17 votes

What's something that is hiding in plain sight?

Tags: ask

I don't have any setup or examples for this question like I normally do. I just thought of the question and figured it would be interesting to put out there. Answer with whatever you think fits.

23 comments

  1. [6]
    pseudolobster
    Link
    So this is super specific, but in BC, Canada there's a brand of fruit snacks by a company called Sunrype. They have a line of "fruit leather" snacks, called Fruit-to-Go, which was a really popular...

    So this is super specific, but in BC, Canada there's a brand of fruit snacks by a company called Sunrype. They have a line of "fruit leather" snacks, called Fruit-to-Go, which was a really popular thing to include in school lunches like 30 years ago. Anyway, I think I'm like the only person in the world who realized they're actually a pack of two.

    Everyone eats them as if they're a 3mm thick piece of fruit leather, but in reality they're two 1.5mm pieces stuck together. I have yet to find anyone else who's realized it's two pieces. Every time I pulled them apart throughout my childhood, every single person I met was amazed to learn this. To me it's always been so obvious. The pieces don't usually line up and you can see the seam, yet I've never met another person who's realized there's two in a pack.

    14 votes
    1. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. pseudolobster
        Link Parent
        Please keep me updated! I'm anxious to know if this is still the case. I actually haven't seen them in stores in for something like 20 years, but I've been mostly living in other parts of Canada....

        Please keep me updated! I'm anxious to know if this is still the case. I actually haven't seen them in stores in for something like 20 years, but I've been mostly living in other parts of Canada.

        I personally feel like this is a big deal. There's presumably a million people or so out there who could be getting twice the enjoyment out of their fruit snacks. If this is still true, man, shout it from the rooftops! The people ought to know!

        5 votes
    2. [3]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      I'm sure I remember this. I preferred to separate them too. Although the residue was somewhat sticky, some things just taste better when sliced thin.

      I'm sure I remember this. I preferred to separate them too. Although the residue was somewhat sticky, some things just taste better when sliced thin.

      5 votes
      1. [2]
        pseudolobster
        Link Parent
        Yes! The inside was very sticky! I'm honestly amazed right now. Did you learn this fact from another kid, or figure it out yourself? If you learned it from someone else, I feel like there's a...

        Yes! The inside was very sticky! I'm honestly amazed right now. Did you learn this fact from another kid, or figure it out yourself? If you learned it from someone else, I feel like there's a remote chance we went to the same school.

        3 votes
        1. Wes
          Link Parent
          I think I intuited it like you did. Though it's been so long I'm not sure if I'd be able to remember either way. Fun blast from the past in either case.

          I think I intuited it like you did. Though it's been so long I'm not sure if I'd be able to remember either way.

          Fun blast from the past in either case.

          3 votes
    3. kfwyre
      Link Parent
      This wasn't at all the type of answer I expected when I asked this question, but I absolutely loved reading it! Even though I've never had that brand, you've now made me wonder about all the fruit...

      This wasn't at all the type of answer I expected when I asked this question, but I absolutely loved reading it!

      Even though I've never had that brand, you've now made me wonder about all the fruit leather I've ever had in my life. Were they really two-ply and I just didn't know it?!

  2. [4]
    teaearlgraycold
    Link
    I've spent a lot of the past year practicing introspection. So many of my behavioral issues are/were so obvious and yet I believe no one ever called me out on them. I knew as a kid that people...

    I've spent a lot of the past year practicing introspection. So many of my behavioral issues are/were so obvious and yet I believe no one ever called me out on them.

    I knew as a kid that people tended to dislike me but wasn't sure why. I even asked a few peers directly without any good results (which isn't surprising given a child's ability to perform psycho-analysis). But even my parents seemed content to let me just grow out of whatever was happening and never addressed what was going on.

    Deep down I was so insecure with myself that I'd managed to create an internal fallacy. I didn't really consider myself a normal person. Everyone else was a normal person, but I was something else. I needed to be without an identity in order to be free of the judgment I readily poured onto others. I still have identity issues today but I'm definitely getting better - I can actually tell someone whether I like something or not without getting thrown into a crisis.

    At some point last year I wondered if I was a psychopath. But I knew I'd felt guilt and empathy at least on occasion so I wasn't able to be sure of that. I realized that, at the very least, my empathy was lacking. It all clicked when I saw a video on narcissism where the MD described it as fundamentally an empathy disorder. By that point I'd matured enough where I treated people with some decency, so the realization mostly provides perspective to my childhood. But being aware that it's a problem has made it easier to find and pull out the last remaining narcissistic bits from my behavior.

