People Are Sharing Things They've Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life, And Here Are The 50 Best Answers

I was 23 on a trip with my girlfriend in San Francisco. We were both getting ready for the day in the bathroom and I needed my hair gel, so I asked if she could hand me my toilet treat bag. She seemed confused, I again asked, "Can you please hand me my bag of toilet treats!?" She ran out of the bathroom laughing.
I thought toiletries was toilet treats.

That birds don't live in nests. Just for rearing their young. I learned that at the age of 72. And I have a PhD in biophysics. Not zoology. Never too late to learn.

For most of my life I assumed Neil Armstrong was a black man, because I'd never seen Neil outside the space suit, but I had seen Louis Armstrong. It never occurred to me that there would be anything unusual about a black astronaut in the 60s.

Until the age of 14, I thought Princess Diana was a famous marine biologist. They always called her "The Princess of WALES" so.....

I learned that I grew up in a white-trashy family around 10 through television. One night, I was watching tv and Jeff Foxworthy came on. I was a very content only child who to the best of my knowledge got everything they ever wanted and had no idea about things could/needed to be otherwise. Well, ole Jeff was well into his skit and I was avidly listening. "If you watch TV on a TV that sits on top of a broken TV, you might be a redneck." Wait, what? I'm watching tv sitting on top of a broken TV. "If you have a broken down car sitting in your front yard that hasn't been moved in years, you might be a Redneck." We have 5 of those, wth this isn't normal? "If you have appliances in your yard... If you've got shacks in your yard... If you live in a trailer next to a house... If... Etc... You might be a redneck." I looked around and painfully realized that I was living all of those things. So, that was the day I found out I was a redneck.

That the little piggy who went to market wasn't going shopping for groceries. Last year it hit me. I'm 28.

My dad would tell me bulls**t things to mess with me as a kid. Usually he would remember eventually to correct it. Sometimes, however, he forgot.

I went through the first 17 years of my life thinking an artichoke was a nocturnal rodent. Went to Italian restaurant and was horrified to see artichoke hearts on the menu. My girlfriend still gives me s**t for it three years later.

I was watching Titanic with some friends. When it comes to the part where - spoiler alert - the ship starts sinking and the old couple are in bed together, my friend, let's call her Amy, goes "why don't they just go to sleep?".

There's a pause as everyone looks baffled before Amy explains that you don't breathe while you're asleep so you can't drown.

Amy was 21 and in university.

It's called "metal" because it's harder than rock.

I thought morning sickness was just that, feeling sick before noon. One Christmas I announced to my entire extended family that I had morning sickness. I was probably 9 or 10. I'm also a guy.

I re-named a goldfish "rainbow" when I was 7 because it kept changing color every few months. I told friends about this fish for years like it was some mystical kaleidoscope fish. It hit me in the face a couple months ago that the fish wasn't changing color...my parents were just replacing it when it died without telling me.

I always thought that you had to legally be 16 to have coffee. Soon after my 16th birthday I went to the nearest coffee store and ordered one. I was sweating and hoping they wouldn't ask for id, because I didn't have any.

When I was a young boy I had a black football coach (I'm white).

I asked him, "hey coach, do black people get hotter in the sun than white people"

And he responded "well I dono I've never been white"

And then it hit me. "Ohhhhhh"

I used to think that when listening to a CD the singer had to physically sing it from wherever they were in the world in order for you to listen

So when it was night time I wouldn't listen to my Avril Lavigne CD because I didn't want her to lose sleep for me

When I first started to grow boobs I thought I had breast cancer, but I was too embarrassed to ask anyone so I just accepted my death.

That green, red, and yellow bell peppers are all the same pepper at different stages of life.

Thought reindeer were mythical creatures, like unicorns, that helped Santa at Christmas. Didn't realise until I was 18. My mum took me to see real reindeer that Christmas, my mind was blown

My parents had me convinced that when the ice cream truck played music, it was out of ice cream. I didn't know differently until I was almost 18.

Pickles come from cucumbers

Somehow the conversation of superhero names came up with my girlfriend (29) the other day, and she mentioned Wolverine being named after wolves. I kinda looked at her and said "Wolverine was named after wolverines." She stared back blankly. One google images search later and I had taught a biology major about a new animal.