What was your moment of epic duh?
I don't mean a most embarrassing moment, because that usually indicates it was a public embarrassment, and this could just be something that went on in your head.
When did you totally miss the boat on something?
I'll go first, of course.
We read Anthem in tenth grade. Now, I was never your conscientious student (though I somehow always made the honor roll . . . I think they just picked grades out of a hat or something). We'd get a reading assignment, and I'd either skip it entirely or read it in a huge rush just before class.
Add that to the fact that I didn't give two shits about that book, and . . . a few minor details might have been missed. So, you know, a few weeks went by, we had quizzes, a test, and a final paper on the topic . . . I don't know at what point it became clear to me that Equality was one guy. All that we-ing left me with a mental picture of, IDK, a set of triplets? Or maybe they just threw three kids together in groups so no one would get EGOTISTICAL.
Like I said, I don't remember when the light dawned, but it was after I wrote the final paper, and not only did said final paper get an A, the teacher included it with a few others to send to the Nat'l Ayn Rand Essay Contest.
I guess I just never had occasion to say, "Then the triplets met another set of triplets and they all somehow managed to fall in love with each other and not fight over who had the prettiest woman." So I escaped public ridicule on my fail moment.
There have been others -- for years I was convinced that Piglet and Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh were girls, for instance. But nothing like the Anthem thing.
What was yours?