    Hopefully I can put this knowledge to good use if I ever have kids. They need therapy like anyone else with bad behavior.

    13 votes
    1. asoftbird
      Link Parent
      From experience, 1. asking people what you're doing wrong is often perceived as weird and 2. people will never be fully honest even if you ask them to be brutally upfront (unless it's someone...

      I even asked a few peers directly without any good results

      From experience, 1. asking people what you're doing wrong is often perceived as weird and 2. people will never be fully honest even if you ask them to be brutally upfront (unless it's someone close).

      Your post resonates with me a lot and generally, asking people stuff about yourself isn't something they'll gladly do. Took a while to realize that the average friend isn't a good substitute for a psychologist.

      5 votes
    2. unknown user
      Link Parent
      How did your realization align with your early-life feelings about yourself?

      I knew as a kid that people tended to dislike me but wasn't sure why.

      How did your realization align with your early-life feelings about yourself?

      4 votes
    3. Kuromantis
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Sometimes I wonder if the opposite applies to me. Sometimes I feel like I judge myself too harshly for silly reasons like how I hate going to a churrasco because usually people won't give you more...

      I needed to be without an identity in order to be free of the judgment I readily poured onto others.

      Sometimes I wonder if the opposite applies to me. Sometimes I feel like I judge myself too harshly for silly reasons like how I hate going to a churrasco because usually people won't give you more than a plastic plate and fork and I am super afraid to spill any food on the ground unless there is a desk.

      It's storytime season.

      A few years ago I talked to a girl and she ended up talking about anime, which I had pop up in my reccomends, likely because I really liked undertale. I ended up really liking this girl, and she's the only girl I can say I had a serious crush on. So i entered her friend circle where the main uniting factors were anime, Mario games a girl had on a 3DS and turn-based RPGs. I like anime, but I didn't really watch it mainly because I was more the guy who ended up meeting anime thru clickbait KHORnime garbage and so I often ended up picking up garbage but I do genuinely like some anime like seishun buta yaro, an anime about 'adolescence syndrome' which is super interesting but since I didn't watch anime regularly with this sole show's exception so I never felt like an anime fan. I somewhat like 3DS mario games but I don't have a 3DS and turn-based RPGS I certainly don't like. Because I atleast liked but didn't really indulge in these things I didn't feel like I fit in, I felt like this incel/kid who was just sitting there doing nothing but 'enjoying the conversation and the girl I guess' and eating the part of the lunch said girl gave everyone (everyone, was not a "hint".) So guess what? I actually left the group with the only girl I had a decent crush on because I 'didn't fit in and was overly silent' despite the fact that's literally the 2 main characteristics of everyone there. I still tell myself to eat shit and regret my mistake to this day.

      1 vote
  3. [6]
    Wes
    Link
    Words are a great example. Many words have etymologies that are staring you in the face, but we never really think about. For example lateral refers to sides, like the latitude on a map. A lateral...

    Words are a great example. Many words have etymologies that are staring you in the face, but we never really think about.

    For example lateral refers to sides, like the latitude on a map. A lateral movement is one that's side-to-side. An equilateral triangle is a triangle where all sides are equal. Equi-lateral. I think that's pretty cool.

    11 votes
    1. pseudolobster
      Link Parent
      The Japanese word for "firework" literally translates to "fire flower", which explains the power up in Super Mario Bros.

      The Japanese word for "firework" literally translates to "fire flower", which explains the power up in Super Mario Bros.

      5 votes
    2. Kuromantis
      Link Parent
      Fence->defence. Everytime I remember this, my mind quits for a moment and just appreciates it.

      Fence->defence.

      Everytime I remember this, my mind quits for a moment and just appreciates it.

      3 votes
    3. [3]
      Eric_the_Cerise
      Link Parent
      I'm learning to speak Hungarian. The Hungarian word for 'secretary' is 'titkár' (or titkárnő), which is very similar to 'titkok' (secrets) ... so the word kind of means 'the keeper/manager of...

      I'm learning to speak Hungarian.

      The Hungarian word for 'secretary' is 'titkár' (or titkárnő), which is very similar to 'titkok' (secrets) ... so the word kind of means 'the keeper/manager of secrets'.

      I noticed this odd similarity between these two Hungarian words, without ever noticing the exact same association exists in my native English (secrets => secretary).

