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Parents Who Regret The Name They Gave Their Child Explain Why

Parents Who Regret The Name They Gave Their Child Explain Why
Photo by Adele Morris on Unsplash

Let's get this out of the way:

If you find yourself relating to any of the people below, maybe consider calling your child by their middle names?


Reddit user, u/dani4715, wanted to hear:

Parents of reddit, have you ever regretted what you named your child? If so, why?

Not HER! 

My mom regrets my name. They thought I was going to be a boy, and had a boy's name picked out. I arrived, very much not a boy, after 12 hours of labor and no epidural (sorry, Mom). She told my dad to just pick a name, so he named me after his sister, Karen. My mom and my aunt don't like each other. At all.

Dad did not get naming privileges for my siblings, and Mom made sure to pick one name for each gender well before they arrived.

jemmo_

A Spell Upon You.

Melissa Joan Hart Witch GIF Giphy

Hi, the child here. My birth mom named me Sabrina, after her favorite tv show, Sabrina the teenage witch. You can bet that when a certain someone from my middle school that for some reason absolutely hates me found out, he started calling me "Sabrina the teenage B." I don't go by Sabrina at all, by the way.

CalleahWinters

Slippery....

unimpressed viola davis GIF Giphy

I knew an Analeze once, and when she was 8, they realized that the unique spelling of her name was a popular personal lubricant.

Froggetpwagain

Almost....

I was almost named Luke Sky.

One guess as what my last name is.

I honestly probably wouldn't have minded much, I already took on a lot of flak in school anyway.

vbcnxm_

1+1= No. 

My name is Jessica, which is the name my dad wanted. Mom wanted to name me Clarissa. I was born early and they hadn't settled on a name, a nurse suggested combining them... the seriously considered naming me Clarissica. They had even decided my nickname would be Rissy. I am so glad Mom decided Jessica was fine, I never would have forgiven them.

Jessilee113

EVERYONE!

For this reason I never told my kids names beforehand. EVERYONE, barring my hubs and self, found out the name at birth. All this much to the chagrin of our mothers, and especially after my MIL suggested Verna Louise if our 2nd was a girl. Over my cold dead body would a daughter of mine been named "Verna Lou".

trueblue533

Thomas.

james blake inbetweeners GIF Giphy

My dad regrets my name. He wishes he had named me after his father. When my parents had me both his younger brothers were engaged, so he figured they'll probably have sons and name him after their dad. Well one had two sons and the other had one. None of them need after my grandfather. My dad regrets picking the name he preferred and has said, "If I could go back in time, I would name you Thomas."

From the Greek Word....

My friend's name is Sepfora, and she was named that before the popular make up company Sephora got big. It's the greek version of the biblical name Zipporah (Moses's wife).

sirthisisreddit

Quick Google search: Sephora gets its name from a blend of two words. The first is the Greek word "sephos," which means "pretty," and the second is the name "Zipporah" who, according to the Bible, was the wife of Moses known for her beauty.

mexicock1

Hey J....

As far as I know, my parents don't regret my name, but it's an odd situation... I was their first born, and my dad wanted me to be named Jerry, after himself. But we have 7 other Jerrys in my family... So they named me Jerry, but they decided, from birth, that I would go by Caleb (my middle name). I don't mind, because I don't like the name Jerry. But it makes things confusing at work, cause I don't like to explain to everyone that I prefer to go by my middle name... So I usually just go by my first name at work.

synchronoussavagery

How Royal...

Not me but my SO teaches two sisters named Princess with their middle name as the differentiator. If they haven't regretted it they will when both 'Princesses' grow up........... I hope (gulp).

LaUNCHandSmASH

'new kid'

There used to be 7 kids named 'Ayden' in my grade but all were spelled differently, or had different last names, until an 8th Ayden showed up with the same last name and spelling as another kid in the same grade. We called him 'new kid' for the rest of the year. moonfishrin

Be Super....

man of steel superman GIF Giphy

I always let my kids name themselves when they turn five. Some people complain, but I can tell you that my son Superman is doing fantastically.

ElderCunningham

Sound it Out. 

I named one of my kids a name that I knew from childhood, but is french. Because I am so used to the name it didn't occur to me that everyone is going to mispronounce it for the rest of their life.

