h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Surprised this experience doesn't have a word for it in the Meaning of Liff.

Sometimes, in life, you make assumptions. I myself, for *years*, assumed the word "anxiety" was pronounced "ank-city". I knew there was a word pronounced "angz-eye-itty", but I simply didn't connect that word with the spelling until I was probably 13.

Similarly, my g/f realised just tonight that in the TV series "Heroes", one of the heroes - a Japanese guy who can bend space and time - is called "Hiro" because that sounds like "hero". It's important to know that she watched EVERY SINGLE episode of that series, and like most right minded people loved the first season and was disappointed by the rest. But it's been ages since that - she was watching Hawaii 5-0 this evening (in which the guy who played Hiro has a part) and there was an in-joke referring to his previous role (I love that intertextual stuff). And she JUST realised the name joke.

What have you been blissfully ignorant of for ages before eventually realising what you've been missing?

I thought Asterix was also the name for an asterisk.

Beat-em-ups. I always assumed that the buttons for moves were essentially randomly selected, with maybe a bit of design thrown in to make more impressive moves harder to get your fingers round. This would mean that becoming proficient would be, to a large extent, rote-learning the button chains before eventually finding ways of working them into your play. I simply couldn't be bothered with this, so I mashed random buttons whenever I played one, expecting to come across as pretty much an epileptic who occasionally breaks out an awesome move. The fact is that I didn't like beat-em-ups though, and never made any effort to examine further.
Then, a couple of months ago, a friend came over with a beat-em-up he was playing, and mentioned in passing that, to complete a certain move, you should rotate the analog stick to achieve a certain move, as that was the wind-up to the big punch. The buttons you press actually correspond (loosely, I assume) to the movements of the character which go to make up the move! This means that you might actually be able to intuit the buttons for a move from watching the character do it - or at least remember from the prompt - instantly transforming the genre from regurgitating rote-learning under pressure to manipulating a real avatar with known capabilities for you to discover and add to your skill-set . No wonder I wasn't often achieving awesome moves with discontinuous button-mashing!
I haven't yet bought a game to test this new knowledge with, but I will, and I expect I will enjoy it more than I thought possible a few months ago.

>> What have you been blissfully ignorant of for ages
before eventually realising what you've been missing? <<

Coming to h2g2 I was wary of wise-men but weary of fools.
Now I'm weary of wise-men and very wary of fools.

~jwf~

"I myself, for *years*, assumed the word "anxiety" was pronounced "ank-city". I knew there was a word pronounced "angz-eye-itty", but I simply didn't connect that word with the spelling until I was probably 13."

Aha! I did that with the word 'choir'! Took me a long time to reconcile the 'choy-er' with the imaginary word 'quire' which my brain had substituted (let's assume I was young enough not to have to deal with arcane measurements of paper at the time).

And I recently met a gentleman of senior years, and an ex-legal professional, who didn't realise that 'gaol' was the same as 'jail'. To say he was a bit embarrassed was an understatement.

B

Laid.

I had a "oh YEAH!" moment with "gaol" too. When I was a kid, though. I think it was 'Wind in the Willows' - doesn't Toad go to "gaol", where there's a "gaoler" - crikey that word is hard to type. My hands keep tying "goal".

They keep TYPING goal. Not tying.

I've only recent realised that life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese.

For many years I thought it was wrapped up with strawberries and cheese. Possibly not the best of culinary choices, but it made sense to me at the time.


Geggs

I thought it was served up with crackers and cheese myself.

What is, what does, a eggs horse pipe?
Must have been close to 12 before I got that red face.

I didnt "Get It" in my first marraige, but do get it in my second.....

I remember when my daughter was about 4 she was installing something on the computer, and she asked me "how many g's in dot eggsy?"

Took me a minute to get that one...

"when my daughter was about 4 she was installing something on the computer"

They grow up so fast...

@ Post 5: To be fair MB, I gather that 'quire' is actually an archaic spelling of 'choir'. I remember hearing about a cathedral school (I think it might be York Minster) with a renowned boys' choir, among whom the elite choristers are known as "quiristers", even though it is just an archaic version of the same word.
Ah, it's Winchester College. Here's some support:
http://www.winchestercollege.org/quiristers
http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/highlights/the-quire

Today at the supermarket, my eldest asked if they really sold lion steaks.
They were loin steaks.

I think all parents of our generation have got pictures of a wee tot looking cute with a mouse and keyboard. Human lolcats, as it were. Thing is, though...that's just what they do nowadays!

My son hates his primary school computer classes because 'They don't even teach you to code!'

When I was kid I didn't get it why my parents locked the door to their bedroom while they were 'having a sleep' during the day because they didn't lock the door during the night when they were sleeping

Hah! I didn't get why my parents sent us to Sunday School.