Things you thought you knew about, but really did not

Kworn

This

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system

I always thought this was just something they did in films for effect. You know the whole steaming man-hole covers.

I just found out that New York has a heating system powered by steam, wow. It uses 7 huge stations to pump the steam around New York to supply heat to it's citizens.

Colour me surprised

How about you guys? Ever thought you knew about something but did not have a clue what it really was?

Ringo

I should have a lot of these, but the only one I have off the top of my head is that I didn't know how to pronounce 'indictment'. It was odd because if you said it, I knew what it meant, and if I read it I knew what it meant, but apparently I never put it together that they were the same word.

Being that I made this discovery at age 26, my parents made fun of me for two weeks.

Kalkino

I had not realised that many Italian cities have substantially different names from their English equivalent. Rome/Roma is obvious, Florence/Firenze? Not so much to an English speaker

Jealous Deva

Kalkino wrote: »

I had not realised that many Italian cities have substantially different names from their English equivalent. Rome/Roma is obvious, Florence/Firenze? Not so much to an English speaker

The english language has a proud history of taking foreign place names that are difficult to pronounce and making up new names for them out of nowhere.

Glass.Cannon

I also can't think of a major subject or anything at the moment, but a somewhat recent one for me is the word "subtle."

When reading this in print, I always see it as "subtile", pronouncing it to myself as I would the words "sub" and "tile" separately. I was always aware of the spoken version, which sounds like "suddle", but I never thought of them as the same word even though I attached the same meaning to both. It isn't a word I use in normal conversation much, so I didn't get corrected until I happened to say "subtile" to my wife.

I still don't understand this word, as there are multiple correct versions of it and, upon looking it up, I now find that "subtile" actually is a word that means almost the same thing, so maybe I read that one in an older book and kept seeing "subtle" as the same thing from then on.

After typing the above I just remembered that, until recently, I fully believed the myth about harvestmen or "daddy long legs" having enough venom to kill a man, and only being safe because they can't pierce human skin with their fangs. Even the Mythbusters episode didn't change my opinion on the matter, as I thought they just had the wrong animal. If I remember right, they were experimenting with an actual species of house spider. Harvestmen are not spiders, just closely related. I have a particular interest in insects and any other small or creepy animals, so this was quite embarrassing for me.

EDIT: I'd post examples of English names for foriegn places as well, but honestly the language is so haphazardly put together that I'm probably going to be regularly confused by it for the rest of my life. It doesn't help that I have no interest in learning for its own sake outside of my own specific interests, so I'm sure I could fill pages of misconceptions I have about history, politics, languages, or foriegn cultures in general. I'm fully aware of this though, so I try to avoid pretending I know anything about these things if I get into conversations about them.

Quid

Jealous Deva wrote: »

Kalkino wrote: »

I had not realised that many Italian cities have substantially different names from their English equivalent. Rome/Roma is obvious, Florence/Firenze? Not so much to an English speaker

The english language has a proud history of taking foreign place names that are difficult to pronounce and making up new names for them out of nowhere.

Nearly every language does this.

Kay

A lot of people think that spiders and harvestmen are insects, but they're not! They're arachnids, like scorpions. Harvestmen are a type of mite. (The venom myth is attributed to a load of different arachnids, depending on where you live. Some places talk about harvestment/daddy-long-legs, other places house spiders, and yet others camel spiders, which are actually closer to scorpions than the spiders we're familiar with. Anyhow! Also, daddy-long-legs is a name attributed to the cranefly, which is an insect, but that seems way more common in the UK than anywhere else.)

I had the problem with 'subtle' too, as I'd only ever seen it written down. As a kid, I read a lot, but the area I grew up in wasn't really known for having wide, varied vocabulary. There were a lot of words that I mispronounced due to never having heard them, and only read them, but the only one I really remember was 'subtle'.

On the subject of 'english city names', I didn't realise that Mumbai and Bombay were the same place until I watched 'Heroes'. THAT was embarassing.

Glass.Cannon

I just realized that the way I worded my last post sort of implied that spiders were insects so yeah, what Kay said. Many people also use "bug" when talking about pretty much any arthropod, though there is actually a group of insects scientifically referred to as bugs. It's not exactly incorrect to do this, since bug is so commonly used that way that few people care anymore. I watched a lot of nature documentaries as a kid, so I spent a couple years trying to correct everyone before I just let the matter drop.

