Unless you're a total egomaniac, there's probably been at least one moment in your life where you had to stop, stare at yourself, and embrace the realization that yeah, you're really shockingly dumb. No judgment, we've done it too - and we have no shame talking about it.
My regular readers know all about my childhood belief that I was the "moon princess", but if you're new here I'll rehash the Cliff's Notes version.
My parents used to tell me that the reason I could always see the moon no matter where I happened to be was because the moon loved me so much that it followed me everywhere. Me, being young and trusting, just took them at their word. Bad idea in my family.
I didn't know anything about astrological distances, perspective, etc. I never questioned it again. The moon was my little best friend and I would talk to it as such. Let's just say I was EMBARRASSINGLY OLD when I had my moment of sudden realization that pretty much everyone with a view of the night sky could see the moon 'cause that's kind of how celestial bodies work.
I absolutely still talk to my sky-bestie, though. BFFs for life.
Reddit user negan2018 asked:
What really obvious thing have you only just realized?
Folks... I feel better. We've got Santa issues, people who didn't understand how to use towels, a missing Olsen sibling, and at least one person who just thought Michelangelo really liked some random dude named Dave.
Enjoy! The dumb is truly dazzling.
When In Rome
Giphy"Super embarrassing but in college I would order Roman Cokes because I heard everyone else ordering the same...turns out I misheard everyone and found out it was just rum and Coke."
The Missing Olsen Twin
"As a child I was confused as to why Mary, Kate, and Ashley were referred to as the Olsen twins and why ads on TV only ever showed two of them at a time."
"And then 16 year old me found out about Mary-Kate."
Lost In Translation
"The first time I visited the USA I was on my own and in NY and going to all the museums. I kept seeing signs that said "No strollers" and thought (because what Americans call strollers are called "prams" in the UK) that you guys are super strict about the proper amount of attention required to visit a museum. I actually pretended to show more interest than I had in order not to be thought of as some deadbeat out for a casual stroll."
"It wasn't until about day three that I saw a "No strollers" sign that included a graphic for idiots."
D.O.G.
"This girl I know has a dog named Deoji. Two years into knowing her and being around Deoji, I was having a conversation with her sister in law and I said "I love the name Deoji, how did she come up with that?" Her sister in law responds, "Deoji" and I said "yea, it's a neat name". She started laughing and said "No, D.O.G. ...the way you spell dog"
"I'm still mindblown about this lol."
A Very Merry Christmas
Giphy"When the kids catch their mom kissing Santa Claus, it is because Santa is their dad dressed up. Not because Santa and Mom have a once yearly torrid affair."
"I had always wondered why the dad wasn't as mad as he should have been. Figured it out when I was about 30 years old."
"Okay so I was listening to this one just the other day and had a realization about it. There's a line where the kid says "I was supposed to be in my bedroom fast asleep." This means the Dad was dressing up as Santa Claus for the mother and not for the kid. Meaning Mommy has a Santa fetish."
- Truffled
"Similarly, I was recently telling my friend how creepy I found the song "Santa Baby" because it was weird a woman was trying to bang Santa. Then my friend told me Santa is supposed to be her boyfriend/husband, not actually Santa"
"Still a weird song but not as much now."
"I was always confused why they would say, "up on the housetop reindeer paws" because reindeer have hooves... then I realized they didn't have paws, they were pausing so Santa could go deliver gifts."
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A Dude Called Dave
"That Michelangelo's David is David from David and Goliath. How did I not know this?? I thought it was just a dude called Dave."
"At first I was like, "I thought it was King David." But now I think those are the same person. Ol' Dave had a lot of adventures."
"I mean I hate to make you feel worse, but did you never notice the sling he is holding over his shoulder and the stone he is holding is his other hand???? Did that not give it away?"
"Bro I thought it was his trousers that he isn't wearing 😅 I honestly haven't looked at the statue in depth (in any depth at all clearly) and yeah I haven't noticed the sling..or the stones?! There are stones?? Man, my bad Michelangelo."
Departments
"It's called a Department Store because there are, wait for it, separate departments within the one store."
