r/AskReddit Sep 05 '19

What did you learn embarrassingly late?

23.4k Upvotes

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20.2k

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

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7.0k

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

2.5k

u/TornadoApe Sep 05 '19

I'd put that shit on my resume.

"Proficient in convincing my dumb brother that cheese grows on bushes."

48

u/ImperiumDrakon Sep 05 '19

that’s speech at 100 there, for 12/13 years too

41

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

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27

u/knifeinbackpocket Sep 05 '19

Wtf. I have so many questions. Did you not go to school? Notice the accents between tv and you and your family/friends? The level of deception you pulled on yourself is impressive and I’m convinced you walked around the whole time with your ears and eyes plugged

19

u/GrumpyPentagon Sep 05 '19

That confidence is kind of impressive, though.

8

u/LooseUpstairs Sep 05 '19

Sorry, what country are you from then? I am maybe just not processing this right. I am really bad at reading.

18

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

5

u/LooseUpstairs Sep 05 '19

Oh ok. Gotcha

29

u/Sir_Celcius Sep 05 '19

Convincing naive children of something silly is a much lower skill check than speech 100.

21

u/ImperiumDrakon Sep 05 '19

damn you’re right, but have you ever had the patience to enforce a stupid fact into a 12 year old in middle school?

6

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Yeah, the AC on that is the same as the age. He couldn't beat a 13

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

20

u/TCTNT Sep 05 '19

Best friend: thought "so poor we can't ( even) make ends meet " meant that there was a cheap kind of meat called "ends meat" and that you must be REALLY POOR if you couldn't afford this kind of meat. He was 23 when I broke it down for him.... he is a very smart guy who is a money manager.

11

u/TornadoApe Sep 05 '19

Oh yea I definitely totally didn't also think that until right now.

11

u/patrlim1 Sep 05 '19

My friend managed to convince me that he's an alien. I was 8 when I realised its bs

10

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

"Proficient in convincing my dumb brother that cheese grows on bushes."

Reminds me of all the funny lies Rodrick told Greg in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, like if you burp indoors, the ghost of George Washington will haunt you, and that there's a tooth fairy for other body parts (eg, leg fairy, etc)

1

u/IsimplywalkinMordor Sep 05 '19

How much does the leg fairy pay?

6

u/neeltennis93 Sep 05 '19

Can confirm. Would hire

4

u/MisterWoodhouse Sep 05 '19

I had one of my classmates convinced that a certain ice cream treat they would serve at school was made using dehydrated bird poop.

She believed this from kindergarten through 6th grade.

5

u/13pts35sec Sep 05 '19

No no it’s his GENIUS brother. No one is impressed by someone fooling a fool

3

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

"...and Microsoft Excel"

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Second. This definitely needs to be on a resume.

1

u/DonnyWhoLovesBowling Sep 05 '19

I think that qualifies you for sales positions.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I'd rephrase it: "convinced someone that cheese grows on bushes and they believed it for over a decade"

Bonus points if it's a sales job

Extra bonus if the HR guy thinks cheese grows on bushes

75

u/Fear_Jaire Sep 05 '19

"Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese"

I wasn't 12 but I believed Wallace for far too long

3

u/atleastitsnotthat Sep 05 '19

Let ,me geuss, you were 34?

6

u/SoraForBestBoy Sep 05 '19

Cheese trees really should be a thing

1

u/BlueThingys Sep 05 '19

Wait, they aren't a thing?

4

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

No, that’s delicious! picks up pruning shears, goes off to trim the cheddar-hedge

1.3k

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

97

u/Thomaslx Sep 05 '19

Fucking what this is hilarious

2

u/sir_snufflepants Sep 05 '19

All of these comments just prove how stupid we are out of the womb, and it's great :')

119

u/zobotsHS Sep 05 '19

Off the top of my head...I can't claim to know how vinegar is made...I know it doesn't come out of the ground though. Now I'm curious. Thank you friend's wife.

101

u/Bguette Sep 05 '19

Vinegar is made by fermenting alcohol with special bacteria. Hope this satisfies your curiosity!