Magsi_n

I understand that you name is a pain because English mouths cant work it; but on paper at least it look amazingly awesome.

mikey_weasel

Several Spellings.

Didn't anticipate spelling her name every single time you need an appointment, prescription. It's a strange but known spelling of a common name. Used it television, fashion, and an author with it.

Like Cierra for Sierra kind of difference.

I was also unaware of how people butcher my now husbands last name (German but short). We weren't married at the time. So this kid has to spell out her first And last names every single time usually twice.

She just starts spelling now vs saying then spelling bc people still get it wrong.

Trashbat8

She REFUSES!!!

i hope no one who knows me happens to be scrolling this sub... my mother absolutely REFUSES to call me by my name, and has my (22f) entire life. she named my older brother, so she let my dad name me, despite her so badly wanting to name me "laramie" (gag). my dad named me alexandria. i don't like it, and i hate being called alex which literally everyone does no matter how much i insist on alexandria. but its better than what my mom wanted to name me, and calls me.

My mother hates my name so much, and is so pissed she didn't get to name me, that she refuses to call me by my name. so instead, she came up with a nickname for me that she's called me since i was an infant: buddha. not my real name, not a shortened version of my name, not my middle name, not my initials, not a bearable nickname, not even the name she wanted for me, but fucking buddha!? BECAUSE THATS SO MUCH BETTER THAN ALEXANDRIA!? to add insult to injury, i was a very overweight child with a large protruding stomach. her yelling "BUDDHA!!" in the grocery store was always a mortifying experience.

She got "buddha" from calling me "beautiful baby" in a baby talk voice. so she would say it like "boo da ful baby" and it got shortened to "boo da" very fast. but of course when you see a mom calling her fat ass kid "buddha" the last thing you think is "oh, well thats CLEARLY short for beautiful!" no amount of begging or pleading (even as an adult) has made my mother stop calling me "buddha", she will not use my actual name. its kind of ridiculous and annoying and upsetting, but i realize theres no winning. i am forever "buddha" smh.

i think i have name dysphoria.

glamericanbeauty

18 and the change. 

I had a very weird first name, that was also extremely close to my mom's name, and a very common middle name. My mom wanted my middle name to be my first name. She's told me many times she regrets that it wasn't.

At age 11 I decided to go by a nickname for my middle name. At 18 I legally changed my name to what had been my middle name.

Wish mom had argued harder for it to be my first name; would've saved me an argument with the person reading names at my high school graduation, among other things.

lizardgal10

Name Boom. 

Yup. Named him, literally rolled out of the operating room and a nurse said she just named her kid that name. It damn exploded and now it's everywhere. My first name was the most common the year I was born and I hated it and never wanted that for my kids. My maiden name was 13 letters and can barely be pronounced so didn't want to go that route either. Easy to spell, easy to say, not common that was all I asked. And I failed.

jkaugs

LOLOLOL

Mothers Day Lol GIF by reactionseditor Giphy

Before my son was born, my husband and I were having a lot of problems picking boys names. Everyone in my husband's family has two middle names so that made it a lot harder.

After a few days, we landed on a name we loved. Harrison Atlas Henry Ames.

After a few hours of blissful happiness, I stopped dead in my tracks, telling my husband we can't name our son that.

His initials would've been HAHA.

ManicLittlefoot

Oh Schmidt!

When my sons were born we deliberately chose names that were rather common and were not family names on either side. So they were unique in our families but pretty normal in life. My mom named me after two biblical names but didn't think about the order leading to a life time of renditions of Jingleheimer Schmidt.

MerkNZorg

The Ex's Idea. 

My ex and I couldn't agree on names, so he picked boy names, and I picked girl names. He named our son after his role-play character. I wanted to make him something normal like "Michael". This is reddit, so I'm not going to say the actual name, but it would be like naming your child "Agamemnon". Poor kid got teased for his name all through school.

Spice_it_up

Ava for short.

My family comes from Africa, but I was born in America.

When I was born, my mom wanted to give me an American name, so she chose Ava, but my dad wanted to be traditional and give me a traditional name. but they ended up using Ava for my middle name. in my opinion, it's a great name, I have a lot of nicknames. but whenever we had a sub in a class all my friends would (and still do) look me dead in the eyes and just keep whispering, "their gonna mispronounce your name-" and life forget it--it is not like it's been happening since kindergarten- When my brother's birth was the same. Mom wanted him to be named Aiden, dad disagreed, got a traditional name, got Aiden as his middle name.

