Adults Are Confessing The "Basic Life Facts" They Embarrassingly Discovered Way Too Late, And I'm Honestly Feeling Better About Myself

Life is 1 large learning curve, isn’t it? No substance however aged we get, there’s ever thing we someway missed on the way.

Despite surviving successful a satellite overflowing with information, galore of america locomotion astir for years blissfully unaware of things that seemingly “everyone else” learned ages ago.

Recently, I asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to stock the evident things they didn’t recognize until mode aboriginal successful life. What followed was an unexpectedly revealing exercise—one that showed conscionable however misleading the thought of “common knowledge” tin be.

The responses were adjacent parts humbling and comforting. When you recognize different radical are lone conscionable figuring retired the aforesaid things you are, it feels a batch little similar you’re down and a batch much similar you’re simply trying to marque consciousness of the world, conscionable similar everyone else. From basal geography to the origins of soy sauce, present are 20 things radical didn’t recognize until mode aboriginal successful life.

Note: these responses person been edited and condensed for clarity. 

1. "I ne'er grew up with dogs and got astir of my accusation from movies and TV. Imagine my astonishment when, arsenic a full-fledged adult, I recovered retired that miss dogs crouch to pee. In movies, it's ever a canine lifting its leg, usually peeing connected idiosyncratic oregon thing for comedic effect. I had nary thought determination was immoderate difference."

2. "Until my 30s, I thought Donaldsonville was successful Arkansas. My older sister would spell enactment with her ma for a portion successful Donaldsonville, and I knew our dada was from Arkansas, truthful I did the mathematics and got it wrong. (Donaldsonville is successful Louisiana.)"

3. "The words to 'Bennie and the Jets,' by Elton John."

4. "That reindeers were real."

5. "I thought schoolhouse buses couldn’t spell successful reverse cuz I person ne'er seen 1 bash it, and assumed for immoderate crushed they beeped erstwhile they reversed, and I ne'er heard beeping. I was astir 24 erstwhile my ex was like, 'Do you deliberation schoolhouse buses can’t spell backwards?'"

6. "Two to 3 years ago, I was looking astatine my Meet Kirsten formal (American Girl, the bluish one) and noticed the state of root connected the tag: West Germany. I’m excessively young to retrieve the reunification of Germany. I’d ever assumed it was a colloquial designation and not 2 literal countries, contempt being acquainted with, say, the Koreas oregon Sudans. Duh."

7. "You floss your teeth not to region food, but to prevent plaque buildup…I ne'er bothered flossing due to the fact that I would devour a snack earlier bed, but that’s not the point! Only took maine 35 years and respective cavities to get to the bottommost of it."

8. "It took maine until my aboriginal 30s to consciously recognize that the connection 'skyscraper' meant that the gathering is truthful gangly it's 'scraping' the sky."

9. "Babybel cheese. The archetypal clip successful my full beingness that I ate it was with my nieces. I took 1 wound of the agleam reddish food and spit it out, saying 'This is truthful gross, wherefore bash you devour it?' Between snorts and guffaws, my teenage nieces told me, 'You're expected to peel it earlier you devour it.' Sadly enough, I was 45 astatine the time."

—Anonymous

10. "My dada utilized to archer america that each orangish saccharine was poisonous to kids. So whenever we had Skittles oregon immoderate orangish sweets, we would instantly springiness them to my dad. I was 15 erstwhile I recovered retired this was his mode of conscionable getting a saccharine from us! 🤣"

11. "It was much than I had ever thought astir before, but 'Duh,' I inactive felt similar an idiot for not figuring retired sooner that soy condiment comes from soybeans."

12. "I lived connected an Air Force Base erstwhile I was young. Every clip it stormed extracurricular with thunder and lightning, the jets were taking off, doing what they do. I thought they were going up to the entity to spot what was going connected and halt the thunder. "

13. "I learned successful my mid twenties that Ringo Starr was a quality idiosyncratic and not a warfare medal similar the Purple Heart."

14. "Literally 10 minutes ago, a video astir barnacles came up connected my feed. There was a woman defending them, saying they get a atrocious estimation and are much similar hitchhikers than parasites, portion showing their weird, alien-like bodies wriggling successful their shell-like form. I had NO IDEA they were surviving creatures. I thought that they were akin to water bunions — conscionable a happening that occurs aft you’ve been underwater agelong enough."

15. "Found retired erstwhile I was 25 that the stripper doesn’t rotation astir the pole. The rod itself spins portion the stripper holds on."

16. "Not me, but my ex didn’t cognize that pickles were pickled cucumbers until helium was 32 and commented that helium had ne'er seen a 'pickle successful the wild.' I had to interruption it down for him precise carefully, and helium didn’t judge maine until helium Googled it. "

17. "I thought the sanction for a bureau that holds apparel was 'chester drawers' until I work 'chest of drawers' successful a publication successful college! But my hubby thought those delightful campfire goodies with graham crackers, Hershey's cocoa bars, and marshmallows were 'Samoas' due to the fact that helium grew up successful New England and everyone successful his household had a heavy accent! He didn't judge maine for a agelong clip that they were 'S'mores.'"

18. "Learning Alaska is NOT an island; those damn maps successful schoolhouse ever showed it successful the water disconnected the West Coast! I was astir 40 erstwhile my (much little formally educated) hubby told maine I was the 1 brainsick for saying you couldn't thrust to Alaska due to the fact that it was crossed the ocean! Yep, it's attached to CANADA! Who knew!?"

19. "For immoderate reason, I didn’t recognize wherefore truthful galore companies utilized noreply successful their emails my full life. I thought it was strange, but I thought it was immoderate benignant of institution word. It conscionable sounded similar a random connection to me. Until 1 time successful university, I randomly understood that they referred to NO reply 😂"

—Anonymous, 27, Female, Sweden

20. "Learned that chia seeds are meant to beryllium soaked and volition grow substantially, hence the recommended serving of 2 tablespoons. I was adding handfuls of un-soaked seeds to each repast successful an effort to beryllium healthy, and the gastrointestinal effects were a small alarming."

Is determination thing you learned mode aboriginal successful life? Tell america what it is and wherefore successful the comments oregon successful the anonymous signifier below.