What's something that took you way too long to realize?

My grandfather convinced me when I was 4 or 5 years old that if I got salt on a rabbit's tail, it would slow it down and I'd be able to have one as a pet. I believed salt slowed down rabbits until I was probably 14 or 15. Turns out my grandfather really liked watching me chase rabbits with the salt shaker in the yard.
— IronMermaiden

It took me 45 yrs to realize that when someone said they had “astigmatism” they weren’t saying a “stigmatism”.
— ubpfc

It wasn't until quite recently that I realised that referring to a girl as a 'dime' means she's a 10. In fairness, I live in Australia so we don't use dimes as currency.
— FauxPoesFoes228

I was over 40 before I realized that water towers are for water pressure, not for storing water for an emergency.
— agreeswithfishpal

That the posts in the subreddit r/nosleep are fiction. I actually thought they were real until one day I started reading through the rules and saw that all comments have to pretend that the story is real.
— SailorrScout95

It dawned on my 2 years ago that the height measurements at a gas station door are so they have a description of a suspect should they get robbed. I'm 34.
— WasatchSLC

That no one really cares about my imaginary failings. If I'm wearing the wrong color combination, or feel like I'm jogging too slowly, or sit alone at a cafe - no one spares a second to think 'Oh, u/Stanzin7 is unfashionable, unfit, and a sad loner'. And how do I know this? Because I'VE never bothered to take a second to summarily list the shortcomings of all the people around me. Sounds like a fucking depressing mindset to have.
— Stanzin7

There are two phases of flower life for a dandelion: the yellow time and the seed time. It was like my world was flipped upside-down when I made the connection. Edit: [Here](http://i.imgur.com/Ea6x2d7.gif) is the .gif that changed my life
— PineappleMoles

Ray Bans aren't sunglasses made by the designer Mr Ray Ban. They are so named because they ban (sun) rays.
— Statscollector

When I was really little, maybe 5 or 6, I discovered that my dad had hung a bunch of plants upside down in the garage, and when I asked him about them he said he was "making sun-dried tomatoes", and despite the fact that he had hung them in our very dark garage where no sun ever hit, and there were absolutely no round red fruits resembling tomatoes on them, it wasn't till years later that I realized that those weren't tomato plants at all.
— VictorBlimpmuscle

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