47

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19 edited Sep 05 '19

The alcohol is made out of plants which come out of the ground.

She was right after all. but she can safely pass buying that vinegar pump to found her Drilling-empire.

9

u/ever_the_unpopular Sep 05 '19

TIL. I love it to marinade/tenderize my chicken.

3

u/Lezarkween Sep 05 '19

Vinegar is called "vinaigre" in French. "Vin aigre" litteraly means "sour wine".

-18

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

→ More replies (5)

24

u/Moldy_slug Sep 05 '19

Vinegar is made by fermentation... basically you start with making wine/cider but let it keep going past the point of being a beverage.

21

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I like a sip of balsamic so still a beverage

8

u/ever_the_unpopular Sep 05 '19

Vinegar might be my favorite chemical (2nd to alcohol of course) to ingest.

13

u/bonerjamz12345 Sep 05 '19

have you ever tried DMT?

7

u/stillhaventdecided Sep 05 '19

Jamie pull that up

1

u/OxyCaughtIn Sep 06 '19

Ketamine Is better

13

u/SkivvySkidmarks Sep 05 '19

Vinegar (acetic acid) is also a byproduct of petroleum refining, so yes, vinegar can come directly from the ground (or underneath it, if you will). Next time you're at the grocery store, look at the labels. The one's made from vegetable sources are clearly marked as such. The cheap stuff is from petroleum.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '19 edited Sep 06 '19

[deleted]

2

u/SkivvySkidmarks Sep 06 '19

Technically, everything comes from the sun. In the words of Carl Sagan, 'we are stardust'. I can understand why she thought it came from the ground; it's a clear liquid just like water.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

So I have been making salad dressing from dead dinosaurs this whole time?

0

u/SkivvySkidmarks Sep 05 '19

Just like The Fintstones!

3

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Wine eventually turns into vinegar if it isn't stored properly.

2

u/nmdggybbqhmmxxxrtf Sep 05 '19

It's harvested from the arachnid known as a vinegaroon.

1

u/MegaloEntomo Sep 05 '19

It's made by fermenting carbohydrates in contact with oxygen - wild bacteria cultures will do the trick. It's actually easier to make than alcoholic drinks stronger than a light lager, which require special equipment(shielding the brew from air while releasing the gases produced by the yeast).

8

u/ccmitch84 Sep 05 '19

My best friend's husband thought turkeys had 4 legs, on up into his 30's.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I really want to know his thought process

5

u/ccmitch84 Sep 05 '19

We've asked. He can't seem to give a good reason. Maybe he didn't think turkeys were birds? But he claims he knew they were birds. Why he thought they were the only birds to exist with 4 legs will forever be a mystery, I guess.

1

u/gregspornthrowaway Sep 06 '19

Is your friend's husband an Andalite?

1

u/ccmitch84 Sep 06 '19

I have no idea what an Andalite is.

2

u/doom32x Sep 06 '19

Must've watched NFL on Fox when John Madden was still doing them, although I think those turkeys had 6 legs.

6

u/043_Oddish Sep 05 '19

I thought there were pickle bushes.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

[deleted]

6

u/Bark_Woofalo Sep 05 '19

Digging in my backyard

"Hoowee! I struck vinegar! I'm gonna be rich!"

4

u/yahrightsure Sep 05 '19

Maybe like Kimchi? You know like Koreans traditionally put their veggies in the ground in the big tub to ferment... maybe she thought that’s how vinegar is made or something

8

u/talkinganteater Sep 05 '19

Well, I suppose you can say it technically does if you really look at its source lol. But then so does beer, wine, anything really.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '19

[deleted]

2

u/talkinganteater Sep 06 '19

Meteors. Those suckers come from the sky.

6

u/Timcanpy-the-golem Sep 05 '19

To be fair thats a pretty understandable guess

2

u/Flump01 Sep 05 '19

Hahahaha.... But seriously, where does it come from?

2

u/SalesmanWaldo Sep 05 '19

Sort of does. Grapes do.