Kay

Oh god, the bug thing.

You don't really get that in the UK. Here, 'bug' usually refers to a virus or other communicable disease. Or just microbes in general.

joshofalltrades

I had no idea that I needed to be scared of bot flies and Japanese giant hornets until earlier this week

but

welp

I do

Halibut

I've been to a couple of countries in Europe, and the name differences always surprised me. Here's another one for you: Munich = Munchen

Also, in Italy, all the street signs are on plaques on the sides of buildings. It took my wife and I about 30 minutes wandering blindly through Rome before we realized that Romans aren't fucking crazy.

And then you have the cultural differences in the way people talk to each other. Italians like to get close, wave their arms, and practically yell at each other. It took us a day to realize that they're not all constantly pissed at each other. Turns out they're all mostly happy people, they just have a different way of expressing it.

Wank

Misled. I thought it was pronounced myzilled, and that it was a different word, more akin in meaning to "bamboozled" or "hustled," than miss-lead.

3lwap0

joshofalltrades wrote: »

I had no idea that I needed to be scared of bot flies and Japanese giant hornets until earlier this week

but

welp

I do

Oh god. Bot Fly.

Why did I click that link? WHY?!

theSquid

joshofalltrades wrote: »

I had no idea that I needed to be scared of bot flies and Japanese giant hornets until earlier this week

but

welp

I do

Good thing all we have to worry about is heaps of snakes over here.

Aldo

Halibut wrote: »

I've been to a couple of countries in Europe, and the name differences always surprised me. Here's another one for you: Munich = Munchen

Also, in Italy, all the street signs are on plaques on the sides of buildings. It took my wife and I about 30 minutes wandering blindly through Rome before we realized that Romans aren't fucking crazy.

And then you have the cultural differences in the way people talk to each other. Italians like to get close, wave their arms, and practically yell at each other. It took us a day to realize that they're not all constantly pissed at each other. Turns out they're all mostly happy people, they just have a different way of expressing it.

Cologne--Köln
Vienna--Wien
Prague--Praha

List goes on and on.

Los Angeles--Ell-Ay :P

Atomika

Quid wrote: »

Jealous Deva wrote: »

Kalkino wrote: »

I had not realised that many Italian cities have substantially different names from their English equivalent. Rome/Roma is obvious, Florence/Firenze? Not so much to an English speaker

The english language has a proud history of taking foreign place names that are difficult to pronounce and making up new names for them out of nowhere.

Nearly every language does this.

I know, right?

"Willkommen nach Deutschland."

"Nah, don't like the sound o' that. Howsabout 'Germany?' That sound better?"

surrealitycheck

Interestingly enough, those large hornets can actually be killed by bees. Some Japanese bees have adapted to them by swarming onto the hornet and literally heating them to death - they beat their flight muscles as fast as possible while pressing their thorax onto the hornet, causing it to die of overheating. European bees can't do this, so can't survive in Japan.

Bees.

I know, right?

"Willkommen nach Deutschland."

"Nah, don't like the sound o' that. Howsabout 'Germany?' That sound better?"

This conversation would have been had in Latin, as they were the fellows who decided Germania was the proper name

Glass.Cannon

I don't see craneflys in my area, so the only other thing I hear "daddy long legs" used for is large mosquitoes, and then only because the person is just looking at the legs and hasn't noticed the wings yet.

I hear bug used for viruses/bacteria too. In fact, I've heard bug used for just about anything smaller than a mouse that doesn't have fur or feathers, as well as for anything with legs and a shell/exoskeleton that lives in the ocean. My wife often uses "bug" when disdainfully referring to the tasty crustaceans I often order when we eat at nice places.

On that note, it also took me a while to realize that the "vein" you're supposed to remove when preparing shrimp is actually the digestive tract. To be fair, it does look exactly like a vein you'd expect to see in any mammal. It's only really worth correcting someone on this if they're not removing them when making shrimp, at which point you can explain that it's really a tube of shrimp shit.

Once again, the above paragraph reminded me of another. I never knew that the reddish stuff that oozes out of steak isn't blood. I don't eat steak, so it didn't come up until I happened to read about it in a thread on here. It's not that I don't like steak or am against it in any way, it's just that any place I go to that would have a good steak also has good seafood, and I will always pick seafood.

