Over the years during topics of tongue piercings, I told the story about the scarred up tongue to some other people as an example of how bad some piercings can get. A couple people pointed out to me what the real intention of the girl was, and I still didn't understand as I thought that was just a ridiculous interpretation, since in my viewpoint, there was no way that was the case. It was about 10 years later that I things finally clicked in my brain.
On a semi-related note, I was diagnosed this year with being on the spectrum for autism.