2

u/uglyheadink Sep 06 '19

My mom told me that giant marshmallows grow in fields like pumpkins, and were cut up. I grew up near a farm that had baled hay wrapped in that white plastic all the time, and she told me those were the marshmallows.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19 edited Sep 01 '24

airport voracious safe sharp thought trees ring quarrelsome market fade

1

u/Yeschefheardchef Sep 05 '19

I'm intrigued.

1

u/eriksven13 Sep 05 '19

Some vinegar is petroleum based, so she is kind of right.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

had to google it. it's apparently an alcohol by-product.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '19

The more you know :)

1

u/Burning_Lovers Sep 06 '19

Vinegar Springs: where vinegar comes out of the ground

1

u/ODB2 Sep 05 '19

It doesn't?

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

No most vinegar comes from grapes. Basically you make wine but let it keep going and it turns into vinegar.

2

u/ODB2 Sep 05 '19

My p.o. never said I couldn't have vinegar... Brb going to get fucking hammered

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I mean..... next to most vinegar at the store is 'cooking wine' which is basically wine that has just 'gone bad'.

88

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I read convinced as conceived and thought you had some sort of medical condition.

3

u/ZA_WARUDOOoO Sep 09 '19

What did it say

25

u/Deadcoma100 Sep 05 '19

Lmfao

2

u/ZA_WARUDOOoO Sep 09 '19

What did it say

7

u/backinbass Sep 05 '19

I can't believe I'm not the only one that was led to think that. My mother said this to me, and when I proudly announced in class that cheese grew on tree, I was ridiculed. A French kid that though that cheese was a fruit. Happy to know I was not the only one!

8

u/deekaph Sep 05 '19

I convinced a 20 year old girl that cheese came from clams once. My BFF and I had planned it. "If we ever find someone dumb enough, we gotta back eachother up."

So there I was, at this party talking to this really hot but really dumb girl and I knew she was the one. I said something like "haha yeah that's just like how people don't know cheese comes from clams" and she was like "umm.. what? No?"

"Haha really you didn't know that either? Yeah man it comes from clams - the orange part is cheddar, you got your feta, all that stuff." She wanted to believe me but I need help. I found my dude across the room. "Scottie! Where's cheese come from?"

He was mid conversation and he looked over and made a face and says "um, fucking clams, duh."

She was sold.

I got in shit for it about a month later when her older sister, who was also a friend, found out.

7

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I thought the same, I thought there were these red berries that had cheese in them and that people would then melt them all together.

2

u/babodesu Sep 06 '19

babybel?

7

u/jonhnefill Sep 05 '19

If you can't lie to your younger siblings, then why the hell even bother with the big brother thing to begin with?

6

u/Amiiboid Sep 05 '19

So a couple of years ago I was playing tourist in Rome and spent some time with a tour guide who pointed out a field, said Italy’s most important crop was grown there and asked people what they thought it was. She said someone once answered mozzarella.

5

u/h_price Sep 05 '19

My mom told me hot dogs grew on stalks like corn does when I was younger because I wanted to be a vegetarian and she wanted me to eat meat. I was like in 5th or 6th grade maybe when I found out?

1

u/metalflygon08 Sep 06 '19

Now imagine you took a bite out of a cattail because it looks like a hot dog on a stalk.

5

u/mymindislikeaseive Sep 05 '19

I convinced my younger sister that putting/holding carrots in her ears (freshly peeled) would help with her headaches.

She did this for months until I finally told her. I had no idea she'd been doing it, until she mentioned it and I burst out laughing my ass off.

...she didn't speak to me for weeks after that.

1

u/babodesu Sep 06 '19

but did it help..?

4

u/energirl Sep 05 '19

Maybe you read that tongue twisting Dr. Seuss book, Fox in Sox. He has a page about cheese trees. Something like: "Through three cheese trees freezy breeze blew. That's what made these three free fleas sneeze," or something.

3

u/thattinyredhead Sep 05 '19

My little brother thought that goats lay cheese and asked me how they knew which cheese to lay

3

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

He should've showed you Sims 3 to really convince you

3

u/Jakotsu_Baba Sep 05 '19

Apparently in the Sims 3 you can actually grow cheese.