"I had a Sudden Clarity Clarence moment with that one recently."
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Birthday Suit
"I realized that to be in one's birthday suit it means to be without clothes. I thought for the longest time it was a specific set of clothes you would wear on your birthday each year. I found out when I asked, "what happens when you don't fit in your birthday suit anymore?" Lol"
The Absence Of A Dock
"I only just today realized that the "walk the plank" plank on a boat is not a special addition pirates added to their ships as a means of public execution that looked like a little wooden diving board."
"It is, in fact, the very same plank as the gangplank you'd normally use to get on and off of the ship. It is not the presence of the plank that is threatening, but the absence of dock."
Gay Moms
"This is so so stupid but I didn't realize my moms were gay until I was almost 14 and I literally heard my mom say "I'm gay" to my grandma as a joke."
"I knew that lesbians/same-sex/gay were relatively interchangeable but it didn't click as "my moms are lesbians which is another term for being gay and they are gay" until that moment."
- hgb965
Little Pillows
"Story time. When I was little for some reason I hated toast. Just hated it. My parents always tried to make me eat it but I always refused. My grandma decided to try something different. She took toast, cut it up into tiny squares, put some butter on them, and called them "Little Pillows." I ate them all the time. Only now, at 22 years old, did I realize it was just freakin toast."
Bathroom Blunders
Giphy"Ok, this was a couple of years ago, but it was something I realized WAY too late in my life..."
"You're supposed to use the towel to dry yourself after a shower. I was just wrapping it around myself and sitting / walking around in it until I air dried."
"Dude I thought I was alone with this."
"It wasn't until I went on a lake trip with my school when I was 14 and I was sitting with my towel on waiting to dry, that I saw people drying themselves off with their towels when they got out of the water and it hit me. I have never felt more stupid and I have no idea how I didn't realize sooner."
"I always thought women with long hair turned their towel into a turban for fun. I didn't know they wrapped their hair in it."
- wwfmike
"Last time I remember this question asked there was a guy that didn't realize you could wait until the water got hot to get in the shower. He hated how it always starts so cold."
- Betakurt
"I'm 16 and didn't realize until a month ago you don't HAVE to turn sinks up all the way. Water always splashed me when I washed My hands, and I complained to a friend and she said "Just turn the handle half-way then..?"
"My life has gone uphill from there ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you."
So Fresh And So Clean, Clean
"That the phrase mint condition means like new because it's the condition coins leave the mint in."
"Wow I always thought it meant mint condition because mint makes u feel fresh..."
Beef
"Didn't just realize this but didn't realize it for a while"
"The reason why the cow mascot says eat more chicken is because he doesn't want people to eat him - which is a beef. For years I never understood this and then one day I realized it and told my family and they called me stupid."
Narwhals Are Real
"A few days ago my wife and I had gotten into a stupid argument and weren't speaking to each other. We live in a pretty small place so we both were kind of stuck being angry in the same room. I turn on the TV and start watching a documentary on sea life and a segment pops up with a narwhal swimming with her calf. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my wife slowly look up from her phone and her jaw drop. She then says "Wait, wait, wait....hold on.....those...exist?....they're real?!" I didn't know what to say so I just burst out laughing for a solid minute. At least it got us talking again lol."
Bow & Arrow
"I remember that in seventh grade I had watched a vine where a kid gets a bow and arrow and says "I have a boner!" I didn't know what that meant so me and my friends were playing Minecraft and I thought it meant bow and arrow, but abbreviated."
"I don't remember what we were playing but I was yelling that out, "I need a boner!" Thinking I was yelling for a bow. The entire class went quiet and I was wondering why my friends were dying of laughter. I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life."
Night Gas
"That there are gas stations open at night. I know that this is something that is extremely obvious to most people but I grew up in New Jersey where most gas stations close at 8pm. It never occurred to me that there are ones open on the highway for people driving at night. I used to drive around with my friends at night and whenever gas is low that just meant that it was time to go home."
Non-Native English Issues
"For years, I said 'it's a doggie dog world' until my wife said to me that the right expression is 'it's a dog eat dog world'.