ThatGayJuiceBox

Decades Later.

facepalm smh GIF Giphy

I think my parents do, they named me after a guy who was my dad's best friend at the time. A year or two later they had a huge falling out and 30+ years later haven't spoken since.

gwsteve43

Smarter as you go....

So when my son was born I was allowed to pick his first name. Our last name is Barrett, so I picked Grinin. Because then his name would be Grinin Barrett.

His name is Eric.

For my second son, my wife was smarter. She let me chose the middle name, figuring hey, almost nobody knows anyone's middle name. If it's a disaster then it's easily hidden.

I chose Romeo. I figured that when he was a teenager it might come in handy. "Hey baby, my middle name is Romeo".

His middle name is Samuel.

Oh well, at least they got to keep the last name.

KnowanUKnow

Ask Judge Judy. 

I named my daughter a pretty ordinary but nice name. When I got involved with the woman i am married to now, her daughter who was very little started calling my daughter something else. It stuck and not long later she went to court and changed her name. She ditched her first middle and last names and got a new first and last name without a middle name.

warningfromfuture

Too Young to Know. 

Before I was born, my older brother helped our mom and dad pick my name. I wish it could've ended there but my dad decided he liked a different, longer version of my name and continues to call me by this name to this day.

My mom and dad divorced when I was young, so to one side of my family I'm the name on my birth certificate but to my dad's side of my family, I'm something else even though it's still virtually the same name. To this day I think my dad did it as some weird kind of power play.

BlackMargrave

Whateves...

fanning jack mcfarland GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

I'm having a baby boy tomorrow and we are calling him Jack. Not because either of us like the name, it's just the only one we both don't hate. Can't agree on anything else. I never thought I'd have a kid called Jack but here we are.

Hotfuzz82

The "Prophet"

My ex wife and I named our son Ammon after a "prophet" in the Book Of Mormon who, as myth has it, among other things, cuts off several arms of his enemies in a fight. That was 19 years ago. Ammon and I left the Mormon church 2.5 years ago after several months of in-depth research into the history of the church etc. I keep wondering if he will want to change his name bc of what it represents. To us and to everyone who knows him, and I'm sure to himself, he is Ammon ... but I hope he one day decides it's worth it to make a change.

golfmogul

36 generations

The first born son in my husband's line is always named John or James. With A as the middle initial. I don't like the name James so my son is John. I always wanted to name my son Sebastian Xavier but I couldn't argue with 36 generations of tradition. My second child is a girl and I wanted to name her after my mother but my mom doesn't like her name. I used it as a middle name instead. I do kind of regret not putting my foot down, especially with my second child but her first name suits her personality so it worked out.

jadeursa

Poor Kit. 

My brother has some regret that my Mum chose the nickname Kit for him as he was named Christopher after our father, who already went by Chris. My brother chose to go by Chris himself with his friends once he reached his teens but remains Kit to close family only because that's what we've always called him.

He was very badly bullied growing up and kids will seize on anything they can.

Kit is a very old, very romantic choice of nickname for Christopher, dating back to Elizabethan times. Unfortunately it also rhymes with a vast array of insults. You can start with twit and just keep working your way up from there.

Kit Harington's fame as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones may have made it popular again but I would advise caution. He comes from a very privileged background where it wouldn't have stood out so much.

EmmaInFrance

be original....

frustrated jake johnson GIF Giphy

Yes. Gave him the first name as his dad. It's caused problems flying, scheduling dentist appointments,pharmacy confusion, etc.

Frozen_Twinkies

The Process. 

My daughter was supposed to be a boy. So the name was going to be my father's name, my two middle names and last name. My one middle name is my one grandfather's first name and the other is my father's middle name and his father's middle name.

We barely went over girls names by the time we learned she was to be a boy. My wife had only a couple names picked that I hadn't vetoed for being exes or porn stars. So when we saw the specialist again and he asked us if we wanted to know the sex... we said we already knew. From him. But nope. It's a girl. Plain as day. So then we were stuck.

