People Reveal the Things They Embarrassingly Discovered Only Recently

Misunderstandings and misheard phrases that we innocently believe for years often add a humorous twist to life: For example, my former stepbrother once loudly sang along during a road trip to Lenny Kravitz’s cover of the Guess Who’s “American Woman,” shouting, “A married woman, stay away from me!” from the backseat. While that’s definitely not the correct lyric, it’s an understandable mistake!

Inspired by this, we asked our readers to share things they had believed incorrectly until quite recently. Here are their responses.

“About a year ago, I came across a post about icks and quickly realized I’d been doing something some consider an ick: I now know the ‘l’ in salmon is silent. What a relief!” ― Dotun Akande, a visual artist and storyteller at Marvel and Oni Press

“That a pony isn’t just a miniature horse.” ― Carrie R.

“The difference between cicadas and tinnitus, and that tinnitus is inaudible to others.” ― Dawn M.

“That you don’t have to press ‘shift’ before and after capitalizing a letter on a standard keyboard.” ― Haley H.

“That shaving the bikini line should be done in the direction of hair growth, not against it, to avoid days of intense itching. I was 56 when I learned this.” ― A. L. Brooks, a writer

“My discovery was that ‘The Beatles’ is a pun. They play music, so it’s the BEATles; that’s why it’s spelled that way! I had no idea until one day I noticed and thought, ‘OHHHHHhhhh.’ It’s not a very clever pun, so I guess I wasn’t missing much.” ― Ryan North, a comic and creator of Dinosaur Comics

“How to pronounce gyro. I was about 39 when I took my team out for dinner at a conference, and everyone was ordering gyros. I kept asking, ‘Where is that on the menu?’” ― Kim P.

“That the Guinness World Records are sponsored by Guinness Beer in Dublin.” ― Jennifer A.

“I read Archie comics as a kid and thought ‘Reggie’ was ‘reggae’ spelled with an ‘ie’ at the end. It wasn’t until reminiscing with friends that I learned it’s short for Reginald and rhymes with ‘veggie.’ I felt tricked!” ― Jennifer R.

“I recently found out that spicy tuna isn’t a type of tuna found in nature.” ― Simon Fraser, a comedian

“That underwear is worn under pantyhose, not over them. I thought underwear held the pantyhose up. I was 40 when I figured this out!” ― Shelley M.

“Yesterday I finally understood the joke about the chicken crossing the road. Apparently, the ‘other side’ means death because the chicken was hit by a car. I had always taken it literally.” ― Malefyt M.

“That the POW/MIA flag stands for ‘prisoners of war’ and ‘missing in action.’ I used to think it said ‘pow Mia!’ like a name.” ― Betsy E.

“I only recently learned the actual location of Alaska.” ― Fawnya Y.

“I was in my thirties before realizing that the Santa in ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ was actually the dad. And I write romance!” ― Aurora Rey, a romance writer and educator

“Anime isn’t just cartoons about animals!” ― Christina V.

“Tapioca pudding isn’t made from fish eggs. My mom told us that to keep us from eating her pudding. I didn’t learn the truth until my mid-20s.” ― Courtney A.

“You pronounce the ‘b’ in subterfuge.” ― Erin E.