What did you discover relatively late on in life that everyone else had known for years?

That you can't please all off the people all of the time

i didn't know the abobe either, and frankly i don't even understand the first two.
doesn't impact me, so I don't mind.
the third reminds me that I've heard peanuts are not really nuts but ?legumes, and the ground-nut scandal in east Africa. suppose they call peanuts ground-nuts there. so even they've got it wong.
I do remember from school, having to learn the table of fruits, that a tomato is a berry. not sure how far that gets me. also something about grasses and di-coteledons and mono-coteledons. zylum and floem channels in trees.
I did find it strange that in the late 1990s, people referred to the realm by an antique term, cool Britannia. it was many years later, hearing something on tv that I realised it was to rhyme with and reference the patriotic song, rule Britannia.
I din;t know that one was allowed to have a deposit account as well as a current account at a bank. or that I could have claimed housing benefit when at college, or even what/ that h,b. was. not did I know that I could claim unemployment benefit after a-levels, as I'd not paid any N>I>, so assumed I was not entitled to it. as I'd not been employed yet, officially, how could I claim to be unemployed.
more recently, I'm quite annoyed that I've read twice recently that full-time, unpaid, resident carers could get a council tax discount. I specifically rang the council and asked about this, but was assured by a woman from that office that I had to pay the normal rate.
anyone know about this. guess its too late now anyway. changed situation since over a year. feeling low,

I never knew that water was referred to as "council pop" until about 3 years ago.

That the world map was not a correct representation of country sizes and that Africa is substantially larger.

I didn't know that an anchovy was a fish until I was in my late 20s.

I never knew that water was referred to as "council pop" until about 3 years ago.

It was 'corporation pop' when I was a child in the North West.

Love these!

I also didn’t know — until recently— that Cleopatra lived closer to us time wise that she did to the building of the Great Pyramids.

That the outside of a tomato purée tube has a pointy bit in it that you use to break the foil when opening the tube for the first time.

That Banoffee pie was banana + toffee. I thought it was the name of a place!

That the lyrics in the Dire Straights song are actually "Money for nothing and your chicks for free".
I thought it was "chips for free".

I didn't find out until my 30s that oxtail soup was made with an actual oxes tail.

Bananas are plants, herbs, not trees

I didn't know that Brazil nuts are seeds

muffinthemoo the same with tubes of ointment (I knew)

It was quite a long time before I learned that koalas are not bears

Well, promise not to laugh(or cry!) but, been driving for years, no probs at all. Just lately, having trouble with neck, when backing out of our drive, instead of turning to look. . .i used my wing mirrors to pass end of drive. It was much easier!! Sigh!

The the Beat in Beatles was a reference to the beat in music!

I never knew that AllotmentLil!

seconds out ! round two. at a wrestling/ boxing bout.
I'd assumed it was an old/American way of saying, time's up. ie the time of the interval had expired, resume action.
my brother recently informed me that it referred to seconds, as in duel-ing, ie the supporter/assistant of the contenders. so time for them to quit the ring. makes sense, but I still have the original understanding stuck in my muddled mind.

This type of thing could have its own thread but I just realized last week tat Elton John was singing "alter bound" and not "hauled about" in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight".

tat that

I was trying to come up with something similar to what others posted because I know that there are several items I was fascinated to learn just lately. For the life of me, though, I can't remember what they are. Grrr, this memory thing is the pits.

I never knew that there is a little gas pump icon on the side of the fuel guage on a car's dashboard to tell you on which side of the car the filler tube is located. Hallelujah !!!
I always had to get out of the car to look??

That Andrea Bocelli was blind.

That in Golden Brown, the Stranglers didn't lie down with their mancheros, who I'd assumed were something like their compadres.

That pineapples don't grow on trees.