My wife suggested Aurora and I liked it. Unique. Etc. My wife likes Disney movies. I had no clue that's Sleeping Beauty. I didn't find that out until after she was born. But my daughter loves her name and it fits her perfectly. And she knows she's my princess.

Sykfootball

Why Parents? Why?

I regret them naming me Hamish because I have a gap in my front teeth so when I tell people my name it tends to get muddled but I don't have a speech impediment, So I would say my name is Hamish. But they would say oh hi danish or shamus, it gets very annoying when I need to tell very formal people because I'm very shy and don't like correcting people.

sky-punch

Sorry Dad.

Well, as a Caitlin, I've just started spelling my name to people instead of saying it. Everyone tries to spell it Kaitlyn. Everyone.

My dad wanted to name me after Picabo Street and he wanted to name my sister after Kristi Yamaguchi, but my mom put a stop to that. Guess he had a thing for olympians?

acecatmom98

Authenticity.

My Body Is Ready Mj Rodriguez GIF by Pose FX Giphy

Hell yeah I regret it!

My son was assigned female at birth. My ex husband gave him a girly name, because most people who are assigned female at birth are actually female.

Nope! Not our son, he's trans. Really wish I would have known that and given him a name that would work for either gender, because legal name changes are a pain in the butt.

insertcaffeine

Pre-Internet. 

I named my daughter after a lot of thought and research (pre internet) because i wanted her to have a nice name but not an overly popular one. Two weeks after naming her there were two other girls with the same name announced in our mid size town paper, it became one of the most popular names for a few years in the country. so I regret not waiting to name her because i had other options.

erillee

Almost.

When I was pregnant with my third child, I knew he was a boy. All my life, I'd loved the name Gabriel and I was set on that name. I even called the baby Gabriel when I talked to him.

That is until, when I was 7 months pregnant, my family and I got together with my sister and her family (she had just relocated close enough we could visit).

She, of course, asked about names and I told her his name was Gabriel. She paused and asked about Nick names, would I use Gabe. Now, this is my sister; we're Irish twins. She knew I had an aversion to nicknames (having never had one when everyone else in the family did - and I do mean everyone) so I told her, unequivocally, no. He would not be called Gabe.

She said I might not call him Gabe, but surely someone would and maybe he would even choose it over Gabriel as he got older. Again, I said, no way.

She said, you might want to think about that because someone is going to call him Gabe at some point...

And your last name is Lowe (phonetically low).

So, yeah. Almost regretted that.

omega12596

Warmed Up.

Thumbs Reaction GIF Giphy

I didn't like our youngest son's name for about 6 months but now I can't imagine him being called anything else.

yellowpowerranger87

World of Warcraft Issues

Yes. And as soon as the divorce is over, my son is getting his name changed, and not just because he is trans.

Before my ex wife became pregnant, the two of us ran a large World of Warcraft guild. We had a close knit group of leaders that did various things. Our DPS Trainer became pregnant right around the same time as my ex. They bonded virtually during the pregnancy.

You can see where this is going. My wife absolutely had to have him named after the DPS Trainer's in game name. It's a very unique name that no one can pronounce right the first time. My son has always hated it. He goes by a nickname of his own choice now that has nothing to do with his dead-name.

SingleDadGamer

She Gone. 

My daughter shares her middle name with her mother who turned out to be an awful mother/person and is no longer a part of our lives.

votejonforgod

A Unique Fail. 

Not the name itself, but the spelling of it. When my son was born I decided I wanted his name to be a bit more unique, so I replaced a vowel with a y (e.g. Jason to Jasyn - not his real name)

When he was adopted later on, his parents changed it back to the proper spelling and I'm so glad, because I'd never thought about how much of a pain it would have been for him spelling his name out his whole life.

Not to mention that when people see names spelt like that, they usually automatically presume the person to be a bit, well, lower class.

I still feel awful that I could have made his life infinitely harder just because I wanted to be unique, but at least it was fixed before he learnt to write.

tigerjess

BOOM, Winner.

Giphy

I named my daughter Karen.

Thanks, Internet.

WreckNRepeat

Let's Get The Obvious Out Of The Way

Giphy

I'm just here to see how many "Khaleesi" posts there are.

jahvidsanders44

The amount of friends that I have who named their kids after GoT characters is just too high...

GLaDOs18

How Could You Predict Something Like This?

Isis. Back when it was just an Egyptian Goddess (7 years ago).

