Have you ever struggled with something only to find that you’ve done it incorrectly the whole time? Don’t worry – you’re not on your own. One online forum member asked their community what things they’ve been doing wrong all this time, and it’s safe to say there are some pretty uncomfortable answers! We take a look at 15 of the best.
Using a Mop Incorrectly
One woman confessed that when her husband brought home a new mop after their old one broke, she spent months hunched over to clean the floor with the implement that had an unusually short handle. After six months of back pain, she told her husband she could not anymore, and then “He came into the kitchen, twisted the handle and pulled, suddenly the mop was a normal size.” Oops!
Toothpaste Problems
One man confessed how his wife was horrified when she noticed that he squeezed toothpaste directly into his mouth rather than placing It on the toothbrush. Speaking of his wife’s horror, he said this was something he thought was completely normal as “My family, friends, and exes never said a word, lol.” An interesting routine!
Getting Your Name Wrong
Yes, one person admitted that they had been spelling their name wrong their whole life. The online member said, “Found out at the grand old age of 48 when my employer noticed my birth certificate differed from my application paper details.”
Celebrating the Wrong Birthday
Imagine celebrating the day you were born on the wrong date every year. This was the case for one person’s grandmother who, at 80, found out she got the date mixed up. The family discovered the error: “We filled out some doctored paperwork, but then it was rejected because her listed birthday didn’t match what her social security number was associated with.” We hope that she went on to have two birthdays!
Let’s Speak in Layman’s Terms
One poster told readers his buddy always thought Layman’s Terms were “layman terms.” I think we will all know people who get their words mixed up now and again.
Hit Her Toe
Speaking of understanding correct words, one user told of a uni friend who said, “Eh, it’s an odd word if you’ve never come across it. IMO not as bad as the guy I came across at uni who said ‘hit-her-toe’ for hitherto.” We hope he hasn’t been hitting women’s toes all this time.
Taken with Great Assault
We are not sure what it is about hitting one another, but another member told of a friend who “got to watch in real-time as a classmate learned that the phrase is ‘take it with a grain of salt”’ and not ‘taken with a great assault.'” We think that person needed to spend a few more years at college.
The Phonetic Alphabet
In one amusing post, a forum member said, “A few months ago, I heard my boyfriend on the phone spelling out a street name and had the perfect words for every letter! I heard him do it again a few weeks after that and kept thinking about how good he was. A few weeks passed, and I found out what the phonetic alphabet is, and I was shocked.” We were pretty shocked at this one too.
Drinking from a Bottle
Surely we all know how to drink from a bottle, right? Not this woman who said, “I would always drink from a bottle by putting my mouth over the whole opening. Then, one day on a field trip in 5th grade, I saw a stranger drink it usually.” We hope that her mouth was not too sore.
Tying Shoelaces
One man confessed that he realized he had been tying his shoelaces wrong when his professor played a video in class after he realized he had been doing it wrong for 60 years. This is not uncommon, as one man responded by saying, “There’s a Ted Talk about this! Chances are you wrap around the loop in the wrong direction, so your laces twist and come untied. Check YouTube.” We are intrigued.
Using an iPhone Incorrectly
One man admitted that he has been “Holding the space bar on the iPhone to move the cursor rather than try to tap a specific location with my thumb.” This revelation opened the eyes of many people who didn’t know about this hack.
Cleaning the Car Incorrectly
To make life easier for others, one man revealed that “Spray-on car wheel cleaners work *so* much better if you spray them on a dry wheel.”
Using the ATM Incorrectly
One person said, “I would deposit bills into the ATM individually until I was 22 when my wife saw it and asked, ‘What are you doing?’ We think a few people may own up to this one.
Prima Donna
In one post that got a lot of laughs, one member confessed, “I always thought that it was prima donna until I watched Ted Lasso, and it’s a prima donna.” We hope this guy made it through the wilderness out of this one!
Using Deodorant in the Wrong Way
Feeling a little silly, one woman said, “I spent decades pulling the plastic cover off the top of new deodorant sticks with my teeth before the internet taught me just to twist the bottom a few times.” All we can say is, ouch for those teeth.