Knowledge grows faster when embarrassment stops preventing questions.

Not asking is expensive and compounds. Every unasked question leaves a small hole, the holes connect, and eventually you are operating on a foundation you never quite understood, all to avoid a moment of appearing uninformed. The embarrassment lasts seconds. The gap lasts.

Ask the next question you were going to swallow. Keep it plain, without the apparatus of apology that makes it worse. You will find both that people answer readily and that others needed the same answer. Do this a few times and the internal cost of asking drops sharply.