We don't yell her name out in public anymore.

JayeAus

You Can Do That?

Well, I had my first son and named him Walter Jr. But then I had my second son and he better exemplified the Walter name so I named him Walter Jr and switched the first son to Andrew, which I found in a baby name book.

shelloshelloshello

When You Don't Live Up To Your Expectations

We gave my son the middle name of "Danger" thinking it would be cool when he was a high school QB, or make him look cool at college parties. But now that he's a teenager I think it's safe to say that if my son ever even attends a football game it will be because he's playing the Tuba there (not that there is anything wrong with that but probably wouldn't associate the middle name danger for someone on marching band).

bzzltyr

Old Wounds Built In Our Roots

I dont mind my sons name but I regret that I didn't stand my ground and insist that his middle name be my great grandpa's name. I really wanted to honour my opa who was a big part of my life and my ex insisted it was "too German" and insisted he have a "good Irish name" and "allowed" my alternative.

My ex is like a quarter irish through his grandma that he never met, meanwhile my German dad literally didn't speak English til he was 7 and my mom is German and I grew up in a household where German was spoken too but go off i guess.

Catezero

In Today's Racially Charged Climate, This One Certainly Turns Some Heads

Giphy

Well I don't think they regret it or care but my name is Latina and I'm black. I always get asked about it and have to explain that it was completely arbitrary and I speak no Spanish

rainrain_throwaway11

Dodged A Hairy Bullet There

My parents couldn't agree on a name, so they agreed that my dad would get to name me if I was a boy, and my mom would name me if I was a girl. My dad, in all his greatness, settled on Wolfman Jack. Yeah, thank god I was born a girl. Thanks, mom.

Allxon

Yeesh...Gross

We were going to name our daughter Milena, but then I told my OB/GYN father what our decision was for the name. I kid you not, but he said "That is a terrible name. You will regret it. It is very close to the medical term melena, and that means bloody tarry stools. You don't want me to link her name with poop for her whole life, do you?"

So needless to say, Milena was out.

roundmusic22

Whoa, Sounds Like There's Some Big Issues There

Before I was born, my dad wanted to name me Harley after his favorite bike, but my mom insisted that I needed a Bible name. At age 4 I chose a nickname for myself because I couldn't pronounce this Bible name, but then as a teen I questioned my younger self's choice and explored new nicknames, including Harley.

When I brought this idea to my dad thinking he'd be pleased, he got red in the face and said "I had to sell that bike to put you in school! It's nothing to me now, just a random chunk of metal. You want to be named after a random chunk of metal? Fine! I'll call you Crankshaft how about that!" And he did, for like 2 years. I don't know where the regret is in that story, but it's somewhere.

ENEBZILE

How Could You Have Possibly Known?

My wife and I don't like all the family politics of naming the children. Someone's going to get bent out of shape because one family member got used and not another. So, we racked our brains to agree on a name not used on either side of the family.

Didn't announce the name until the birth. Neither my mother or father said anything for a year. Then, one day they casually mentioned the name of my uncle's first son that I wasn't even aware of. He had died at only 6 weeks old, 15 years before I was born.

I don't know that I regret the name of my son. But, it would have been crossed off the list of contenders had I known.

rhymes_with_chicken

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Infamous Internet Rumors That Ended Up Being True

Reddit user strakerak asked: 'What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?'

boy playing at laptop inside room
Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash

In 2017, I returned to my office after my lunch break to hear my supervisors discussing Tom Petty. This seemed like a random topic to me until one of my supervisors told me Tom Petty had passed away. He was a huge fan of Petty and spent the next hour or so combing through the internet to get more information.

He came back into the room my other supervisor and I were working in and announced that Tom Petty wasn't dead after all. News outlets had jumped the gun to announce his death, but he was actually still alive.

The next day, I came in to find out that Tom Petty was dead; the news may have been premature, but true.

This is a classic example of the rumor being started on the internet. Sometimes, like with the news of Tom Petty's death, the rumor can run wild and appear everywhere. Other times, the rumor can be seen by just a few people and dismissed. However, a lot of times, these rumors turn out to be true.

Redditors know a lot of internet rumors that turned out to be true, and are eager to share.

It all started when Redditor strakerak asked:

"What started out as an internet rumor that ended up being infamously true?"