Deebaser

I didn't know people could be such complete pussies

Forar

joshofalltrades wrote: »

I had no idea that I needed to be scared of bot flies and Japanese giant hornets until earlier this week

but

welp

I do

Okay, I knew that Bullet Ants were terrifying, but this:

Also--and we do feel the need to stress this--they fucking shriek at you before they attack.

made me laugh. And even more scared of them. At the same time.

Edit: though the thing about "some tribes have a rite of passage wherein a person is stung by hundreds of them 20 times" sounds like a myth or exaggeration.

Kworn

3lwap0 wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

I had no idea that I needed to be scared of bot flies and Japanese giant hornets until earlier this week

but

welp

I do

Oh god. Bot Fly.

Why did I click that link? WHY?!

OMG i am going to have nightmares about that botfly eating my brain tonight now

Arrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Heir

Forar wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

I had no idea that I needed to be scared of bot flies and Japanese giant hornets until earlier this week

but

welp

I do

Okay, I knew that Bullet Ants were terrifying, but this:

Also--and we do feel the need to stress this--they fucking shriek at you before they attack.

made me laugh. And even more scared of them. At the same time.

Edit: though the thing about "some tribes have a rite of passage wherein a person is stung by hundreds of them 20 times" sounds like a myth or exaggeration.

The bolded part is quite true I'm afraid. Usually young men have to go through the rite several times before being considered a man.

Glass.Cannon

If it makes you feel better, I've heard that it is extremely rare for a bot fly to get into anything important like an eye or your brain. They mostly just bury themselves in your skin, and will leave on their own when they mature. It's much better than the parasites that burrow in for good and mess with your joints or organs.

RUNN1NGMAN

Airfoils. I always thought I knew how airfoils worked, but turns out I was completely wrong.

Kind of sad that I'm pretty sure I learned the wrong explanation in school.

Fartacus

Glass.Cannon wrote: »

If it makes you feel better, I've heard that it is extremely rare for a bot fly to get into anything important like an eye or your brain. They mostly just bury themselves in your skin, and will leave on their own when they mature. It's much better than the parasites that burrow in for good and mess with your joints or organs.

Yeah, bot-fly larvae are generally quite harmless in humans. They can't survive if their lesion becomes infected, and it's speculated that they may actually have anti-biotic properties to ensure that doesn't happen. Plus they're pretty easy to remove.

Fartacus

Parasites are generally super disgusting though. But if you really want to find some parasites to get grossed out about, there are things way more dangerous and terrifying than bot-fly larvae.

Kworn

Glass.Cannon wrote: »

I don't see craneflys in my area, so the only other thing I hear "daddy long legs" used for is large mosquitoes, and then only because the person is just looking at the legs and hasn't noticed the wings yet.

I hear bug used for viruses/bacteria too. In fact, I've heard bug used for just about anything smaller than a mouse that doesn't have fur or feathers, as well as for anything with legs and a shell/exoskeleton that lives in the ocean. My wife often uses "bug" when disdainfully referring to the tasty crustaceans I often order when we eat at nice places.

On that note, it also took me a while to realize that the "vein" you're supposed to remove when preparing shrimp is actually the digestive tract. To be fair, it does look exactly like a vein you'd expect to see in any mammal. It's only really worth correcting someone on this if they're not removing them when making shrimp, at which point you can explain that it's really a tube of shrimp shit.

Once again, the above paragraph reminded me of another. I never knew that the reddish stuff that oozes out of steak isn't blood. I don't eat steak, so it didn't come up until I happened to read about it in a thread on here. It's not that I don't like steak or am against it in any way, it's just that any place I go to that would have a good steak also has good seafood, and I will always pick seafood.

If it aint blood....what is it then???

Heir

Kworn wrote: »

Glass.Cannon wrote: »

I don't see craneflys in my area, so the only other thing I hear "daddy long legs" used for is large mosquitoes, and then only because the person is just looking at the legs and hasn't noticed the wings yet.

I hear bug used for viruses/bacteria too. In fact, I've heard bug used for just about anything smaller than a mouse that doesn't have fur or feathers, as well as for anything with legs and a shell/exoskeleton that lives in the ocean. My wife often uses "bug" when disdainfully referring to the tasty crustaceans I often order when we eat at nice places.

