DADADEL
Unusual finds are everywhere, with purposes that often baffle us. Fortunately, we don’t have to figure them out on our own. The Reddit community “What Is This Thing” is always ready to lend a helping hand, quickly solving the mystery behind these unusual finds.
1. “Found this in a kitchen drawer. It’s stiff but still bends a little. What is this thing?”
Answer: It’s a connector to a measuring cup set.
2. “What is this thing? A metal spoon with a spout-like end.”
Answer: It’s a saucier spoon, a mini sauce ladle. They sometimes have spouts.
3. “A scissors-like device I bought years ago at a flea market”
Answer: They are tongs for sugar cubes.
4. “A keyring-sized thingy, made of metal (quite heavy)”
Answer: It’s a tent platform anchor. That is used instead of a traditional stake when camping on a wood platform. You would slide one end between the floor planks and turn it halfway to lock it in place. The spring is there, so it doesn’t fall completely through the floorboards.
5. “Today we found a large (bigger than a beach ball) white wooden spheric structure at the beach along the Baltic Sea.”
Answer: It’s an anchor ball. Day signals are used by ships when anchored.
6. “One of my neighbors has this ceramic stirring cabbage. It has a wooden stirrer with a notch that it fits in, it was purchased in 1958.”
Answer: It’s a coleslaw mixer. Put the shredded cabbage in there. Put dressing in there. Mix it up.
7. “A gray roller-like thing, it is made from iron, the spiral part rolls, saw it in a store, nothing written on it, weighs about 150 g.”
Answer: It’s a grill scrubber for cleaning grill grates.
8. “3 pieces, around 150 grams, greasy but solid substance in the bottom part”
Answer: It’s a perfume bottle. The top would be liquid perfume and below would be a solid perfume that you could apply to your wrists or wherever.
9. “A microphone-shaped object with a transparent globe spotted on the London Underground, what is it?”
Answer: That’s a light stick for the K-pop group, ATEEZ.
10. “Hard, round, white sphere with ’hot or cold’ words and pictures”
Answer: It’s a Mentos limited edition “This or That.”
11. “About 3 feet tall, gold-colored, but silver inside — it’s hollow like a bucket, pretty lightweight.”
Answer: It’s a grape hod. It was used for collecting the harvest from the vines.
12. “Found at a used bookstore. All parts rotate and the markings/months make me think it could be for mapping.”
Answer: It’s an astrolabe, the ancient times GPS. Used usually for navigation, also for time measurement, and other scientific uses.
13. “What is this? I was at the zoo today and saw these in the giraffe exhibit. They appear to be made of dirt and are about 7-10 feet in height.”
Answer: These are feeding/enrichment stations made to look like termite mounds. I’m a former zookeeper and have made these.
14. “Bought scissors from a yard sale, but one of the blades is doubled with a gap in between them. Are these scissors for something specific?”
Answer: These are template scissors used for cutting out paper patterns for stained glass. The portion in the middle allows for the seam between the glass panels where the glass is soldered together.
15. “This is a steel wire frame with 2 glass marbles. It was found in an old garage among various stuff. The marbles can turn inside the frame.”
Answer: It’s a razor blade sharpener.
Unusual finds can be intriguing puzzles. Did you know what any of these objects were used for? Share it in the comments below, and maybe our readers can help you figure it out.
