s/o adults should know this - retrospectively obvious things you've just learned

[White Dragon]

If you want to quickly know the meaning of a word or how to pronounce it, Google "define <word>".   For most words, the definition appears with a phonetic guide, which has a little microphone next to it.  Click on the microphone to hear the pronunciation.

If there's no microphone, Google "pronounce <word>".  There will be links to talking dictionaries.  Sadly, when I Googled "pronounce epitome", I got this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfwNi16eHog

I've been spoiled on the desktop, where I can highlight a word, and right click, at which point one of my options is to google the highlighted.  (Flamingvixen, don't usually use other browsers, so cant vouch). I do love my iPad, but manually opening another window, after manipulating it into copying, is just enough trouble to make me skip it. (why yes, I was one of the children who only kneew words from reading them, and mispronounced,  I believe Xanth is what finally made the connection between the spoken word eh-pit-oh-me and written word epi-tome. I blame middle school science where'd we learned the prefix epi-

I learned it from Calvin and Hobbes, where Calvin has to recite a "secret password" poem.
The poem is several stanzas long and includes a part where tigers are the 'e-pit-o-me of quiet grace and dignity.'.

Thank you Bill Watterston!

[guihong]

I'm 50, and just learned today that Dr. Pepper and root beer aren't the same thing  .

[Brisvegasgal]

I didn't realise that aluminium foil had a right side out for cooking.

[Iris]

As far as I know, "quay" is properly pronounced "key."  From Eric Bogle, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda:

And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve, and to mourn, and to pity.

Blows the rhyme scheme right out of the water if it's pronounced "kay" or "kway".

I can second that in Australia, at least, it's definitely 'key'. You would never catch the ferry to Manly from Circular "Kway" or "Kay".

OT - that song never fails to choke me up.

[Jelaza]

I didn't realise that aluminium foil had a right side out for cooking.

As far as I know it doesn't.

[artk2002]

As far as I know, "quay" is properly pronounced "key."  From Eric Bogle, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda:

And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve, and to mourn, and to pity.

Blows the rhyme scheme right out of the water if it's pronounced "kay" or "kway".

I can second that in Australia, at least, it's definitely 'key'. You would never catch the ferry to Manly from Circular "Kway" or "Kay".

OT - that song never fails to choke me up.

That one and Green Fields of France. He's brilliant. I was in Sydney many years ago and walked down to Circular Quay from my hotel and just stood there and cried.

[Delia DeLyons]

I had read Hermione as a 'yooneeq' spelling of Harmony :-/ my family actually had debates over it, since we all read the books together.

The tabs on either end of the plastic wrap (or foil) box to hold the roll in place blew my mind!

Also, the little hook inside my gas compartment door of my car, to hang my gas cap from while fueling - love it!  Took 3+ years of ownership to realize that it was *for* something, and not just an extra metal bit...

[Catananche]

The pointy bit on kitchen scissors? You use it to pop the vacuum when a lid is stuck on a glass jar.

[IslandMama]

The pointy bit on kitchen scissors? You use it to pop the vacuum when a lid is stuck on a glass jar.

Or you turn the jar upside down, give it a little shake and turn it right way up and open it.  If you do that then you've pushed the contents into the little air pocket on top and... well, you filled the vacuum.

(My grandmother used to do that, she saved the jars and lids for preserving fruit and making jam and the lids were never quite right if you'd popped the seal with a knife as most people are prone to do)

[Catananche]

Or you turn the jar upside down, give it a little shake and turn it right way up and open it.  If you do that then you've pushed the contents into the little air pocket on top and... well, you filled the vacuum.

(My grandmother used to do that, she saved the jars and lids for preserving fruit and making jam and the lids were never quite right if you'd popped the seal with a knife as most people are prone to do)

That doesn't always work, sometimes the contents of the jar refuse to move. I've never ruined a seal with my scissor trick and I've made (and still make!) lots of jams and jellies.

[Thipu1]

I had read Hermione as a 'yooneeq' spelling of Harmony :-/ my family actually had debates over it, since we all read the books together.

The tabs on either end of the plastic wrap (or foil) box to hold the roll in place blew my mind!

Also, the little hook inside my gas compartment door of my car, to hang my gas cap from while fueling - love it!  Took 3+ years of ownership to realize that it was *for* something, and not just an extra metal bit...

I never had a problem with Hermione because I grew up in the generation that saw Hermione Gingold on television.  Also, Hermione was the daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek literature.   

[marcel]

On the subject of rings, I was at least late teens, early 20s before I found out that it was common for married women to wear both an engagement ring and a wedding ring.  I believed that you got an engagement ring when engaged, then traded it in for a wedding ring.  (Mom never had an engagement ring, but I knew they were a thing so naturally I assumed she traded it in.)

But, are you aware of the fact that there are married people who have neither ring.

(It was only halfway during my brthers reception that I realised that he and his wif hadn't exchanged rings.)

[wx4caster]

I once met someone who said her daughter was called, I think, Ermyone (or rather that's what I heard) after the girl in the Harry Potter books. I often wondered if they would change the pronunciation when they realised it was wrong.

For myself. I know perfectly well how to pronounce quay, but in my head, when I'm reading it will always be kway.

Ermyone or Air-a-m-one would be the French pronunciation of Hermione. Not wrong, just not English.

The name that tripped me up for years was Penelope. It was a light bulb moment realizing it didn't rhyme with cantaloupe.

[Shalamar]

Me too!   I also thought Persephone was pronounced "Percy-phone".

[baglady]

I was surprised to discover that Brits pronounce "buoy" like "boy." Here in the states I've always heard/said "boo-ee." That explains the song that contains the line:

"Just then a voice cried out, 'Ahoy!'
And there was me mother just sitting on a buoy
That's meaning a buoy for the ships that sail
And not a boy that's a juvenile male."