The King Of Pop

"Michael Jackson writing the music for Sonic 3."

"He actually did, but was never credited on the game because it would breach his contract with his record label."

– -WigglyLine-

"He did the same when he appeared on The Simpsons. He appeared under a pseudonym, and the Producers said it was an impersonator."

"Only years later they confirmed it really was Michael."

"His singing voice was actually done by an impersonator, though."

– given2fly_

The Truth Comes Out

"In 1998, US Men’s National Team captain John Harkes was shockingly cut from the team right before the World Cup. The coach claimed it was because Harkes wouldn’t fit into his new preferred formation, but rumors flew on the early internet that it was actually because he had slept with his teammate Eric Wynalda’s wife. The rumor was so well-known in soccer circles that Harkes expressly denied it in his autobiography the next year."

"Fast forward 12 years to 2010 and Wynalda admits it’s true. The coach then came out and admitted it was why he dropped Harkes, but that he’d planned to keep the secret as long as Wynalda did."

– guyfromsoccer

Video Evidence

"The Tim Burton Hansel and Gretel that aired once on halloween in the 80's."

"I heard for years that it was fake but I knew it was real because my dad recorded everything in the 80s and he recorded that. We let a good friend of ours borrow it and switch it over from VHS to DVD and soon after that it made its way on to the internet , and there it is now. I know it's our copy because the tracking in the beginning is screwed up. Still have the VHS."

– Frozenthickness

"There was a similar story with a Nickelodeon movie called Cry Baby Lane. It was supposed to be so scary that Nickelodeon got complaints and denied its existence for years. Someone uploaded a taped copy to youtube about a decade ago."

– PattiAllen

The Movie Business

"That North Korea hacked Sony Pictures because of The Interview movie."

"I worked in the movie business at the time and the account managers at Sony all basically needed to get new identities as all of their personal information got leaked online."

OldMastodon5363

"My partner worked on that movie and the production bought all the crew 1 year of an identity theft tracking service."

CMV_Viremia

Keep Away From The Ears Of Kids

"Some banned episodes or scenes of cartoons."

"For example, I remember there was a Dexter’s Lab cartoon where he clones evil versions of DeDe and himself and they swear like every other word (censored of course), and people debated whether it even existed cause they only aired it like once. Now it’s pretty accessible online."

– Spledidlife

Yes, It's True

"Echelon, a massive electronic espionage system by the US and allies to intercept all electronic messages, especially emails."

"In the mid-nineties it was a topic on conspiracy BBS boards. A lot of people in my bubble at the time (mainly uni students in Europe) were including fake threats to the US in the their email signatures as a way to "protest" and "fill the system with false alarms" (obviously useless)."

"Then, in 1999-2000 came out to be true and a lot of security service agencies from UK and other US allies started to admit they were part of the espionage network."

– latflickr

How The Mighty Fell

"John Edward’s love child."

– ACam574

"A reminder that he was cheating on his wife while she was hospitalized for cancer treatment."

– Fanclock314

Ugh...

"Carrie Fisher's heart attack. Some a**hole who was on the same flight was livetweeting the whole medical emergency and justified it by insisting she was just making sure the family was informed."

– everylastlight

It Actually Happened

"Every year around her birthday there was a rumor that Betty White died. When I heard she died, I scoffed, saying that dumb rumor is back.... then saw it on the news. I was in shock."

– Known-Committee8679

"The fact that Betty died literally right before she turned 100 is such a Betty White way to go out."

– Paganigsegg

Big Actor, Small Roles

"I distinctly remember some rumors about the reason why Bruce Willis was taking so many roles in sh*tty movies before it was announced he has dementia."

– KampferMann

"RedLetterMedia did a deep dive on his recent movie activity to try and work out why exactly he was taking part in basically scam-movies. They noticed he had an earpiece in one of the scenes and joked that the director was feeding him lines. I remember they even disclaimed over the rumours at the time, and possible made a follow-up vid when it was revealed to the public."

– CardinalCreepia

What To Do Next?

"That the writer of LOST were making it up as they went."

"Turned out to be absolutely true."

– homarjr

That last one was kind of obvious!

Do you have any to add? Let us know in the comment below.

