As Voltaire, an 18th-century writer, historian, and philosopher, said in one of his most popular quotes: “Common sense is not so common.” Although the meaning behind the saying seems fairly simple, each person’s common knowledge is uniquely their own, making it less shared than we might imagine.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, as we should never stoplearning. So, let’s all put on our thinking hats and dive into some common but not-so-common facts in this judgment-free zone!
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Tutti frutti means “all the fruits” in Italian.
I’m face blind, and I just found out how bad it is. Apparently my UPS driver who I see every day at work is the guy who grew up down the street from me, and I thought they were two different people because the UPS guy wears a hat.
I learned in therapy last year that I can ask for things I need and things I want. I was 42 years old at the time.
The reason why we might overlook what seems to be the most obvious thing in the world is the phenomenon known asinattentional blindness. It happens when we fail to see something we didn’t expect, usually because our attention is focused entirely somewhere else.This is particularly true forobjectsthat are very unlikely to appear, like a unicorn for example. If you saw one, you would be more likely to believe that what you witnessed was a white horse. And the horn must have been just a trick of the light.The exact reason why this happens is not yet fully understood. However, such a lack of visual awareness shows that our attentional and processing abilities are limited. Therefore, our brain finds ways of filtering out distractions to focus on what’s most important at any moment.
The reason why we might overlook what seems to be the most obvious thing in the world is the phenomenon known asinattentional blindness. It happens when we fail to see something we didn’t expect, usually because our attention is focused entirely somewhere else.
This is particularly true forobjectsthat are very unlikely to appear, like a unicorn for example. If you saw one, you would be more likely to believe that what you witnessed was a white horse. And the horn must have been just a trick of the light.
The exact reason why this happens is not yet fully understood. However, such a lack of visual awareness shows that our attentional and processing abilities are limited. Therefore, our brain finds ways of filtering out distractions to focus on what’s most important at any moment.
In Greek alphabet we have the letters Ο (Omicron) and Ω(Omega).It took me 37 years to realize that they actually mean O-small and O-big.
Vampires don’t have a reflection because mirrors used to be made using silver and it was the silver that wouldn’t reflect the vampires image
The phrase “pitch black” is referring to the substance “pitch”, which is very black in color. I had always considered “pitch” in that context to be akin to “very”, like how some otherwise archaic words survive in idioms.
Another reason is that we tend to ignore something that isn’t entirely relevant to the situation or won’t help us understand or carry out a task at hand. For example, a gorilla playing a basketball game doesn’t fit into our idea of a basketball game, making it less noticeable when it appears.Some researchers also suggest that memory limitations might contribute to this. Several experiments have found that people often perceive certain information, they just don’t remember seeing it when asked about it as it wasn’t stored in the part of the brain responsible for short-term memory.
Another reason is that we tend to ignore something that isn’t entirely relevant to the situation or won’t help us understand or carry out a task at hand. For example, a gorilla playing a basketball game doesn’t fit into our idea of a basketball game, making it less noticeable when it appears.
Some researchers also suggest that memory limitations might contribute to this. Several experiments have found that people often perceive certain information, they just don’t remember seeing it when asked about it as it wasn’t stored in the part of the brain responsible for short-term memory.
Tamagotchi are in eggs because they’re tamago (egg) + Tomodachi (friend)
I grew up around Doctor Who but never actually watched it for the longest time. My grandma (and apparently my great aunt way before I was born) loved Doctor Who, so it was just always around and I never gave any thought to the name of the show.And then finally: “Oh my god it’s called Doctor Who because nobody knows his real name and they just call him The Doctor.” F*****g shoot me dead or something I was so embarrassed.
Or if a magician is taking a card from the top of the deck and using it to point to another one on the table, the audience won’t see that they returned it to the bottom of the deck because their attention was focused elsewhere.
That my casual coffee drinking habit (3-4 coffees/day) is causing the anxiety I’ve been experiencing for some time. Now I drink one coffee around lunch time, only if I feel I need it and I feel better.
Took me til my freshman year of college before I realized pickles were pickled cucumbers and not their own, unique vegetable. I thought the way you pickled other things was you put them in pickle juice.
We were having breakfast at IHOP. Just got thinking, and i said, out loud, “i wonder what happened to the International House of Pancakes? They used to be all over them place. “I am not smrt. 😳
I saw a video where a man said he didn’t know banks don’t keep your money. He’s been giving the bank rare coins thinking they put it in HIS account. (I think he thought it was like a safe deposit box)
It was never Napoleon ice cream 😅
Corn kernels are the seeds.Wanted to grow corn for fall last year, bought a pack of corn seeds only to realize the kernels from the cob were the seeds… felt pretty dumb just realizing this at 33 years old.
Growing up, my grandmother always used to tell me “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite,” and it always sounded like a quaint, old-timey saying to me. It wasn’t until a recent infestation scare in my apartment complex that I learned bedbugs are real critters, and not just a part of a nursery rhyme meant to tuck kids in at night. Talk about an epiphany that itches in retrospect.
That eating the crust of bread doesn’t make my teeth strong as my grandpa and mom always told me
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The first little piggy wasn’t going shopping.
That placing an onion slice or lettuce leaf on the bottom hamburger bun keeps your freshly-grilled burger from soaking the bun.
That “evergreen” trees/plants are forever green, as in they don’t lose their leaves in the winter. Never broke down the word “ever-green”
Half & half is literally half heavy cream mixed with half whole milk. Felt like a real dummy when I learned that one last week.
Hot water can leave your hair heat damaged. I always denied having heat damaged hair because I don’t use heated styling tools. I never occurred to me that washing my hair, in my one degree below steam shower, was causing heat damage 🥴
They’re called hula hoops because when you use them it looks like you’re dancing the hula.
A few years ago, I realized that Paris Hilton was famous because her family owned Hilton hotels. I never put two and two together before that and I felt like an idiot.
My father herded caribou in Alaska from heli’s as a young man.For 24 years I thought the fibre “velvet” literally came from cartilaginous antlers, as it’s referred to as velvet in the industry for its soft feel.I’ve shared this lie with hundreds of people.
“Pearl clutching” references woman putting their hand to their chest (in supposed shock) while wearing the pearls. the pearls aren’t just in their pockets or something.
I learned a couple years ago that it’s not “The mayor of bad news” it’s actually “the bearer of bad news”. I’m 25
Saul Goodman. (S’alls good man)
Did you know that Go-Gurt is just yogurt?
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