What’s Something You Learned Embarrassingly Late in Life?

No matter our age, we should never stop learning, growing, and expanding our understanding of the world around us. While this fact can lead to beautiful epiphanies, it can also lead to utter humiliation. As I write this, someone somewhere just had their pronunciation of “Tupperware” corrected—much to the joy of the corrector, and much to the embarrassment of the offender.

It’s not always our fault that we can live long, happy lives with certain delusions or blindspots. A lot of it has to do with how we were raised. You’ll never forget your first roommate who needed to learn that when they wipe crumbs off the counter, those crumbs have to end up somewhere. I know I still cringe when I think about my first partner gently telling me that I was destroying their good knife by routinely sticking it in the dishwasher. More benignly, I have a friend who was well into adulthood when they discovered that ponies are not, in fact, baby horses; but in their defense, how often does that fact come up, really?

But it’s not all ponies versus baby horses (sadly). That’s why I’m asking you, dear Lifehacker reader, to comment below a fact you (or someone you know) learned embarrassingly late in life. I understand I’m asking you to be vulnerable here: How old were you when you first understood how to unclog a toilet? Do you have a partner who thought taxes were optional? Did you never learn how to roll a joint, and figured it’s too late to ask now? (I’m here to tell you that it is never, ever too late to ask.)

After you share your responses, I’ll round them up into a separate post, so that fellow late bloomers can learn from your mistakes. If nothing else, your embarrassingly late-in-life discoveries might give a stranger on the internet a good chuckle. And for that, I thank you in advance.