“What Did You Learn At An Embarrassingly Late Age?” (40 New Answers)

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.

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.

That the more work you get done at work, the more they will pile it on. I could have saved a lot of my mental health in my 20’s

“Paradigm” is pronounced “pear-uh-dime”. It is definitely NOT pronounced “pear-uh-dig-um”.

…I learned this at age 19. In college. While delivering an oral report.

I try not to think about.

That Abuela and Abuelo were not my Cuban grandparents actual names

I thought everyone’s mouth got itchy when eating bananas. Almost 40 years old and find out I’m somewhat allergic to them.

The Lion King is basically Hamlet. That was Monday. I'm 41.

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.

That if you wear a white bra, you can see it through a l white shirt, but if you wear a nude colored bra, you can’t. I was 40 when a coworker shared this with me.

That sodas were called soft drinks because they had no alcohol lol

That you can flush used toilet paper. Parents taught us as kids to throw away the paper in the trash can for fear of backing up the toilet. Wasn’t until college that I realized my parents were accustomed to that method because they had s***ty plumbing where they grew up in Central America

Wasn't until I was 21 when I drank Lactose Free milk and DIDN'T go sit on a toilet for an hour that I realized I am lactose intolerant. I thought it was normal to s**t constantly after drinking milk.

It’s “for all intents and purposes” not “for all intensive purposes”

That our next door neighbors were lesbians and not just “good friends”. Lovely people. Didn’t figure it out until I was in college

Ponies are NOT baby horses

Womens pads stick to their underwear and not themselves like a band-aid.

I learned how to ride a bike at the ripe age of 24

Baby carrots are just shaved down big carrots. I was devastated a few years ago.

At roughly 37, I learned pineapples grew from the ground. Not from a tree.

Corned beef wasn’t made by cattle that were strictly fed corn. My mom couldn’t stop laughing.