Sideswipe
Unlearning curve . . .
What simple thing did you learn at an embarrassingly late age?
1. Driving through Newmarket and my 13-yearold daughter said, looking at a sign, “Ohhh, I see, it’s called ten pin bowling because there’s 10 pins! I always thought it was called Teng Peng Bowling because it was invented in China or something”.
2. I learned what marital status was when I was about 18. I always read it as martial status, as in martial arts. I took karate when I was younger so on my first few job applications I wrote “yellow belt” instead of single.
3. When I was young, if I had an upset stomach my Mum would tell me to go and sit on the toilet. So I would put the lid down and just sit on it.
4. When I was a kid, I just assumed “sitcom” stood for sit-down comedy, as in the opposite of stand-up comedy because, you know, people are sometimes sitting down on the shows.
5. I was 23 on a trip with my girlfriend. We were both getting ready for the day in the bathroom and I needed my hair gel, so I asked if she could hand me my toilet treat bag. She seemed confused, I again asked, “Can you please hand me my bag of toilet treats!?” She ran out of the bathroom laughing.
(Via Reddit and reader contributions)
Two feet work best
“Don’t be embarrassed about using two feet to drive an automatic vehicle — it’s safer than one,” says Steve Brinkman. “I changed to using two feet about 40 years ago on the advice of Defensive Driving in Australia, and haven’t done it any other way since. Reaction times are shorter, and it’s great for manoeuvring at low speeds. I also frequently change between driving autos and manuals without a problem. We have two feet, an auto has two pedals — is that a difficult concept? Try driving a go-kart with one foot.”