Those who remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail can recall a famous scene in which the Black Knight tenaciously denied King Arthur passage across a bridge and lost all his limbs in the process.
"Now stand aside, worthy adversary," the King told the Knight.
With blood spurting out from his severed arm, the Knight dismissed the injury as "just a scratch," and continued on with their combat.
terry gilliam film GIFGiphy
In many cases of injury, adrenaline kicks in and the shock of what happened sometimes overtakes feeling the pain.
Being numb from what can be unbearably excruciating convinces many injured people – like our valiant Knight – to keep on keeping on, even though all his limbs have been lopped off.
Wondering about the kinds of physical trauma people have played down, Redditor Madameknitsalot asked:
What's your, "Tis but a scratch!" moment?
Collapsed Lung
"I am a bartender in a nightclub. One night while working I was pouring a drink while I reached back with my other hand to open a fridge, and that's when I heard a 'pop' and got a huge pain in my back/shoulder area. the pain was pretty bad, but I was sure it was a pulled muscle and there wouldnt be much point in seeing a doctor other than getting meds. So I waited. fought through the pain which was so bad at times it was making it hard to breath."
"that was a Friday, i called off Saturday and had Sunday monday Tuesday off before I went back to work wednesday, once I biked into work. in all I waited 9 days total before finally deciding to go to the ER."
"I had a collapsed lung. called a spontaneous pneumothorax. 20 min after getting to the er I was put into emergency surgery. I was essentially breathing with only one lung. and any major impact To my chest would have collapsed the other and probably killed me."
Not The 'Rona
"Happened to me when I was in school just 3 months ago. I suddenly started not being able to breathe but I was like 'I am sure its nothing' when I got home I actually slept for 3 hours but woke up from the pain. Me and my family thought it was corona so we went to a hospital. I was quite shocked to learn I had a collapsed lung. But the worst part wasnt the lung, it was the operation and the aftermath. Having a tube inside you for a week hurts like hell. Havent slept for 5 days during my stay there."
– Janhan_
Hit By A Car
"I got hit by a car my freshman year of high school. I went flying lost consciousness for a split second when I hit the ground (thank god for helmet). When I came to people were all around me asking if I was ok, and what happened etc. I was like 'oh yea, I'm good. I'm gonna just get back on my bike and go now.' But didn't really move. Then people started asking me to call an ambulance and my mom etc. I was like 'why? I'm good.' I even told my mom on the phone I was still gonna bike home.but as I was saying that, the people around me had started to move one of my legs and I watched as my foot proceeded to NOT move. I had broken both bones in my leg completely in half and part of ankle.
"Just pure adrenaline and shock. I also vividly remember thinking 'huh this is what it feels like to get hit by a car'. Also the leg wasn't setting right (probably from movement) and the doctor decided to put me on laughing gas as he tried to crack my bones back into place. Was in a stupor laughing as I felt my bones grind."
Ant Bites
"A couple weeks ago, I stepped on an ant hill and got a bunch of ant bites on my ankles. 3-4 days later, the itching was unbearable. I wasn't sleeping, my legs were swollen, and no amount of benadryl or antihistamine cream was helping the itching. I finally went to a clinic to get a shot or whatever, because I clearly having some sort of allergic reaction. It was a staph infection that had spread from my ankles up to my knees. I would have died if this 1920 instead of 2020. I was on antibiotics for 10 days, and now several weeks later, the dead skin from the infection is still flaking off."
– level 1onzie9
Effects Of Shock
"I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle,flew through the air, bounced off his windshield breaking his windshield, my helmet and two vertebrae. Then thrown to the ground where my kneecap shattered and bone was sticking out of the skin. And as I lay there in shock (unaware of how badly I was injured) I thought 'I might be able to get back on my bike and ride home.'"
The Thing About Extreme ADHD
"So, it's fascinating."
"People with ADHD make *excellent* positions in triage / handling emergencies. I explain to others that it's like our brains are always underclocked, starving for stimulant, and nothing can maintain our interest for long because we burn through the unique information too quickly. Our brains are constantly seeking that 'high' of the thrill of unique experience, just to maintain operations and survive."
"It's why there's the oxymoron of 'hyperfocus...' I can sit and study something for hours, figuring out some new game's mechanics and min/maxing my build... because it's giving me what I need. I wish to heck I could control what I hyperfocused on. ADHD meds takes away my hyperfocus, but it at least allows me to (usually) work on what pays the bills... even if I'm at a quarter of the ability as when I'm hyperfocused."
"During an emergency, I am suddenly operating at 'normal' operations. Information is flowing in fast and hard, the brain's on a spike of natural stimulant, and I am more rational and clear-headed than anyone around me."
"Having jobs that constantly vary what I'm working on, dealing with high-priority customers that have an emergency, working on problems that require a unique solution and have strong time pressures... these are where I thrive."
Not Finished Playing
"I broke my neck on a huge shorebreak wave and didn't want to leave the beach so I continued swimming and playing volleyball until my friends noticed my neck was swelling up bigger than my head."
Getting To First Base
"Back in my baseball days, when I was pitching. I completely lost a pitch, and it beaned a guy in the jaw. He throws his bat down, glares at me with the glariest of glares ever glared, SPITS OUT BLOOD, then calmly runs to first base as though nothing happened."
"It was terrifyingly bada**."
An unwillingness to learn
"I feel like the classic example is being unable to change your opinion or idea when you are presented with new information."