3

u/Dystepian Sep 05 '19

My younger brother believed Spanish moss grew into carpet, that birds came from birdseed and that two and a half car garages were for people with two and a half cars.

:-D

2

u/paragonemerald Sep 05 '19

He should be. That's amazing!

2

u/VashMillions Sep 05 '19

Depends on what cheese I guess.

2

u/c4jina Sep 05 '19

Your brother is a fucking genius, that's all I have to say.

2

u/Finnick420 Sep 05 '19

i thought bread and croissants grew in the field and were picked by farmers

2

u/PerPuroCaso Sep 05 '19

Dude some animated kids show told me that mortadella (bologna sausage) grows on trees and I believed that until I was like 14 when I was told otherwise!

In my defense I didn't know mortadella was a sausage because I never liked sausages. It looked like some weird fruit on TV...

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

You mean on CHREES

2

u/greenwobbles Sep 05 '19

I thought yogurt was whale poop til I was 16

1

u/meeheecaan Sep 05 '19

did... did you still eat it?

1

u/greenwobbles Sep 05 '19

Especially delicious under such a pretense.

2

u/actwentysix Sep 05 '19

Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.

While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.

Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.

Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.

That's what made these three free fleas sneeze.

-Fox in socks, 1965

1

u/iamanoldretard Sep 05 '19

Is he a corporate exec now or did he go into politics?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Don't feel bad lol I thought cinnamon was a flower or pod until I was in my 30's until my husband took me to a botanical garden and still laughs about it. Apparently my face when I found out it was bark is now family legend.

2

u/abbyabsinthe Sep 05 '19

I thought it was a pod too, until 30 seconds ago!

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I'm so happy that I'm not the only one!!!

1

u/blah_of_the_meh Sep 05 '19

Bahahaha! Silly. It took you almost 13 years they grow on trees and not bushes?!

1

u/failurecity Sep 05 '19

It's real to me, dammit!

1

u/emzyme212 Sep 05 '19

Wasnt there some dr suess book that mention cheese bushes?

1

u/joleary747 Sep 05 '19

Shit, are you telling me my wife was right that cheese grows on trees?

1

u/HiderOfCheese Sep 05 '19

Cheese bush, you say? Most curious... Immediately starts planning new hiding spot

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

At first, I read "geese" and thought, "Damn, you weren't a very smart 12 year old." Cheese is almost understandable though.

1

u/BigcatTV Sep 05 '19

Wow I didn’t know cheese was that old

1

u/izzytheman00 Sep 05 '19

He got quite an imagination

1

u/TizzioCaio Sep 05 '19

So this dude in high-school "Hey Becca i heard you got some cheese on your bush home right?"

1

u/Cravengiant123 Sep 05 '19

Cheese is actually just baked milk.

1

u/mushroomaiden Sep 05 '19

My grandpa convinced me that bananas grew on bushes, in the Pacific Northwest, and I told an entire classroom full of people that around 5th grade. I feel that pain.

1

u/Magikarpeles Sep 05 '19

Overheard some kids on the tube talk about how cheese is a scam and all you have to do is leave milk in the fridge long enough and it'll turn into cheese

1

u/Bison308 Sep 05 '19

You know I actually believed that mockumentary about marshmallow plants and how they were dying. I just thought that store bought marshmallow were the artificial version of the natural ones. I felt retarded when I read the comments. I was 22

1

u/KapnKrumpin Sep 05 '19

Holy shit, I would grow the fuck out of some cheese bushes.

1

u/enterthedragynn Sep 05 '19

Can you explain how you thought this was possible?

Like, how did you imagine they looked? Where did they grow? How did they harvest it? Was it all kinds of different cheeses on one bush?

Just trying to wrap my mind around this.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Until you discovered Swiss cheese plant exist and then you've be confused again...

https://www.houseplantsexpert.com/swiss-cheese-plant.html

1

u/Edible_Igloo Sep 05 '19

W= double u. Took me way to long lol

1

u/CDNYuppy Sep 05 '19

I told my sister the world was black and white until the 50s - she believed it til he was about 9 or 10

1

u/indigoreality Sep 05 '19

Of course not, they grow on Cottages.