Person holding large stack of books
Photo by Jay Lamm on Unsplash

Whether you're naturally interested in fun facts and trivia or not, it's always nice to know a few that you can pull out of your pocket at a moment's notice as a nice conversation starter.

But there are some fun facts out there that are so weird, people become more preoccupied with how the teller found out that information rather than the information itself.

Redditor Dry_Bus_935 asked:

"What is your 'don't ask me how I know' random fact?"

Nuclear Fail Safe

"You have quite a lot of time, certainly more than ten seconds, to turn back on the main pumps of a nuclear reactor once you have accidentally turned them off."

- egorf

"I'm not surprised. The amount of fail safes, redundancies, and emergency scenario planning for nuclear power plants is insane."

"I toured a nuclear plant and wrote my high school senior thesis on the plans put in place to ensure the Fukushima disaster would not happen at that plant."

"I'm sure the secondary pumps are plenty capable of handling the reactor until the main pumps are repaired or just turned back on."

- Borderlandsman

Happy Cat

"If your cat chews on fresh eucalyptus, they might start hallucinating and fall over repeatedly, leading to a $400 emergency vet bill just to be told she’s just kinda high."

- oddidealstronghold

"And, that's part of why koalas love it. Little stoners."

- littlebluefoxy

Archaeology: Do Not Lick

"Old human bones are very porous, so if you lick them, they’ll stick to your tongue."

- clanculcarius

Sharing is Caring

"A pigeon will only eat a Starburst if you chew it up a little bit first. Just to clarify: chew the Starburst, not the pigeon."

- OhTheHueManatee

"Instructions unclear. Pigeon unhappy."

- Wild-Lychee-3312

Intriguing Anatomy

"Everyone is here with the creepy crime stuff, and I'm just like, 'A soft fur rat has 22 nipples.'"

- horroscoblue

"Okay, so either they have really small nipples, their nipples overlap, or they have nipples in places where there shouldn't be nipples."

"(I've never written the word 'nipples' so many times in a singular sentence before.)"

- GdeGraaf

'Don't Ask Me,' Indeed!

"Turmeric can be used as clothes dye. It is capable of permanently dyeing cotton cloth even after it has passed through the digestive tract of an adult male."

- SlefeMcDichael

"You s**t your pants, didn't you?"

- PMmecrossstitch

"I'd prefer not to answer that question."

- SlefeMcDichael

High-Risk Survival Skills

"If you ever trying to survive in the Arctic, don’t eat polar bear liver. It is so high in vitamin A, it will kill you."

- WrongWayCorrigan-361

"It's also surrounded by a lethal amount of angry polar bear."

- horanc2

Real-Life Spies

"TV shows and movies go out of their way to make military/intelligence officers look bada**."

"But real-life 'spies,' by design and training, are boring. They have regular houses and standard second-hand cars, they dress down, and they have vague, boring job titles (accounts receivable) as cover, and they do not draw attention to themselves. Most come from specialized academia."

- Ok_Worth_1093

Haunting Reality

"Your muscles can keep twitching for several hours after you die."

- JustDave62

"Also, beards can appear to grow. This is however not because the beard itself grows but because the skin shrinks."

- RRautamaa

"I worked at a morgue for over eight years. If you grasp the hand of a dead body to move the arm, the hand will grasp back, but that's just muscles and tendons reacting to the tension."

- goneferalinid

The Sneakiness of Drowning

"When a drowning victim is revived, get them to a hospital as soon as possible. Drowning is the leading cause of death of kids from the age of one to seven and is ruled as accidental drowning when it comes to secondary drowning or dry drowning."

"Basically, your lungs are full of water despite being revived. Your lungs will absorb the liquid, but not before your body acidifies from high levels of carbon dioxide. The only chance to survive is to have the lungs pumped with oxygen via CPAP machine and time."

"Also, drowning is extremely quiet. You don’t hear the victim go under. And if you see flailing, do not attempt to save the victim otherwise you’ll become another drowning victim. Throw them a lifeline and hope their amygdala realizes that a rope or something is floating near them and grabs on it."

- Dfiggsmeister

Not Everyone's Favorite Chocolate

"Hershey’s chocolate has the strong smell of vomit or feces to some people (me), and that’s because they use butyric acid as a preservative. Butyric acid is the compound that makes vomit smell so bad."

