Today I was X years old when I learnt...

[Megaflow]

47 years old when I found out VHS stood for Video Home System.

[Bob-iylho]

I only found out SAS stands for "special army soldiers".

[ApOrbital]

Huh Special Air Service.

[limpsfield]

ApOrbital said:

Huh Special Air Service.

whooooshh

[spitfire-ian]

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[48k]

Bob-iylho said:

I only found out SAS stands for "special army soldiers".

No, it's Super Army Soldiers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stgllEinWow

[Eric Mc]

All wrong - it's Scandinavian Airline System.

[Baldchap]

Mid 40s. A pea is a fruit.

A legume is the fruit of a family of plants.

I knew about tomatoes, but this is just crazy!

[Skeptisk]

spitfire-ian said:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

That I should check past threads before starting a new one?

[Trevatanus]

Bob-iylho said:

I only found out SAS stands for "special army soldiers".

Only if photographed from a Canberra though.

[Trevatanus]

56 years of age when I discovered that "May Day" translates from the French " M'aidez" or, "Help Me"

[Mr Magooagain]

Trevatanus said:

56 years of age when I discovered that "May Day" translates from the French " M'aidez" or, "Help Me"

N’a maté! It’s a moveable bank holiday! Innit.

[Bob-iylho]

Just discovered what a "what not" is ........... it's a bit of furniture, pretty horrible Victorian thingy

[deadtom]

Bob-iylho said:

I only found out SAS stands for "special army soldiers".

nice try, it's actually 'Super Army Soldiers'

[Skeptisk]

After saying it for 30 years realised that adiós is a contraction of “ a dios” and so originally “to god” (and also a direct equivalent of adieu with the same underlying meaning.)

Doh!

[deadtom]

Trevatanus said:

56 years of age when I discovered that "May Day" translates from the French " M'aidez" or, "Help Me"

I think it's a combination of this and the fact that it's fast, easy to say, easy to recognise for pretty much any language speaker, and in English at least doesn't sound like anything else you're likely to hear over comms, especially when repeated three times.

I think it's also true that SOS doesn't actually stand for anything, it's just easy to type and recognise via morse code. 'Save Our Souls' is a backronym. It used to be CQD but was changed to SOS as it's simpler to type and to recognise. Titanic initially sent a CQD distress when it hit an iceberg.

I was today years old and using the omniscience of google to check my knowledge for the above reply, when I found out that CQD was used because phonetically the letters CQ are the same as the french word 'Secu', short for 'securite', which indicated a general alert over a wireless network, and D was appended to stand for 'distress'.

[oldskoolgent]

Today i learnt that the master embalmer in Terry Pratchett Pyramids is called Dil ..... as in Dill Pickle.
i've read that book many many times and never got that one !