yeah, that makes sense” moment

huh....there ya go!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_German_border

I remember at perhaps nine years old asking my parents, "why don't people just go _around_ the wall?

Well shit, I'd never actually looked at a map of East/West Germany. I guess I thought East Germany was a lot smaller.

Like the sliver of Germany that was East of Berlin, ya know?