I only discovered this week (and Ken Bruce can take credit for this) that Michael McDonald was in The Doobie Brothers. Beyond liking some of their songs, their line-up is not something I'd ever given much thought to, but it struck me that maybe this was something I should have known sooner.

It started me thinking about other things I've been slow to glean over the years. Remember the 90s sitcom Birds of a Feather? I always thought this was dreadful but for a time it was almost unavoidable because its stars would often crop up on chat shows, in the papers or whatever and inevitably I occasionally ended up seeing bits of it. Even though it's central to the plot, and probably because I wasn't paying attention, it was only years later that I realised the two main characters were sisters rather than just friends. I suppose the clue was in the title, really.

An example from everyday life: it took me a long time to work out that the little spike built into the cap of a tube of ointment, tomato puree etc was to pierce the foil seal on the tube. In the years prior to this epiphany, I had done this with a knife, pair or scisssors or other sharp object.

Similarly, someone was telling me that up until the age of about 16, a girl they knew did not think penguins were real creatures. She believed them to have been created solely to advertise the McVitie's chocolate biscuit of the same name.

I've shown my ignorance quite enough for one day, but I'm wondering if anyone else has any other instances of being slow on the uptake that they'd be prepared to confess to.

In the pub last night, I was talking about a TV programme when a 40-something mate asked "What station was it on?"

He then checked himself, saying "Station? Station? I'm showing my age there. No-one says 'TV station' any more, do they?"

I'd never thought about it before, but I think he's right. It's all "channels" nowadays, isn't it? "What side was it on?" would have sounded similarly antiquated. I can't remember the last time I said that.

So what other words for commonly items have fallen out of use? No-one ever talks about "groups" any more, do they(except my mum)- it's always "bands". Similarly, the pleasing "oblong" has been almost totally usurped by the rather more clinical "rectangle".

Kagoule? Continental quilt? Over to you...