On that note, it also took me a while to realize that the "vein" you're supposed to remove when preparing shrimp is actually the digestive tract. To be fair, it does look exactly like a vein you'd expect to see in any mammal. It's only really worth correcting someone on this if they're not removing them when making shrimp, at which point you can explain that it's really a tube of shrimp shit.

Once again, the above paragraph reminded me of another. I never knew that the reddish stuff that oozes out of steak isn't blood. I don't eat steak, so it didn't come up until I happened to read about it in a thread on here. It's not that I don't like steak or am against it in any way, it's just that any place I go to that would have a good steak also has good seafood, and I will always pick seafood.

If it aint blood....what is it then???

It's not blood??

Ganluan

Ringo wrote: »

I should have a lot of these, but the only one I have off the top of my head is that I didn't know how to pronounce 'indictment'. It was odd because if you said it, I knew what it meant, and if I read it I knew what it meant, but apparently I never put it together that they were the same word.

Being that I made this discovery at age 26, my parents made fun of me for two weeks.

I never made this connection until you just mentioned it.

Glass.Cannon

I didn't want to go into detail on the steak fluid because I still don't know or care exactly what it is. From what I remember it's some sort of cellular fluid and probably water from being frozen. So, it's actually a clearish fluid that is a natural part of the meat, and only looks red because it's been stained by the blood that used to be in the meat before it was drained. There's probably quite a few red blood cells still floating around in it to give it the color, but not nearly enough to actually call it blood at that point.

Mim

The US government and English grammar.

And I guess to get ~deep~ then also, myself. Totally thought I knew me. Turns out I don't.

Witchdr

This couples with the name thing.

Germany = Deutschland (pronounced "Doytch-lawnd")

In Pennsylvania there is a large population of people with german heritage. They were called the Pennsylvania-Deutsch. However over the years it has been confused and turned into Pennsylvania-Dutch. But those PA people are german so watch out if your in PA and are polish!

Glass.Cannon

I live in PA, and up until middle school I lived on the eastern side near the Amish areas. I heard "dutch" thrown around all the time and never realized this.

Aldo

Pancakes are totally Dutch, though.

Deebaser

When I was in kindergarten, I thought 20 was the biggest number in all of numberology. When I learned about 21, it blew my fucking mind.

saint2e

That under certain circumstances, people will defend the availability of resources to teach people to be more successful pedophiles.

reVerse

Witchdr wrote: »

This couples with the name thing.

Germany = Deutschland (pronounced "Doytch-lawnd")

In Pennsylvania there is a large population of people with german heritage. They were called the Pennsylvania-Deutsch. However over the years it has been confused and turned into Pennsylvania-Dutch. But those PA people are german so watch out if your in PA and are polish!

There was a bit about this on QI once. I don't remember how it went exactly, but it was something along the lines of that since the two words come from the same root word and because the Polish and the Germans are both considered Germanic people, calling them Dutch is technically accurate.

Deebaser

saint2e wrote: »

That under certain circumstances, people will defend the availability of resources to teach people to be more successful pedophiles.

The funny thing about that story, is that a lot of dumbshits bought his book to protest "censorship". That pedo dickbag probably made enough money off these idiots to buy a new van and a big bag of candy.

gg internet

Planarblight

saint2e wrote: »

That under certain circumstances, people will defend the availability of resources to teach people to be more successful pedophiles.

The right to free speech isn't there to protect the speech you like.

AtomBomb

I totally did the "subtle" thing! I thought "subtle" and "suddel" were 2 different words that meant basically the samething. I guess I thought sub-tul was the more subtle of the two o_O

I recently took the garbage disposal out of a double sink. I connected up some drainage pipes in it's place. My thought was double sink=double j-trap. I thought that it's pupose was to clog early, so that whatever was clogging your pipes would be easy to get to. Turns out this is not it's pupose at all and having 2 j-traps is really, really stupid.

I'm sure a lot of people have no idea what I'm talking about, but I usually can build/fix just about anything instinctively, so it was surprising to realize how wrong I was. I still haven't fixed it :P

Modern Man

Random factoid I learned the other day: the Caesar Salad's name has nothing to do with Julius Caesar. The dish was invented in Tijuana.