Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
31submissions
Finished
31 Common Items That Are So Widely Misused You Might Not Even Know Their Original Purpose
Did you know that frisbees were originally just pie containers? Or that Play-Doh was intended to be a wallpaper cleaner? Sometimes, customers find a better use for products than what they were originally marketed as, so companies decide to pivot. But there are also plenty of cases of companies being in denial about what their products are used for, regardless of how many people purchase them for different reasons.
Redditors have recently been discussing some of the most commonly misused items people buy, so we’ve gathered their thoughts down below. Enjoy scrolling through, and be sure to upvote the products you’re guilty of using for different purposes too!
Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Back in the days before digital cameras, 35mm film came in plastic bottles that everyone used to store their weed in.
RELATED:
#2
Treadmills. Intended for exercise, but globally recognized as the best clothes racks you never knew you needed.
To find out more about how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user EVERYTHING_WAS_TAKEN who posed the question, "What is an item that everyone misuses but the makers pretend they don't know?"
She shared that Q-tips/cotton swabs inspired her to ask this question. "I was looking at the pack in my bathroom and started wondering if there was other stuff out there like it," the OP told Bored Panda. "Everyone puts them in the ear, and the manufacturers definitely know that. I think I've learned a whole new world of how deep exactly some people put them from this Reddit post, though. Don't damage your ears, kids! Swab responsibly."
"I'm an artist, so I frequently misuse objects and repurpose them," the OP continued. "But this post was meant to find out about physical things that are misused in the same way by the majority of users, and is common knowledge."
And as far as why companies pretend that they don't know people are misusing their products, EVERYTHING_WAS_TAKEN supposes that it's for several reasons. "They would have to redesign something that already works properly for its intended purpose, so that just means extra cost on their side when they're not technically liable for misuse," she noted.
#7
Kitchen scales. I bought one on Amazon that had poor reviews because you couldn’t measure out portions of a gram. My stupid a*s asked my husband why the h**l someone would care if the measurement of their flour was 1/10 of a gram off. He just stared at me until I got it lol.
#8
I'll start : QTips/cotton swabs. Everyone puts them in the canal, but the boxes always pretend like they're made for the outside of the ear.
#9
Back in the days of the Prohibition, a lot of grape juice was sold with extremely explicit instructions of all the things you'd need to do to ferment it but with the disclaimer of "here's what's illegal to do".
"Also, tons of people would complain, so customer dissatisfaction," the OP shared. "And people misusing the item would find something else to buy, so customer loss."
"In some cases, you actually can't 'fix' the product to stop a specific misuse because it's being used technically properly but for a different goal," she explained. "So there's nothing they can do. And honestly, some of these misuses are so bizarre it would just be weird for a company to try to address it," she added with a laugh.
#10
Think Johnny Appleseed was planting apple trees for the health benefits of apples? Nope it was to make cider. Going way back, farming advances and the cultivation of grains was primarily to make beer, going way back to Mesopotamia.
#11
I caught a friend of mine rubbing one of the antibacterial hand wipes from KFC all over his friends chicken. The little packet said 'a hint of lemon' on it, and he thought that he was meant to flavour the chicken with it...
EVERYTHING_WAS_TAKEN went on to share that most of the responses to her post were unexpected. "I was thinking cotton swabs, Reddit was thinking drugs and other questionable activities," she said with a laugh. "Yeah, it was definitely interesting how many people answered the same things - I guess the question worked!"
"The funny ones to me were the people who hadn't seen my comment proposing the cotton swab, and started their comments with, 'There's no way this post isn't talking about Q-Tips...'" she added.
#13
Back massagers.
ArcTan_Pete:
Especially the famous Hitachi Magic Wand for 'relieving sore muscles and back tension'
#14
Up until recently, Pedialyte. Marketed as a drink for babies, but was used as a hangover cure. Recently they started marketing to adults however.
Finally, the OP added that if we could misuse characteristics of animals however we wanted to, she thinks it would be great to misuse an elephant's brain, a lion's heart, a kitten's lovableness, and a T-rex's arms. "What could be better than a chicken with T-rex arms?" she asked. "Good thing humans are still relative blobs and we haven't figured that out yet."
#17
Recently, I found out the existence of fake urine for "experiments" and "pranks." The real use is to bypass drug tests.
#19
In the UK, sales of nitrous oxide cannisters used for whipping cream have skyrocketed in the past 10 years. Spoiler: This isn't due to the correlation in popularity of 'The Great British Bake Off', it's due to its disassociative psychoactive effects.
#21
I have a dry herb vape that from the instructions seems to think that people really want to inhale the essence of rosemary or thyme.
#22
Cup ramen in the foam containers… they are not supposed to be microwaved and supposedly only recently are they designing a cup that can be.
#23
Cough medicine containing dextromethorphan (robocough, robotabs). If taken as prescribed, it's a cough suppressant. If taken in much higher dosages, it's a dissociative anesthetic, like pcp or ketamine. Kids and adults have been abusing the stuff for decades. There's a whole subculture around it.
#25
Kmart "Spice grinders" that for some reason are one of the only products in the kitchen aisle to have anti theft devices on them. Edit: kmart is still really big in Aus
#26
Had a co-worker order an electric water distiller. I works just as well for making nearly pure alcohol, although it is marketed specifically for distilling water.
#30
Not exactly misuse, but I've heard that those thin packets of sugar are supposed to be bent in the middle, not torn from the side. Sounded bizzare, but it actually works. And leaves you with only a single piece of waste too.
#31
Travel neck pillows. I’ve only seen about 5 people wearing them correctly (opening in the back, not the front) and I fly at least three times per week so I see them constantly.
Related on Bored Panda
