21 Bits Of Knowledge That People Learned Late in Life

1.

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 have stomach cramps after drinking milk. -u/xeredge

2.

That roadrunners are not the size of an emu. -u/PURKITTY

3.

That horse poop contains hay that comes from the inside of the horse. For the longest time (24 years) I thought that someone would put hay over horse poop to cover it - similar to picking up after your dog. I never really thought about it much beyond that. One day, I was backpacking and wondering why someone would cover up horse poop in the middle of the wilderness. Then it clicked - horses eat hay! Horses poop hay! I felt like an idiot that day and still do! -u/emj159753

4.

I learned how to ride a bike at the ripe age of 24. -u/newhvac

5.

That “rolling your eyes” isn’t fully making a circle with your eyeballs. -deleted user

6.

I thought the D in Disney was just some random symbol, kinda like a backwards G. It took me until like 7th grade to realize it and even as an adult I still can’t unsee the backwards G. -u/Death-By-Lasagna

7.

That sodas were called soft drinks because they had no alcohol lol. -u/zejus_christ

8.

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

9.

Ponies are NOT baby horses. -u/phrygN

10.

That if you wear a white bra, you can see it through a white shirt. But if you wear a nude-colored bra, you can’t. I was 40 when a coworker shared this with me. -u/midwesternvalues73

11.

I thought an armadillo was a reptile rather than a mammal. -u/failurebeatssuccess

12.

That Abuela and Abuelo were not my Cuban grandparents' actual names. -u/MarzipanJoy-Joys

13.

So. Many. People. Do. Cocaine. -u/LaborRelationsGuru

14.

At roughly 37, I learned pineapples grew from the ground. Not from a tree. -u/Human_Watch4506

15.

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. -u/katikaboom

16.

"TP" stood for Toilet Paper. I thought to "TP someone's house" you just put toilet paper over it to look like a teepee. -u/crusoestudio

17.

It’s “for all intents and purposes” not “for all intensive purposes.” -u/charlessturgeon

18.

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

19.

That pufferfish don't use air to inflate. -u/skewed-perceptions

20.

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 sh*tty plumbing where they grew up in Central America. -u/fuckintacos

21.

That those funny X-rays of odd objects inside of someone is not as a result of someone swallowing it whole. -u/raspberrypigeon

22.

I thought everyone’s mouth got itchy when eating bananas. Almost 40 years old and find out I’m somewhat allergic to them. -u/tbr6742

23.

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. -u/CasualPhilosopher25