The best available detective right now may be found online. Furthermore, there are so many enigmatic objects around that we unquestionably require detective abilities, such as the internet.
Only the collective intelligence and knowledge of the millions of online users could decipher some of the posts on the subreddit “What is This Thing?” (WITT).
20 of the most enigmatic objects we could find are listed below:
- Looks like Clay
Question: My 3-year-old came home from an extracurricular activity where he can exchange tickets at a “store” for what’s usually dollar store items. It’s rubber/ silicone, the size of a fingertip, doesn’t erase, about as hard as a bouncy ball but doesn’t bounce like a bouncy ball. Doesn’t light up. What is it?
Answer: It looks like an ’80s light bulb eraser without the metal bottom editing to add they never really erased anything.
2. Curious Bell
Question: An iron cone on either side of a gate outside the entry to a building in Bath England.
Answer : It’s a snuffer. A visitor to your house would use it to put out their torch.
3. Golden Pig
Question: What is this thing? Small gold pig container with a removable tiny spoon for a tail.
Answer: Salt cellar. Also, known as a Salt Pig. It is a utensil to have salt easily accessible by your side while working in the kitchen before the age of shakers.
7. An Ancient Household Object
Question: Found it when cleaning my parents’ basement. Looks like some sort of bookholder or something. It is made out of wood and the paint is heavily chipped. Ripped-up pieces of newspaper were found inside the top compartment, one of which was dated 1967.
Answer: Italian (Florentine style) phone stand. Forgot to say, yes, there should be a drawer, for pens and paper and a personal phone book. The vertical cavity is for your city phone book or books. The top is a handle for moving it about.
8. Fancy Bath
purpose and is referred to as a “crackle” glaze. When it happens on accident it’s called crazing, when the tensile strength of the glaze doesn’t match the clay body during firing.
13. Cool Compass?
Question: Scoopy Doodad was found in a junk drawer.
Answer: The classic Sunbeam Mixmaster had a juicer attachment, a bowl that attached to the top of the mixer. This is the spout the juice would pour out of. The wire part held a little strainer to filter out the pulp.
18. Built-in Cigar Holders?
Question: Sliding tray with holes on both sides of this sofa.
Answer: Tray table. It has another piece to it. It’s a tray with matching pegs. The tray goes on top and the pegs slide in. They fit together so the tray sits tightly. Then you take the tray back to the kitchen and put the sliding part back so it’s not in the way.
19. Styrofoam Secrets
Question: What are these sets of seven dimples on styrofoam?
Answer: While many plastic objects have little marks on them where the liquid plastic is injected into the mold, expanded polystyrene objects (“Styrofoam”) aren’t made this way. Instead, small granules of plastic are pre-treated with steam in a large hopper, which causes them to expand into little foam pellets.
These foam pellets are poured into the mold, and then additional steam is injected in, causing the pellets to swell even more until they completely fill the mold. The little seven-dot marks are steam injection points. You can tell the difference between expanded and extruded polystyrene because you can see the individual pellets in an expanded foam object, it has a “grainy” appearance when broken, while extruded foams are just a solid block.
20. DIY Insect Repellant
Question: Seen while walking down the street. A ziplock bag tacked above a door. Seems to contain water and a few pennies. What could this be for?
Answer: Homemade mosquito/fly deterrent. The light reflecting off the water and pennies is supposed to scare off pesky bugs.
Leave a Reply