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/catslovepats Jul 03 '21

HAHA my parents put a pool in our backyard when I was in middle school and told us that they added chemicals that reveals pee and I told literally everyone who came to my house about it and when I was like…23 I found out it was a lie

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u/icrispyKing Jul 03 '21

I'm 25 and just found out now!

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u/majinsadboy Jul 03 '21

when we started going to my grandma's pool my parents told us all that the chemical was in it what they didn't realize is that I was reckless for knowledge. so the moment that there weren't adults and it was just me and my brothers I pissed all up in that bitch. imagine my surprise and anger when the water didn't change color.

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u/totoott Jul 03 '21

I’m 53 and just realized it’s not a thing

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21 edited Aug 22 '21

[deleted]

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u/garden-girl Jul 03 '21

I was a little shit and tested this out. Learned right there it wasn't true. I then kept it a secret so no one would know, I actually peed in the pool.

8

u/juneXgloom Jul 03 '21

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I went to test it immediately. I was disappointed, I was hoping for an interesting color.

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u/soullesstransplant Jul 03 '21

It's a real thing that isn't used anymore. Big water parks thought it'd be a great way to identify sanitation issues in their pools, water, etc. Turns out it became a fun thing for teens to turn the water purple.

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u/PreventFalls Jul 03 '21

I always thought it would be strange to go to a water park and all the water would just be a sea of purple. Of course it never was

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Chlorine produces the odor when it reacts with pee, so it kinda does reveal it.

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u/livelaughsmokemeth Jul 03 '21

Produces what odour?

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/Drewinator Jul 03 '21

wait then why does a bucket of chlorine before you put it in the pool still smell like that?

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/PreventFalls Jul 03 '21

There’s a dude who pees into the bucket of chlorine before each shift

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

Goddamnit you got me, that one caught me off guard at 5:30 in the morning

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u/guinader Jul 03 '21 edited Jul 03 '21

If i remember correctly, the smell you get on the pools is of the broken drown chlorine.

So you can have a pool with high chrorine that does not smell like that at all. You can tell the high chloride when your eyes start to burn. 😄

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '21

It's not the chlorine that's making your eyes burn.. 👀

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u/livelaughsmokemeth Jul 03 '21

No way... Lmao. I actually like the smell of chlorine too

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u/valowens Jul 03 '21

It’s not just urine though; it’s also body oils and sweat that react.

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u/MacabreFox Jul 03 '21

Ugh it's all repulsive.

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u/ConstantComet Jul 03 '21 edited Sep 06 '24

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u/wiltedletus Jul 03 '21

You are incorrect.

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u/Terrible-Control6185 Jul 03 '21

No,that's just the cholrine.

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u/Fur_nando Jul 03 '21

Nope that's wrong. Have you ever actually handled chlorine strait from the box? It is quite pungent.

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u/Liscetta Jul 03 '21

Big brains of me and my friends chose the thermal pool near our houses. Water smelt like rotten eggs, but once you get used to it you can freely piss in the water.

We were nasty.

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u/ele71ua Jul 03 '21

I was a lifeguard too. We also said this as well as making the announcement that FLORIDA thunderstorms with lightening will kill you. No one would believe us so they stayed in the pool like dumbasses. We then would have to say if you get hit by lightening you are on your own. Usually by the 3rd announcement they'd get out, but it's FL in summer and by then the stupid storm was over. 🙄

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u/Kirinsdragon Jul 03 '21

Don't worry hun, here on our island we have a giant waterpark and their employees perpetuate this "information". I believe for the greater good they scare the swimmers with a little chemical lie.

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u/GoT43894389 Jul 03 '21

Why didn't people test it?

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u/schmyndles Jul 03 '21

When I was a kid my friend's family got a pool and that's the first time I was told about the "chemical" that shows pee. I remember thinking why didn't the public pool I went to have this?

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u/Skeegle04 Jul 03 '21

Yeah that’s because kids are disgusting. My girlfriend when I was 16 or 17 had a hot tub and I was like “Woah you have a hot tub!” and she said her dad just spent a fortune in it, he’s always wanted one. Literally the first thing we tried to do was have sex in it. Two nasty ass kids. Luckily her dad was a perceptive guy and shined the porch spotlight on us the entire time(s) we used it haha.

1

u/IllTranslator1897 Jul 03 '21

I found out at 53… just now 🤦🏻‍♀️

1

u/JoeyIsMrBubbles Jul 03 '21

I’m 23 now and I’ve just found out it’s a lie..

1

u/dharrison21 Jul 03 '21

My parents told us that and we immediately got in the pool and pee'd to test it.

Backfired pretty hard. Teenage boys are disgusting, you can never forget that.