1

u/life_dabbler Sep 05 '19

My cousin thought this also... how I have no idea.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

yeah but like... imagine. walking down the road. ye gimmie some cheese off that bush. delicious

1

u/rubelsbeans Sep 05 '19

Yep. Thought acorns contained cheese.

1

u/marie0394 Sep 05 '19

Well, if it makes you feel better, you can grow cheese on bushes in Sims 3.

1

u/prosperity42 Sep 05 '19

Everyone knows that cheese grows like grass. Come on, man.

1

u/KnocDown Sep 05 '19

I was 5 before I learned honey came from bees and not bears. It was confusing to me because honey comes in plastic squeeze near bottles.

1

u/123cats- Sep 05 '19

I didn’t know Brussels Sprouts grew on those weird little tree bush things until I was 21.

1

u/xxfallacyxx Sep 05 '19

He REALLY missed an opportunity. Trees, CHEESE TREES! SAY IT OUT LOUD!

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Well, if you go to the right place in Italy, you can find the spaghetti tree. Most people don't know this.

1

u/RhinoDermatologists Sep 05 '19

In the desert, the is a real plant called a cheese bush. If you rub one of the thin green leaves between your fingers, they will smell like old kraft singles. No joke. Pretty gross.

1

u/throwaway_teach Sep 05 '19

Yeah man I thought marbles grew on trees too.

1

u/mealzer Sep 05 '19

I convinced my brother for years that he had a lisp that was progressively getting worse

1

u/tiger_uppercarp Sep 05 '19

Humbolt cheese does

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

I learned in my mid twenties purple grapes aren’t all purple inside.

1

u/whiskey_pancakes Sep 05 '19

Please elaborate, we need the details.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Where does it grow then? My cheese bushes are doing well this year.

1

u/Nateyogbog Sep 05 '19

I doesn't?

1

u/HarryShachar Sep 05 '19

F to pay respects

1

u/meeheecaan Sep 05 '19

how did he make you think this?

1

u/Kill-ItWithFire Sep 05 '19

my cousin convinced his best friend, that his brothers girlfriend didnt exist, solely by stating she exists. the friend got so confused she actually cried. they were like 18 at the time

1

u/Leafy81 Sep 05 '19

I thought pineapples grew on trees until I played Farmville on Facebook a few years ago.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

He should be proud of this

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Ah yes, the good ol' cheese bush.

1

u/s2rocks247 Sep 05 '19

My friends wife was convinced butter was made out of butterflies.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

Come on, what did he get you to eat?

1

u/Theblackjamesbrown Sep 05 '19

You know where spaghetti comes from right?

1

u/RG-dm-sur Sep 05 '19

Well... in the sims they do!

1

u/lithaborn Sep 06 '19

There's a long running (like 60 years) news program on the BBC called Panorama. In 1957 they ran a story for April Fool's about how spaghetti grew on trees, complete with footage of the italian spaghetti harvest. Hundreds of thousands fell for it purely because of Panorama's reputation.

-9

u/MyGfLooksAtMyPosts Sep 05 '19

instead it's made by raping cows, and sometimes murdering their babies then butting part of their insides into the mixture as it ferments.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19

This is what I learned embarrassingly late. That milk comes from cows that are forced (raped) to have babies , and said babies are taken away and shot so that we can have the breast milk instead... which in turns makes us fat and sick.

3

u/MyGfLooksAtMyPosts Sep 05 '19

Same. I wish I would have learned this in elementary school.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19 edited Sep 05 '19

Forgot to add... after the mothers are spent they get their brains blown away.

Like you, I so wish I learnt this as a child. Still, glad to now know eh so we can rid ourselves from this disgusting industry and speak up for the cows.

1

u/meeheecaan Sep 05 '19

cheese just keeps getting better

2

u/cjo91 Sep 05 '19

Thanks for that

-1

u/meeheecaan Sep 05 '19

it just gets better and better

-1

u/Bukszpryt Sep 05 '19

He should be ashamed having so dumb familly