"Also, not being a native English speaker, I didn't realize at first what booty in 'shake your booty' song was referring to. I thought it meant shaking your little boots on the dance floor."
Spontaneous Pinecones
"Pinecones come from pine trees, I was sitting outside and looking around then suddenly realize, pinecones around a pine tree. I never really gave thought to it I thought pinecones just existed."
Mice And Rats
"I thought that mice are female of rats...I watched too much pokemon as a child. Ratata - a mouse evolves into Raticate - a rat."
- trestany
Citrus
"That oranges; lemons and limes are different fruits. I thought they were the same fruit in different stages of development like grapes and raisins."
- nsbe_ppl
Natural Gold
Giphy"This is so dumb.....but about a year ago I realized that dog breeds aren't naturally occurring. Like there aren't golden retrievers in nature."
The Second Worst Seizure
"When I was in high school I heard my mom talking about someone having a "grandma seizure." I asked mom what that was and she said the worst type of seizure you could have. I never could figure out why they didn't call it a grandpa seizure then. And then the grandma seizure could be the second worse type of seizure."
"Well, yeah, years later I saw it in writing and it's actually Grand Mal Seizure. I'm obviously not a doctor."
- Shemas12
We've all been there and had that thought, "did I miss school when everyone else missed this?"
Do you have similar experiences? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor PadWanKenobi was curious to hear what people felt were the tell tale signs they were in the company of a possible genius, leading them to ask:
"What’s a sign of extremely high intelligence?"
Instant adapability
"Ability to intuitively and quickly understand complex systems and how lots of parts relate in a coherent whole."
"Like I work with some people who just keep tons of concepts in their head and easily integrate new information into their understanding of those concepts."
"They immediately know what questions they should be asking to better understand."
"And these are things they're currently working on, not like things they spent time studying in school over years."
"They just have a very strong ability to synthesize new information into their understanding."
"I sit in meetings distracted and confused having forgotten what we talked about in the previous meetings, and these folks just consistently have a solid handle on everything."- Ok-Control-787
Innate Problem Solvers
"They know when not to solve a problem."
"This took me a while to understand but the smartest people I know do this."
"It could be a really simple thing like ignoring emails from people asking for help."
"The supervisor or boss might have a quick and easy solution for the situation but instead of just handing it to the person that asked they let them figure it out on their own."
"They know who they can do this with and when to do it."
"If they did that with all of their underlings it would just create a mess."
"Another example that I can think of is planned chaos."
"Some people can predict exactly where things will go wrong and they could fix it before it creates a problem."
"They don't because nobody ever notices what's going on in the background when things are working perfectly."
"Once things fails then everybody notices and if you are the one person that fixed it you become the hero."
"They can also use then chaos to reach a goal they couldn't get before if things were working correctly."
"There's many examples of this in every day life that I didn't see before until I realized what was happening."- atapes
GiphyYou know what they say about people with small hands
"If your hand is smaller than your face."- FallofTheKnight
The all knowing glow.
"When someone asks you a question and you push your glasses up while light comes out of it and covers your eyes for some reason."- JonEregor
Those giveaway behavioral quirks
"Wearing glasses and saying things like 'ah yes', and 'I see' while you pensively rub your chin."- iuytrefdgh436yujhe2
Thinking Reaction GIF by ABC TV + IVIEWGiphyEncouraging others
"When they explain something they make the people around them feel smarter, not dumber."- redkat85
Being one step ahead.
"The capacity to understand complex things, see patterns where regular people don't."- Ostepop234
"They have this tendency to make you go 'Ohhh, why didn't I think of that?' when listening to them talk."- did_it_forthelulz
Why Didnt I Think Of That Cillian Murphy GIFGiphyAn endless love of learning
"A passion for knowledge and expanding understanding of complex concepts."
"The plumber can be just as insightful as the scholar."- KatatoniK94
Of course, one shouldn't always be fooled by what they see.
As many people are masters at appearing much smarter than they are.
In fact, one important sign of super intelligence is being able to separate those who appear smart, from those who actually are.
