What The? [NOT 29/30/23]

29/9/23 blue dogcollar 22
Sauerkraut
Detail from: Mrs. Sauer getting sauerkraut out of crock / John Vachon / October 1940 / Source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2017810905/

I have a book by Paul Lukas called Inconspicuous Consumption, which is about a bunch of super ordinary, often obscure things. He often goes to lengths to figure out who makes these things, and why.

One of the things he writes about is canned sauerkraut juice. Not sauerkraut, but the just the juice.

As it turns out, even the company marketing reps couldn’t drink it. So what is it for? Who buys it? It turns out that there’s a devoted set of senior citizens who drink it for its laxative effect.

Let’s Talk Thingamabobs and Whatzits

Not so much things which are just a silly style, like stiletto heels or cummerbunds, but things which you’re sure somebody, somewhere actually uses.

For instance, mystery keys on your keyboard which you’ve never used, such as ScrLck. Tool-like things you found in a makeup drawer in your grandparent’s house.

Have you ever been to a fancy wedding reception where there were a ton of glassses, forks, knives and spoons in the place settings, and everyone stared at each other wondering what to do with half of them?

Dining Room With Chandelier and Table Decorated With Place Settings, Grapes, Wine Glasses and Flowers / 1901 / source: https://www.loc.gov/item/2016647132

There’s a subreddit called r/Whatisthis which is filled with questions about things of this nature — people will ask for explanations for a metal hook on a handle (turned out to be designed for lifting charcoal grills), mystery domes on the tops of buildings, odd clips for sewing kits….

Maybe you use some obscure tool for work or a hobby, and you have to explain to people what it is and why you carry it around. Or maybe you were recently at the dentist and was handed a free sample, and had to ask what the hell it was and how to use it.

Let’s talk, Deadsplintermabobs, about obscure items you have which mystify other people, or which mystify you.

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22 Comments

  2. i actually have no obscure items in my possession

    i can break into pretty much everything using gardening tools and screwdrivers tho…..that count?

    really…..if you arent hung up about things uses….its kind of amazing what things uses are

    *source…broke into my own house with a garden hoe

  3. I didn’t know what a citrus peeler was until my early 20s. My family just always used our fingernails and then once in grad school I was peeling an orange and a frat dude was super confused about how I could peel it. The next class he brought in that basic plastic citrus peeler that like 85% of American grandmas have from Pampered Chef.

    • You are not alone. I never heard of a citrus peeler until your post. It’s also been my experience that dudes keep their nails trimmed so short that I or another female always had to “start” an orange for them in school.

    • The fact that not everyone grew up with about 20 Tupperware Citrus Peelers in their house at any given time is something my brain can’t quite comprehend, ngl!😉😁😆🤣💖

      I take it, that y’all never had that “Friend of Grandpa & Grandma’s” who was *also* the local “Tupperware Lady”?

      Seriously, they literally were one of the first kitchen tools I learned to use, back when I was maybe 2 or 3? I could use one of *those* at ANY time, and could for years before I was allowed to use a knife!

       

  4. It must be nostalgia day here on DS. Your post reminded me of a thingamabob my great grandmother had in her home. It was used to dial  a rotary phone. I was fascinated by it as a small child but couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t just use your finger.

  5. When I used to shoot weddings I used a thing called a Lightsphere that affectionately became known as the Fong Dong after its creator Gary Fong.  It worked pretty well for diffusing the flash to give people a softer skin tone.  It got a lot of questions at weddings though.

  6. Thanks, @BlueDogCollar!

    ‘Cuz *because* of your topic tonight, I juuuuuust learned that the “sewing” tool I’ve called “Beaker” since I was a tiny child of 3 or 4, is actually a FASCINATING part of early “computing” technology!😲🤯😃

    I was told ALL my life, that “Beaker” was my Maternal Great-grandmother’s “Pattern Notcher,” and I also have used it in my sewing, as a pattern notcher…

    He earned the name Beaker when I was little, because–as you’ll see if you view the pics–his mechanisms movement looks like Beaker’s mouth, the back of his “head” is curved like a person’s,  *and* I always thought that those little rivet-y parts by his “mouth” looked like his “eyes”😉😄😂

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/fV966jyf1MQ9LXFx6

    But when I went to google my beloved Beaker–that lovely little tool, which is *so* ergonomically-friendly in one’s hand–with that fabulous little “holder” which keeps *all* only one’s “punchings” contained neatly, until you open it (with ONE FINGER!) over the trash… and which *also* has that nice wide bottom edge–so that you can *easily* determine where your notches are???

    I discovered that my adorable childhood friend Beaker isn’t actually a SEWING tool!!!🤯🤯🤯

    It’s an “Early and DEAD-technology”, as part of an Analog Computing Device, which used edge-punched index cards, with two parallel sets of holes on *all four* edges!!!!!

    You categorized the cards, by punching various holes/sets of holes, for each variable you wanted to track, and one corner on each card was clipped off, so that the cards could all be oriented in one direction.

    Then, when you wanted to figure out *how many _____* were in the set of cards you had, you’d run a long needle (a knitting needle seems to have been ideal), through *that* hole/set of holes on the cards–and any cards not caught & picked up by the needle were the ones which fit that categorization!

    There are a decent-sized batch of articles on the system (apparently it was often used in libraries!), and I’d never have learned *all this,* if you hadn’t gotten me trying to google my Beaker, and then had me curiously frustrated that “All the *modern* pattern-notchers are INCREDIBLY poorly-designed, compared to Beaker!🤣💖

    With the springs *right* where they can pinch your palms, and with no “cut-bits-holder” to keep your sewing-space nice & neat!”

    These are the “real” pattern notchers;

    And here’s the rabbit hole of info I found, after digging out my friendly-little “Beaker”–so THANKS, I now am REALLY curious as to *why* & when Great Grandma got it, and of anyone had ever used it for the *actual* purpose it was made for…

    And it makes me adore him even *more,* because now, not *only* is it a lovely sewing tool that was passed down through 4 generations of women who’ve sewn in our family, but it’s also a really NEAT bit of Dead Analog Tech!😃🥰🤗💖

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge-notched_card

    https://nevalalee.wordpress.com/tag/mcbee-cards/

    https://www.techopedia.com/definition/14449/logical-and-operator#:~:text=The%20logical%20AND%20operator%20is,yields%20a%20%E2%80%9Cfalse%E2%80%9D%20value.

    https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102734924

     

     

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