• MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    I was certain that a gander was a group of geese. Why? Because apparently everybody who has ever used the phrase “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” around me was using it wrong. I just learned this week that a gander is a male goose. So based on misuse, I thought that the phrase meant that what’s beneficial for one is beneficial for the greater group, but what it really means is that what’s acceptable in the case for one should be equally acceptable for others in the same situation.

    I’m nearly 36 and I would say that I’m smarter than most people, but this was a gaping hole in my knowledge that was pretty damn humbling to learn of and correct.

      • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        No, it’s more like “if Larry gets a 10% grade reduction for turning his paper in a day late to you, then I shouldn’t be getting this 20% grade reduction for turning this paper in a day late to you.” It’s more of a call for things to be fair and give everybody equal treatment.

        There was a recent court decision regarding Donald Trump that, more or less, appointing a special counsel for the purposes of DOJ impartiality is not constitutionally acceptable. As a result, Hunter Biden, who was investigated and prosecuted via special counsel in order to maintain impartiality from the DOJ since his father is the sitting president, essentially argued that “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” Meaning that if Donald Trump should have his case dismissed under the pretext of special counsel being an invalid idea, then so too should Hunter Biden. That decision was already generally seen as fucking silly, but the silliness was put on full display for partisan hacks and their audience.

    • themadcodger@kbin.earth
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      15 hours ago

      If it makes you feel any better, you were actually almost right. These days the brassica oleracea has several well-known cultivars, including Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale and kohlrabi, all of which come from the same species of plant.

      Also, relevant xkcd.

  • vaguerant@fedia.io
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    16 hours ago

    For years I thought Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) and Mickey Rourke (1952-present) were the same guy. I’d see Mickey Rooney in a movie and be like “Wow, he’s looking pretty good for his age,” thinking he was a man 32 years his senior and/or dead.

    I finally twigged when I eventually saw Iron Man 2 (2009) and was like “How is he doing this?!” and actually looked him up.

  • hushable@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    As a non American who has never been to the US, but grew up well within its sphere of cultural influence.

    I thought that about half of the population was black, maybe 40% minimum. I was surprised to learn that it was just above 10% in reality.

  • ⚛️ Color 🎨@lemm.ee
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    16 hours ago

    The pronunciation for the name “Byrne”. I was pronouncing it like “by-ernie” as if I were excitedly saying “bye, Ernie! 😃”

    Then I found out it’s pronounced like “burn”! 😂

  • 11111one11111@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    That Tom Brady was a product of a winning system and would be average at best if he played with another organization. What made me realize I was wrong? Fuckin ring number 7 and our (the Bills) absolute owning of New England ever since he left.

  • lohky@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    That my dad cared about or respected me. After a family dinner, my wife asked me if he always talked about me like that and it just kind of clicked. Things like telling my kid, “If you play too many video games, they’ll melt your brain like your dad” or “why would anyone pay you that much” when I told them that I broke a six figure salary. She made me realize that this wasn’t normal and I didn’t have to sit there and listen to it just because of who he is.

    I haven’t spoken to him or really any of my side of the family in almost two years now. Good riddance.

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    13 hours ago

    Until well into adulthood, I assumed that Katherine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn were mother and daughter. A few years ago, I overheard some TV documentary saying that Katherine Hepburn never had any children. They’re not related in any way. I was shocked.

    • hactar42@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      Reminds me of when I was a kid watching Annie, I figured since it was set in the 1930s, it was filmed back then. I got really confused when I was a teenager and saw a rerun of the Carrol Burnett Show.

  • traches@sh.itjust.works
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    15 hours ago

    Raised conservative christian, took a disgustingly long time to lose some of my shittier takes

    • nickiwest@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      I recently saw a shirt for sale online that says, “I’m sorry for everything I said when I was evangelical,” and that really just about sums it up.

    • Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      14 hours ago

      Fellow former conservative christian here, and I share that pain. I eventually came around thanks to a LOT of patience from friends who understood my background.

      I try to pay it forward by putting myself out there and extending a hand to anyone looking to understand and accept others. I have had decent success with anyone who asks in good faith.

    • dethedrus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 hours ago

      Don’t beat yourself up. Seriously.

      I was able to break free early partly due to how absurd the hypocrisy became. My mother was going to hell, not because she’s a cold narcissist, but a Jew and a ‘practitioner’ of new age bullshit. And my father saw nothing at all wrong with this type of belief.

      Not to mention he was pretty racist (though in a ‘subtle’ way), while helping raise my adopted Korean sister.

      I was lucky that he and my mother were such atrociously bad examples of how to deal with others, that I vowed to never be like them.

  • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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    16 hours ago

    The longest was probably the vegetarian → vegan pipeline.
    My position was that ‘employment’ of animals was humanely possible, if you genuinely treated them like you’d want to be treated.

    It was until I read how cows need to basically be kept continuously pregnant, that I realized there was just no way.
    I believe, you could have a bite of cheese every year or so, if we don’t do forceful impregnation, but at that point, why even bother?

    • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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      4 hours ago

      The US government stores over a billion pounds of cheese in enormous caves. I think we can probably get away with reducing production quite a bit.

      • didntbuyasquirrel@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        I had to explain to someone recently that the person who told him chicken is vegan was fucking with him. He was genuinely still a little confused after.

        There was a crazy amount of people conflating organic with vegan when that fur hat J6 guy went to prison and asked for a special diet too.

        • undefined@links.hackliberty.org
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          4 hours ago

          I generally don’t mention it if I can help it, or I just say I don’t eat animal products. But people still have a hard time figuring out basic things like honey is an animal product.

          Look, I just don’t want to disturb the animals if I can help it, alright? It’s just super unnecessary for my survival.

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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      14 hours ago

      I mean maybe eggs, if allowed to roam and given their shells back. But modern chickens are just absolutely genetically ravaged by centuries of breeding for absurd egg output and massive growth.

      Before domestication they’d lay about a dozen a year. Now they lay once a day or so.

      • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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        24 minutes ago

        Chickens always gave a lot of eggs. That’s why they were popular since ancient times. As long as they had surplus food, they start laying eggs. A dozen a year is just misinformation - that’s only in the wild, during spring because that’s when they have a surplus a food. If humans feed them every day, then they lay eggs because they always have extra food.

        We raised free roaming wild chickens. The hens had a high up coop we’d close to keep safe from predators that they’d return to on their own at night.

  • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    12 hours ago

    Shame about sex stuff, because of growing up in a Christian household. Took me until my 20s before I was comfortable with… everything.

    Now I have over a grand in Bad Dragon stuff and another grand in other fun things and I’m basically asexual so I rarely use anything. BUT WHEN I DO… we get WEIRD about it.