‘What’s some basic knowledge that a scary amount of people don’t know?’ 27 fundamental life lessons

Hard to believe we know, but we don’t know everything. In fact, we know barely anything. But we like to think we’ve got the fundamentals covered. And not just the really fundamental, like the earth going round the sun, that kind of thing.

If this all feels like the build-up to a question someone asked on Reddit, you’d be right. Specifically, this question asked by Redditor CasualBeers.

“What’s some basic knowledge that a scary amount of people don’t know?”

And it prompted a whole bunch of interesting and occasionally eye-opening replies. Here are our 27 favourites.

1.

‘Antibiotics do not work on a virus.’
hushabyesecret

2.

‘That you should wait for people to get off the elevator when it arrives at your floor, instead of cramming yourself in when the doors open, blocking their departure.’
DVWhat

3.

‘Don’t put water on a grease fire. This is when your pan/pot catches fire while cooking.

‘Cover it with the pot or pan lid and turn off the heat.’
Liquid_Panic

4.

‘Drowning doesn’t usually look like drowning on TV. 9/10, it’s just silent. The person goes under and doesn’t come back up.

‘And choking doesn’t look like choking as seen on TV either. If there’s any hacking / coughing… they aren’t choking and don’t need a Heimlich maneuver. You only use the Heimlich if there’s no sound coming out of their mouth.’
McRedditerFace

5.

‘That pretty much every machine requires maintenance. Think dishwashers, washing machines, cars, mowers, etc.

‘They aren’t magic boxes. And they will last longer if you know how to maintain them.

‘My mother in law is in her 80s and until recently didn’t know that the dishwasher needs its filters cleaning every so often.
WhatAGoodDoggy

6.

‘How to spot an obvious scam. Look how many people fall for those clickbait articles and chain posts and propaganda and stuff.’
stitchmidda2

7.

‘First Aid.’
rabidpuppy007

8.

‘A guest requested their chicken to be cooked medium rare this week. I don’t understand why I have to stress that chicken only leaves the kitchen when it’s completely cooked.’
Gorr-of-Oneiri-

9.

‘Tax brackets. You only pay the higher rate on the portion above the threshold amount.‘
superslomotion

10.

‘Women don’t pee through their vagina.’
Yetiman82

11.

‘Ctrl + c, Ctrl + v.’
mmura09

12.

‘Ponies are small horses, not baby horses.’
TheMightyGoatMan

13.

‘How to tell if food has gone bad. When I worked in a meat department, we got like one call a day from people saying “I bought this X days ago, is it still good?”

‘Lady, I’m not there with you. This ain’t a smellophone. You’re going to have to use your own senses and brain on this one.’
lettherebemorelight

14.

‘DON’T BOTHER WILD ANIMALS.

‘I’m sure it’s just natural selection at this point but the amount of stupid people I see walking up to wild creatures for video footage is irritating tbh. Bonus points if the human gets hurt haha.’
SyndrFox