When you were a kid, you probably assumed you knew everything about the world. Whether you learned things from your friends, your parents, or that strange kid who lived down the street from you, adding little nuggets of information into your life probably made you think everything you were learning and doing was completely normal. Until…you realized the truth.
Unfortunately, not everything we think or do is considered normal. While we’re young, we’re more inclined to believe what our parents or guardians tell us, or just assume that nothing is wrong because our world was never challenged. However, as we get older, we slowly engage with other friends and environments and begin to find out that what we thought was considered the standard, is actually far from the truth. And this can be eye-opening and heartbreaking all at the same time.
Luckily, no one goes through this experience alone; this happens to a lot of us. While you might’ve thought everyone in the world has the same thought pattern as you or you just assumed that all families included rice with their meals (they don’t?), you’re not the only one. Thankfully, people have felt the need to reveal the weirdest things they thought were normal on Reddit, so we scoured the best stories and provided them below. If this makes you feel less alone in the world, then good, we did our job.
1. When a male thought wrapping a towel around his body was necessary.
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He soon realized he didn’t have to cover his upper body.
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When you’re a child, you’re more inclined to mimic what your family does. It’s a form of admiration, and it’s quite adorable if you think about it. However, this young man took things quite literally when he used to see his mother and two older sisters wrap a towel around their bodies. While they did it to cover their private parts, this Redditor did it because he thought it was the only way to use a towel. He soon learned that wasn’t the case.
2. Eating citrus makes your lips and throat tingle.
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Only if you have an allergy.
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Good news: This person realized they’re allergic to citrus fruits. Bad news: It took them 21 years to come to this conclusion. Not sure why it took them so long to realize this, but at least they were only dealing with a minor allergy. Gotta look at the positive, right?
3. They thought a remote was called a terminator.
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10 points to the parents.
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It’s completely normal for kids to mistake specific objects or people for different words. One might call a toilet a potty, while another child might call their grandma “gram-wa.” Unfortunately, unbeknownst to this Redditor, they thought the TV remote control was supposed to be called a “terminator.” They quickly learned at a sleepover this was incorrect.
4. Bananas are spicy.
They thought this was normal for 27 years?
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Bananas can be sweet, tangy, and even tough to bite into. But spicy? Well, that’s something new. According to this Redditor, every time they ate a banana, they claimed that their mouth would burn. Unfortunately, it took them 27 years to realize they had an allergy. Hopefully, they’re not eating any more bananas.
5. A child thought lasagna was always made with vegetables.
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It’s his mom’s fault.
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As parents, you always want to make sure that your kids are eating healthy. You’ll probably make sure to include vegetables and fruits into every meal and force them to drink enough water so they won’t dehydrate. According to this Redditor, though, they claimed that their mom took things too far by never introducing them to a traditional meat lasagna and only making vegetable lasagnas at home. Thankfully, their friend’s family showed them a new way.
6. That they can hear and taste colors.
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This is different.
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While it sounds amazing to have the ability to hear, feel, and taste colors, it’s not an experience most people have the opportunity to go through. If you or someone who you know experiences this, they have Synesthesia, which is a “neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses,” according to Healthline. Even though there’s no treatment for this condition, it seems pretty harmless to have.
7. When they always thought the world was a little bit blurry.
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This is heartbreaking.
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When it comes to sight conditions, it can be hard to distinguish what’s normal and what’s different. For years, you could experience the world by seeing reds as greens or consider far away blurry objects as the standard. Luckily, this Redditor realized early in their life that their near-sightedness wasn’t normal once their teacher noticed that they couldn’t properly see the board that was in front of their class. Even though this caused them to cry for hours once they realized what the world actually looked like, at least they now have the ability to see the world through a whole new lens.
8. When a child thought it was normal to fart in public.
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Blame this on the parents.
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Kids do the darndest things. While most children can be dirty, forget to brush their teeth, or even refuse to comb their hair, they eventually learn that these behaviors are not normal. How they realize this, though, is usually during embarrassing situations. Just look at this Redditor. For the longest time, they assumed it was normal to fart in public until their teacher told them it wasn’t. Yikes.
9. Eating rice with every meal.
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Wait, this isn’t normal?
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Who wouldn’t love to eat rice with every meal? Not only is it tasty, but it can also fill you up pretty quickly. Most Asian and Hispanic families would agree and even choose to include this carb in almost every dish, but, when a friend of this Redditor went to spend the day with another friend at their house to eat, they cried when they realize they weren’t getting rice with their meal. We probably would have done the same thing.
10. Someone thought the smell of weed is what air was supposed to smell like.
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They were so wrong.
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If someone were to ask you to describe what air smells like, what would you say? While you probably would say something along the lines of “nothing,” this Redditor would probably have said earthy or smokey when they were little. Before they spent the night at their grandparents’ house, this kid thought the smell of pot was how the world smelled because their parents smoked it all the time. Luckily, this is no longer the case.
11. The eye crust is called “fairy poo.”
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Well, this is embarrassing.
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Even though this is an endearing way to call the crust you get in between your eyes after a restful night’s sleep, it’s not exactly accurate. However, according to this Reddit user, they thought this was fact. While they no longer say this out loud in public, we can safely assume their family won’t let this go for years to come.
12. Saying a weird phrase for putting on your shoes.
They thought it was normal at least.
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We all have our own weird quirks and phrases. It’s what differentiates us from each other. But if you ever found out that your friend or loved one said they were “dressing their feet” instead of “putting on their shoes,” like this Redditor used to do, well, we wouldn’t blame you if you slightly made fun of them.
13. Lemons and limes are the same things.
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Not exactly.
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This isn’t that weird to think of, though. One might assume limes turn into lemons over time because they’re so similar. Of course, science would disagree. While they do derive from a similar citrus fruit family and have almost identical nutritional makeup, lemons and limes come from different trees.
14. That lipstick doesn’t glide on.
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How did they use it?
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Let’s get one thing straight: Most lipsticks are supposed to easily glide on. Most of the time, they’re made out of ingredients that are supposed to make this process easy to do. The bad news is, this Reddit user didn’t realize this—but it’s not entirely their fault. They have the jurisdiction to blame Canada’s winters as their house was always 56F to 58F.
15. A husband thought ear muff was short for “ear muffins.”
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This is just adorable.
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Being in a romantic relationship is fun. You get to flirt with one another and hear weird phrases your S.O. says. Well, at least that’s exactly what happened to this Reddit user. For her husband’s entire life, he referred to ear muffs as “ear muffins,” and no one ever corrected him. We could imagine his disappointment when his wife finally did.
