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19 People Tell Us The Hilarious Things They Learned Super Late, And No Judgment. OK, A Little.

"I thought 'flipping the bird' meant kids capturing birds and just chucking them at random people."

Recently we shared a viral Reddit thread in which people shared the things they learned embarrassingly late, and they were seriously funny:

Well, in response, members of the BuzzFeed Community chimed in with some hilariously late learnings in the comments section, and turns out they've got some doozies of their own:

1. "I only recently found out that ponies are not baby horses, but full-sized ponies."

Booknerd13

2. "I thought lions and tigers were the same animal all throughout my teenage years — that lions were the boys, and tigers were the girls."

lizk41ced1621

3. "Once, when I was 20, a friend told me he was sad and that he had blue balls. I didn't know what blue balls meant yet, so I asked him if there was anything I could do to help."

4. "I thought handbags were called 'hambags' until I was 15. It was only when I asked my mom if they were used to carry hams in the olden days that I learned the truth. And she fucking died laughing."

catkin

5. "That 'in-law' means literally related by law."

bornagainproperties79

6. "I used to think that when we eat and drink, it just collects in your stomach until it's completely full — then you throw it all up and start the process anew.

7. "Until I was about 5, I thought boys breathed through their mouths and girls breathed out of their noses."

mallayne21

8. "That the Washington Redskins play for Washington, DC, not the state of Washington."

buzzcat99

9. "Five years ago, I learned that a chest of drawers wasn't called a Chester Drawer and named after a person named Chester. I'm 37 years old."

10. "I thought groundhogs were a mythical creature until I saw one in my backyard when I was 16. I thought I was high at first."

eilam2

11. "I was at least 11 when I figured out that 'elbow grease' isn't a secretion that comes from your elbows when you clean things vigorously. My mother used to say, 'Put some elbow grease into it!' and I'd start scrubbing like my life depended on it...and occasionally tapping my right elbow to see if anything had come out."

imnotsadyouresad

12. "I thought 'prima donna' was 'pre-Madonna' and that it referred to a singer who embodied the era before Madonna."

13. "It was a long time before I realized that when people say 'a quarter to' or 'a quarter after,' they mean 15 minutes. I hadn't heard that phrase when I was learning to tell time, so I assumed that since a quarter was 25 cents, 'a quarter to' meant 25 minutes."

blackzephyr

14. "I didn't know that lambs were baby sheep until I was 32. I was horrified."

corinnez2

15. "I thought that people only named their kid 'Justice' if they wanted them to be a judge when they grow up. Then I thought, 'No, that's ridiculous — people just change their first name to 'Justice' when they become a judge.'

16. "I thought 'flipping the bird' meant kids capturing birds and just chucking them at random people."

danielles45dd15ad4

17. "I only recently learned that a wolverine is an actual animal."

krystalw4fe00ea7c

18. "On street signs, 'Parkway' is abbreviated as 'Pkwy.' My dumb ass thought it stood for 'Pillwocky' until I was at least 13."

And last, one that unquestionably takes the cake:

19. "I thought Joe Biden was Barack Obama's butler until 2014."

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Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.