"Edit: Digging further into it, there are some claims that they may not be “adding” the butyric acid, but rather it is occurring from essentially spoiling the milk in their milk chocolate. Either way, the butyric acid and putrid smell remains a part of their product."

- hefewiseman1

"That explains the weird aftertaste I always get! I don’t smell it but their chocolate always has this super unpleasant sharp/acidic aftertaste that I find repulsive. I assume this is why!!"

- PomegranateNo975

Do Not Lick the Asbestos

"Asbestos tastes like chalk. And if you lick it, it has the texture of extremely gritty sandpaper. Which is actually the feeling of microscopic asbestos needles piercing your flesh!"

- TooYoungToBeThisOld1

Mapping Out the War

"Beginning in 1911 in anticipation of the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, two statesmen, one from England and one from France, began visiting locations in France that they believed would be the settings for a number of major battles that would occur during the great war."

"Long bike rides through these future battle zones in the countryside and weeks spent building a foundation for a French-Anglo codebook that would later prove important in helping win the war."

- fjordperfect123

Avoiding Lawsuits > Protecting Patients

"Doctors, or surgeons more specifically, that make too many mistakes during surgery, ie, leaving instruments in patients, frequently gets ‘quietly traded’ to other hospitals where they continue their path of destruction with the patients not being aware of their past record. Hospitals tend to keep quiet about the matter to avoid lawsuits."

- Kittytigris

Bonus Points: Do This While Having Lunch in Your Car

"If you overfill a fast food gravy cup and then put a lid on, it will create a pressurized gravy stream that sprays all over your face and uniform while your coworker looks on in horror."

- thechaosjester776

This subReddit thread was so a roller-coaster of random facts, we've surely all walked away learning something.

But the biggest takeaway might just be: Maybe don't lick so many things.

Shocked woman covering her mouth
vaitheeswaran Nataraj/Unsplash

When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.

But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.

Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.

It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.

Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:

"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"

These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.

Bleeding Out

"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."

"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."

– DongLaiCha

Tragic News

"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."

– accountnameredacted

Bottom Of The Barrel

"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."

– Crotch-Monster

A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.

Like Father, Like Son

"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."

– psycospaz

Busted

"Flashing blue lights."

– FiddleOfGold

"This sobered me up just thinking about it."

– redmaple_syrup

Losing Sight

"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."

– MissHibernia

Quitting The Bottle

"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."

– omgtater

These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.

Unplanned House Guests

"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."

– Oneinsevenbillion75

Serious Health Warning

"Elevated liver enzymes."

"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."

"So I opted for recovery, instead."

"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."

– Far_Meal8674

The Joyride

"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."

– foxfood9116

The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?

How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.

But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.

Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.

Woman holding multiple shopping bags
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.

Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.

These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.

From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.

Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:

"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"

"Tale As Old As Time..."

"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","

"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."

"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."

"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."

"Lol!"

"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom

"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."

"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."

"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."

"I think he was a germaphobe."

"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."

"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."

"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.

"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."

"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."

"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000

Money Burn GIF by nog Giphy

Who Wore It Better?

"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."

"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."

"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."

"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'

"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"

"No."- mertsey627

Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...

"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."

"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."

"It was very low key."

"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."

"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."

"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."

"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."

"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa

south park wedding GIF Giphy

See You In Court!

"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."

'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."

"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."

"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."

"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."

"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin

It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!

"I work in a public library."

"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."

"A popular book that just came out."

"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."

"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten

A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!

"My own."

"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"

"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."

"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"

"Unacceptable!"

"This shall not stand!"

"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."

"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."

"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."

"I got over it."- DeathGrover

homer simpson episode 23 GIF Giphy

Holy Matrimony!

"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."

"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."

"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."

"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."

"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."

"It's just a party."

"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree

When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...

"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore

In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...

"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."

"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."

"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."

"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."

"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."

"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."

"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."

"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."

"We don’t offer wrapping services."

"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."

'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae

Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso Giphy

Happiest Place On Earth!

"I used to work for Disney."

"That in itself should tell you everything."

"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."

"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."

"Suddenly got worse huh?"

"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."

"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."

"I'm not kidding."

"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."

"My wife worked booking."

"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."

"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."

"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."

"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."

"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."

"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong

Disney World GIF Giphy

The horror!

Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!

It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...

Said absolutely no one.