1.
“The size of the Great Lakes. The number of people who just don’t believe that you can’t see across most of Lake Michigan. Or that the lakes can produce any kind of waves at all, let alone of ship-sinking size. A friend was going to a wedding in the Upper Peninsula and told me they were also going to spend a day kayaking around Lake Superior. I said, ‘Cool! What part?’ And they looked at me like I was an idiot and said, ‘All the way around? I’ve got a whole day.’ I wish I were kidding.”
4.
“When I became a wheelchair user, I thought ‘wheelchairs don’t do stairs’ was common knowledge. So imagine my shock when I started coming across people who thought 3-5 steps would still be considered ‘wheelchair accessible.’ This is why we need to be super specific when asking if a place is wheelchair accessible. We need to ask if there is step-free access. ‘Oh yeah, we are wheelchair accessible, there are just one or two steps’ isn’t an acceptable answer.”
5.
“As an Aussie: the size of Australia and the distance/travel time between places in Australia. You can start in one state, drive for three days, and still be in the same state. We’re basically the size of the US with nowhere near the population or inhabitable landscape.”
6.
“Percentages are reciprocal. If someone is struggling to figure out 8% of 25, just tell them it’s the same as 25% of 8. It seems to blow people’s minds.”
7.
“That the seasons are reversed in the northern and southern hemispheres. As an Australian, this is a fact we all know from a very young age. When I first went overseas at age 16, I quickly learnt that many, many people (including full-grown adults) in the northern hemisphere have no idea about this.”
8.
“This may sound like common sense, but you’d be SHOCKED. Chickens will lay eggs nearly every day regardless of the presence of a rooster. It’s the equivalent of a period not a baby.”
9.
“You should NOT pee on someone who was just stung by a jellyfish. It doesn’t help anything and now you’re pissing on someone who is already in a lot of physical pain.”
10.
“I don’t know about most, but a lot of people near me: That the ACA (Affordable Care Act) and ‘Obamacare’ are the same piece of legislation.”
11.
“Green bell peppers are the unripe versions of yellow, orange, red, and purple peppers. (ETA I didn’t say those colors were stages of ripeness. Orange bell plants will grow orange peppers. Red bell plants will grow red peppers. But they start green, and you have to let them ripen.”
12.
“No child in the US has ever been harmed by poisoned Halloween candy handed out by a stranger. Never. All those decades of X-raying candy at the police station, etc., were totally bogus and unnecessary. Two children were given poisoned Pixie Sticks by their own father, but the little girl didn’t eat hers, and her brother died in time to warn the other children in the neighborhood. (Dad handed a few out, to divert suspicion, it was a life insurance scam) It happened in Deer Park, Texas, outside Houston.”
14.
“The lack of knowledge religious people have about their religion tends to surprise me.”
15.
“Tax brackets! No, Bob, taxes won’t wipe out the raise you just turned down. You’re just an idiot.”
16.
“That the UK has not left the European continent, just the European Union. The amount of people who genuinely think we’re not part of Europe anymore shocks me.”
18.
“Tariffs are paid by the end user. They are initially paid by the importer but are passed along to the consumer.”
19.
“You COULDN’T care less. This is something I could care less about and really should.”
20.
“The POTUS doesn’t have unlimited authority and cannot rule by decree. I’ve met so many people on all sides of the political spectrum who don’t know civics. They keep saying, ‘Why doesn’t the president just ban/enact X?’ They are all surprised when I point out the president doesn’t have such authority.”
21.
“That society isn’t just a magical thing that happens and works, and that if enough people start to neglect it, it falls into disrepair. It’s easy to forget that this is all just made up. Laws don’t really exist unless we all agree they do.”
22.
“An awful lot of people I talk to don’t realize their tax refund is their money anyway.”
24.
“Ponies are not baby horses, just like how chihuahua and pugs are not baby dogs. Ponies are a type of horse that stay small even as adults.”
25.
“That ‘German Chocolate Cake’ has nothing to do with Germany. It’s named after an American guy named Sam German, who invented the specific baking chocolate for it. I mentioned this at a party, and people looked at me like I’d just told them the sky was green.”
26.
“Growing up, I thought every household had constant yelling, walking on eggshells, and random silent treatments. Took me way too long to realize a lot of people actually grew up in calm, supportive homes, and that mine wasn’t ‘normal conflict’, it was just unhealthy.”
27.
“Lots of people have no idea who Amerigo Vespucci was, even though he’s widely known in my country. If you’re wondering, he’s the one who realized that Christopher Columbus had actually reached a new continent rather than India. That’s where the name ‘America’ comes from.”
28.
“Caffeine stays in your body for 10 hours. A lot of people I know complain about not being able to sleep, and I see them having coffee, tea, or caffeinated soda at 4 pm…I’m like, that’s why…”
30.
“Your nose is part of your respiratory system. Meaning if you wear a mask, COVER YOUR DAMN NOSE.”
31.
And finally, “The little arrow by the gas icon on a dashboard indicates what side of the car the gas cap is on.”
What’s something you thought was common knowledge, but is apparently new or unknown to others? Comment below!