20 People Shared Awkward Things They Found Out Truth About Only Become Adults

We often go through life without realizing just how much we don’t know. Then someone sparks a conversation on Reddit, asking others to share surprising "facts" they didn’t learn until adulthood, and suddenly, our minds are blown.

• For years I had been removing toast from the toaster by sticking a butter knife in and picking it out. It wasn’t until I was 20 that my girlfriend freaked out when I started doing it that I learned metal in toaster = bad. Guess I’d been pretty lucky... © shallowwaters / Reddit

• I truly believed for the longest time that hair grew from the ends of the strands, not from the scalp. When I was 13, I asked my friend who had dyed her hair what she was going to do when the ends grew in her natural color. Didn’t hear the end of it. My stupidity still pains me to this day. © oreo_2005 / Reddit

• I didn’t realize the handicap sign was a person in a wheelchair for a long time. I had always thought it was just a neat little symbol, kind of like a treble clef. © karate_jones / Reddit

• I thought, until the age of about 21, that when companies had “Est” next to their name, it was estimated that companies were started around that time. It was only when I voiced my disgust profoundly to my then-partner that it was ridiculous that no one knew when these companies were formed, and why were they all estimated?! She just stared at me blankly for a moment and just went: “Established.” Penny dropped real hard. © Wolfy-1993 / Reddit

• I thought that when you ate, all the food piled up from your feet, and then when it reached your butt, you went poop. No clue where it came from but I believed it far longer than I should have. © OpinionatedA*s / Reddit

• I was 23 when I learned I was allergic to apples. Someone was complaining about their throat closing up after smoking, and I responded with “oh yeah like when you eat an apple?” You can imagine how the conversation went from there. © CaptCapsize / Reddit

• A friend of mine had a mom that would make sure there was an inch of room for his feet to grow whenever he got new shoes as a kid. He was in his twenties and trying on new shoes, and asked the salesperson if there was room at the tip. They looked up at him like he was nuts and said, “You don’t need room, you’re done growing.” Oof. © RonanTheBarbarian

• A pony is not a baby horse. I’m 47 and learned that less than a decade ago. © Captain_Hampockets / Reddit

• My mother told me that if you swallowed gum it would stick to your ribs. I was in my second year of college in an Anatomy class when it hit me that this isn’t true. © Lulubean16 / Reddit

• My 31 year-old girlfriend thought islands don’t touch the bottom of the ocean. © Diamondogs11 / Reddit

• Not me, but my father once snuck into the woods during a family camping trip and put marshmallows on a bush, so it looked like they grew on it. My sister made it to post-secondary horticulture before she wised up. © NikthePieEater / Reddit

• My mom used to tell me the car doesn’t start if the seatbelts aren’t buckled... didn’t know that wasn’t a real feature until I was 22. © 24KaratMinshew / Reddit

• I always thought the term, “the coast is clear” was, “the ghost is clear” (transparent). © Royal_Elderberry / Reddit

• My mother used to feed me ’dark green lettuce’ as salad, I loved it even when I was a kid.
  I think I was 17 and I had a friend over for dinner, asked my mom for seconds of dark green lettuce. Friend looks at me like I’m nuts, “Uh, you mean spinach?” © Marutar / Reddit

• Don’t add dish soap to the dishwasher. Found that one out at 26. I swear it’s only because I grew up washing dishes by hand. Had a fun time cleaning that mistake. © Fried_puri / Reddit

• One day I had a lightbulb moment. “Pickling is a process! You can pickle anything. SO WHAT ARE PICKLES?!?” I was gonna blow so many minds with this question. Turns out, it’s cucumbers. And everyone on the planet knew that, except me. © Goatp***py / Reddit

• In college, I had a tough time trying to convince a friend that yellow dandelion flowers were the same as white puffballs. I had to find a plant that had both stages coming from the same base. © t**sngiggl**9 / Reddit

• Reindeer are real animals. When I found out about Father Christmas I thought that meant reindeer weren’t real. I was very much an adult when I was very confused (and excited) to see one in real life. © Impossible_Cats / Reddit

• My roommate was 21 when he learned that cows have fur. He thought they were just skin. Edit: Yes technically cows have Hair and not Fur. © OGrimsby / Reddit

• I was baking a cake in my dorm for my 19th birthday. My friends were running around and being loud so I yelled at them to stop because I didn’t want them to ruin the cake. They looked at me like I had 2 heads so I had to explain that my siblings and I were always taught that making loud noises or running around a kitchen when something was baking would make it fall. I was surprised they had never learned that baking rule. © rakedleaves / Reddit

Little things that happened in childhood can stick with us, even if we only understand them when we’re older. Some memories, like words or places, can suddenly make sense years later, showing us why they mattered all along.