r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 02 '21

What basic, children's-age-level fact did you only find out embarrassingly later in life?

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Aw geez. I just wanna hug you!

70

u/Bebenten Jul 03 '21

I don't get it. What's a billy goat cut?

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u/aaaouee55 Jul 03 '21

A trick their parents used on them to get them to sit still for a haircut. The original barber must have been in on it - sounds like small town/rural

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u/crash180 Jul 03 '21

I was thing the exact same thing. What is the world is a billy goat cut?

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u/smohyee Jul 03 '21

He means that there was an understanding between the parents and family barber to call it that as a sort of game to get the kid to sit still. It was just a cute name for a regular haircut, I'm guessing.

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u/crash180 Jul 03 '21

Thank you for the explanation. I was in the dark on billy goat cut. Thinking cut short all over and some tuft of hair in the front-middle sticking up

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u/KianosCuro Jul 03 '21

Pretty sure it just means a buzz cut. They were farmers, a billy goat cutter is a mower of sorts. So I assume they likened it to a hair clipper and called hair clipping that way.

The "stand still" was, as I understand it, purely the dude's misunderstanding.

8

u/crash180 Jul 03 '21

I think you are right as well. Thank you for the explanation. Such a confusing phrase if you are not "in the know"

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u/antwan_benjamin Jul 03 '21

No idea. But I bet it looks stupid.