"You don’t have to set everything you believe in stone."- Rusty_of_Shackleford
"I think a key thing that separates the intelligent from the less intelligent is curiosity and how far you actually go to learn."- TuxedoWolf07
When even they don't know what they're talking about.
"Maybe not unintelligence but ignorance."
"People getting angry when I ask them to explain what they just meant as I want to understand them and not misunderstand."- smokinstuff·
"Getting angry when someone ask them to explain their point."- SuvenPan
Working Julie Andrews GIFGiphyIt's never attractive to gloat
"Obsessively telling everybody how intelligent you are."- terribleUsername18
It's ok to admit defeat every now and then...
"Playing 'last word' in an argument you've lost."- LennonMcCartney65
"Being defensive when corrected instead of just accepting it."- Marthstewart123
"Claiming they are always right but not being able to argument why or have a serious debate about it."- GReatChinook
Drop The Mic GIF by In Real LifeGiphyAre you sure about that?
"Constantly saying 'facts' that are extremely false."
"Gets on my nerves."- Sharkifish
Read the instructions!!!
"I just started driving for UberXL."
"The amount of people who think they can fit 8 people with all their luggage into a midsize SUV is astonishing."
"You can see which car comes to pick you up and it says fits 5 people."
"If you have a piece of luggage each then it's more like 3 people."
"I had one group sit there and stare me down like they didn't understand."
"I swear some people just have a mental limit for figuring things out and they all find each other and never get anywhere."- predict_irrational
One should always reserve judgment, as one never knows for sure what lurks beneath the surface.
Even if more often and not, you are left with little to nothing which encourages you to see what's there.
Overprotective parents tend to be evasive about discussing the birds and the bees with their kids because they feel it's not up to them to have that conversation.
Remember Carrie White's religious mom who refused to talk about intimacy with her 16-year-old?
We all know how that turned out in the classic Stephen King novel.
Anyway, parents turning down an opportunity to have the uncomfortable convo or having their kids miss out on sex education can lead a child to potentially develop damaging misunderstandings about their body and puberty.
The effects of which were explored when Redditor sparklingshanaya asked:
"What’s a sexual misconception you had for way too long?"
It helps to have an earlier understanding about your body when you're younger.
Sex Education
"As a girl, I had no real idea of where/what the vagina was until I was like 11 or 12. My mom didn't give me a real sex talk, just a puberty/body book that said 'the vagina is between the woman's legs' and just had a full frontal diagram (legs closed) of a woman with an arrow pointing to her pelvic region. I also didn't know a period lasted longer than a day until I got mine at 14, and then wondered why it was still going on the next day."
"When my mom realized how abysmal my sex education was, her solution was to rent a video from the library about it and make me watch it on the big family TV in the living room at like 3pm. Granted— it was a very educational video but I won't ever forget one of the educators (a 50 year old woman) talking about how to give a satisfactory blow job."
– ash-on-fire
Hard Epiphany
"Ok so I grew up in a VERY conservative household. Was not allowed to take sex ed in middle school and they helicoptered in high school. Any internet access they had access to view so I never watched porn/looked at pics. Absolutely nothing. So for a long time I thought penises were shaped like a smaller pringles can. I thought it was just like...a straight up cylinder. Moved out at 17 and googled some things and man I had men's anatomy SO wrong."
– WholeLottaIntrovert
Wrong End Of The Stick
"Friend of mine has a similar background and I just about lost my mind when she said the balls are the END of the penis. Like she had seen those doodles and had it upside down so they just dangle off the end of the shaft lmaooo."
– xchakrumx
Let's get verbal about getting oral.
Satisfy A Woman
"Learn to go down on a woman, like become a master at it. Do this."
– ecallawsamoht
Excuse For Supper
"I second this. Been married for 20 years and it's something I'm happy to do."
"Get involved, people."
"Edit: thanks for the medals and upvotes, people! Be assured that I'll be celebrating tonight."
– AhabVanCleef
Semantics
"Friend of a friend thought it meant kissing. And they were like 19. So glad they found out through a conversation and not through a dude asking for it, or her talking about it. That would've been extremely confusing for everyone."
– SilverWaters793
Pucker Up
"My friend back in middle school thought a blowjob meant to literally blow on it. I still tease her about it to this day."
– Ashurii_desu
Failed Expectations
"Man, I thought I was gonna get so many blow jobs. That’s just not true."
– Studying_Politics
As young adolescents, these Redditors got these terminologies mixed up.
Dirty Talk
"When I was around middle school age I thought that oral sex meant talking dirty :’)"
– strawbrykat
"I used to sext with my girlfriend in high school. When we broke up, she just went crazy and told everyone in our grade that I was great at 'oral sex' (she meant sexting💀) School hasn’t been the same since then."
– Particular-Ad4356
Learning By Example
"I was kind of sheltered growing up, and like most sheltered kids, I learned a lot about sex through porn. I kept seeing 'blowjob' videos, and (i had no idea what a blowjob) assumed it was some kind of sex blooper. Like, something got messed up and the director said 'Oh darn, you blew it! Let’s take it from the top.'”
– Danny_my_boy
I had sex education in sixth grade after my parents gave the school permission for me to attend the special assembly centering on the topic.
But I remember how vague the instructor was. By the time I eventually had my first nocturnal emission, I remember being terrified, yet simultaneously elated. It was very confusing, and I didn't know what happened.
I remember reflecting back to sixth grade and thinking the school must've skipped that part in sex ed.