      On top of which, I'm now wondering why this same word-pairing exists in two completely unrelated languages.

      Languages are weird.

      The movie, K-PAX, is good for this. Main character believes he is an alien (maybe he is...), and in conversations, he is constantly noticing odd correlations in this language the humans use.

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        timo
        Link Parent
        In a lot of languages that stem from the same language, this can be explained. The word secret comes from Latin. It is secrets/secreto in Spanish, secrète/secret in French, segreta/segreto in...

        In a lot of languages that stem from the same language, this can be explained. The word secret comes from Latin. It is secrets/secreto in Spanish, secrète/secret in French, segreta/segreto in Italian. The word for "secretary" is secretaria, secrétaire and segretaria respectively.

        Hungarian does not stem from Latin. However, I can imagine that the word "secretary" was first thought of in Latin (or a language that stems from it). It was then translated to Hungarian, where the world for "secret" already existed (titkok). It would then be obvious for a translator to use a word with a similar root.

        But now that I think of it, the word for "secretary" in Dutch is "secretaresse". The word for "secret" is "geheim". So it doesn't always work ;) Why it doesn't work with Dutch, is probably because we borrow a lot of words from foreign languages, especially those that are already widely used.

        1 vote
        1. asoftbird
          Link Parent
          l especially like words originated from Bargoens, which originally was a language used by criminals. It has a lot of Yiddish influences which are now generally accepted as Dutch words.

          Why it doesn't work with Dutch, is probably because we borrow a lot of words from foreign languages, especially those that are already widely used.

          l especially like words originated from Bargoens, which originally was a language used by criminals. It has a lot of Yiddish influences which are now generally accepted as Dutch words.

          1 vote
  4. [3]
    bleem
    Link
    The companies that produce contact cases. They get deeper and deeper. I've tried to spread awareness. It's big

    The companies that produce contact cases. They get deeper and deeper. I've tried to spread awareness. It's big

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      pseudolobster
      Link Parent
      Are you getting your contact lens cases for free included with bottles of contact lens solution? Because that seems like a pretty obvious and straightforward conspiracy. If the drugstore brand...

      Are you getting your contact lens cases for free included with bottles of contact lens solution? Because that seems like a pretty obvious and straightforward conspiracy. If the drugstore brand cases are getting bigger, it sounds like something deeper and more insidious going on.

      2 votes
      1. bleem
        Link Parent
        Yes from the doctor. It's a whole sham.

        Yes from the doctor. It's a whole sham.

        2 votes
  5. [3]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. bleem
      Link Parent
      it isn't a meme, it's a real thing.

      it isn't a meme, it's a real thing.

      3 votes
    2. JamesTeaKirk
      Link Parent
      I don't really have an opinion on the entire situation, but I think you're incorrectly framing the suicide as something that is nearly impossible to complete. Young people have unintentionally...

      I don't really have an opinion on the entire situation, but I think you're incorrectly framing the suicide as something that is nearly impossible to complete. Young people have unintentionally killed themselves whilst trying to make themselves pass out by leaning on a belt/strap fastened around something as weak as a door nob. I don't find it hard to believe that an older man could manage to do something similar on purpose.

      3 votes
  6. [2]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. unknown user
      Link Parent
      It's kinda like Death Stranding visualises just how much shit your regular RPG character commonly carries with them at all times.

      It's kinda like Death Stranding visualises just how much shit your regular RPG character commonly carries with them at all times.

      5 votes
  7. knocklessmonster
    Link
    As corny as it may sound, nature. I work in a place where it's fully paved, but it's there. I can pick out a bird in the middle of the city and start to put its life together by watching where it...

    As corny as it may sound, nature. I work in a place where it's fully paved, but it's there. I can pick out a bird in the middle of the city and start to put its life together by watching where it looks. There are even little patches of nature throughout your, and my, city. You can see squirrels in their new environment. See the patterns of urban skunks. Observe raccoons in the trees, and opossums on fences. None of this is less natural because there's pavement all around. I feel like it's something we could all pay attention to, whether it's large birds or tiny insects. I can pick a songbird out of a distracting world, which seems sort of weird, but it's also entertaining to see where it lands, usually an area marked with it's droppings from habit. I'll watch a pigeon watching traffic, which is absolutely amazing when you realize they'll watch for cars or people, and see what is pursuing them, or what needs to be dodged. You don't have to go to the woods to observe nature, even if it's the optimal way to do so.

    2 votes