Hidden Purposes of 45 Everyday Things

Well hello! Hey, look around you, even from the comfort of your home – you have a lot of new

things

to discover! Common objects hide secret

purposes

that many people don't know... The blue bristles on most toothbrushes tell you when to change the brush. If they fade, it's time! The loops on the frame of a shopping cart are used to hang fragile products, such as eggs and fresh bread, so that other foods do not crush them. The tab on a soda can has a hole on the other end so you can twist it and pass a straw through it.

The metal tip of a tape measure has a groove that allows it to be anchored to a nail or screw. You can also press the tip against the surface to make marks when the pencil is out of reach. To open a glass bottle without an opener, hold the bottle vertically by the neck. Press the lid with your thumb and stick the edge to something hard. Gently tap your wrist, not the bottle, and the glass won't break, but the lid will come off! You don't need a special scissor sharpener (do they even exist?): cutting fine sandpaper or folded aluminum foil will be enough.

Coins have not always had edge ridges. When they were made of gold and silver, people cut off pieces from the sides and melted enough shavings to make a completely new coin. The ribs were placed there to show that the coin is still intact. Nowadays it is more of a tradition. You can use a penny to check the tread on your tires. Place the coin between the tread lines with its head facing down. If you can see the top of your head, it's time to buy new tires! That little square piece of fabric that comes with clothes (often with a button sewn on) is not for covering holes.

This is so you can test whether the material fades, stains, or pills in the wash before throwing the entire garment in the machine and possibly ruining it. The side holes on the bottom of the Converse are actually lacing holes. Try running your shoe laces through them and you'll get a better fit with less friction on the heel. Paper margins began as a way to prevent important information from ending up in a rat's belly. People kept their writing away from the edges because that's where rats chew through stored books and paper. The blue and red parts of the eraser are not for pen and pencil.

The red side removes pencil particles from the paper, while the blue side is stiffer and removes a thin layer of the paper. That's why it's for more difficult grades of paper, whether you want to get rid of pen or pencil. Unfold the pleated paper cup they give you for condiments at fast food places. You'll have plenty of room to dip nuggets and a handful of chips! The same goes for the buckets of oysters they give you to take away. Unfold it and you'll get a whole plate! A utility knife has a removable part at the end of the handle.

Use it to break off the dull piece of the blade and reveal a new, sharp one! The cap of a pen has a small hole in the top in case of accidental ingestion. Keeps airways unblocked. The bow on the back of a shirt comes from sailors who hung their shirts on hooks on the ship. This “locker loop” is still useful for hanging your shirt without a hanger, but it has been maintained mainly out of tradition. The metal plate on a stapler base is rotatable. Turn it and the staple pins will bend outward. This creates easily removable temporary staples.

The lids of paper and plastic takeout cups double as coasters. The ring in the middle of the lid is exactly sized to fit in the bottom of the cup. The lips on the lid also collect condensation from cold drinks! The hole in the handle of the pan can hold the stirring spoon and prevent it from making a mess on the counter or stove. A pasta spoon has a hole in the middle for measuring a serving before cooking spaghetti. You can change which side your refrigerator door opens on. Those round plastic caps at the top and bottom of the door (on the handle side) cover the holes needed to get the job done.

You can use your car's detachable headrest to break the window in case you get stuck. Simply slide one of the "legs" between the door and the glass panel and it will break the glass with a little movement. The small dot on the back of an iPhone between the camera lens and the flash is the third microphone. It is used to cancel noise during a conversation and improve the sound when recording videos. Have you ever noticed the small hole at the bottom of a lock? It is there so that it can drain excess water on rainy days.

This is also where you are supposed to add oil when something gets stuck. If you look at the gas gauge on the dashboard, you will notice a small arrow on the gas pump. Shows which side of the car the tank is on. Something you should know when leasing a vehicle or simply purchasing new wheels! The bottles have 3 handles so you can carry them without the liquid spilling. You take the middle one if you're alone, or you and a friend each take one of the sides. And gas cans have an extra small hole to prevent "guzzling." That's a real word.

Keep it open and you give the air a place to escape; that way it won't fight the current like it does when you pour a jug of milk. Wooden closet hangers are usually made from cedar because it repels insects and smells good. But if your delicate blouses keep slipping off the wooden hangers, wrap some pipe cleaners around the shoulder portion. Originally, buttons were placed on the left side of women's clothing because it was easier for right-handed maids to dress them. People dress themselves nowadays, but the tradition remained! The F and J buttons on the keyboard have small bumps so you can quickly find the home keys without looking.

They mark where your index fingers should be. See the 57 etched on the neck of a glass ketchup bottle? That's where you're supposed to hit it to get the sauce out, not from the bottom! The number in the upper right corner of Heinz packages shows which line the package was manufactured on. That's all! The same goes for the colored boxes on toothpaste tubes: They tell the manufacturer's machines where to cut and fold the plastic. A Toblerone bar is shaped like those triangular tooth-like pieces so you can break off a piece more easily. Simply press the "mountain top" on the end towards the one next to it. (You mean someone DOESN'T know that already?) Tri-color toothpaste is a marketing gimmick to show you all those useful ingredients (red is for gums, white whitens teeth, and blue freshens breath).

Solid color toothpaste has all of these components, they are just mixed together. Toothpaste is good for polishing silver, but use the all-white kind that has fluoride. You can also make your cutlery shine with ketchup! Simply spread it over the entire silver surface, wait a few minutes and rinse with warm water. The folded flaps on the top of the juice boxes are there so you can hold the box without squeezing out the liquid. The drawer under the oven is not for storing kitchen utensils. It was placed there so that you can keep prepared dishes warm while others are still cooking.

The lid of a TicTac container has a special small compartment in the flap to extract just one mint. However, most of us eat them by the handful... The reverse of UK coins has seemingly random images and lines. Put all the coins together, from the penny to the 50p, and you will see the royal coat of arms! You can use tongs to squeeze a lemon! Simply put the lemon between the handles and squeeze it. The bobby pins are designed to be worn with the zigzag part closest to the scalp. Holds its place better than the straight, slippery side.

A McFlurry has a square-shaped hole inside the handle of the spoon that tapers toward the bottom. Before serving, the spoon is connected to a machine that mixes the dessert. And here more wacky queries from the cosmos are revealed!