Products are usually well thought-out. After all, companies are investing time, money, and other resources into developing them. But even though they are created to satisfy a specific need, things happen and products can evolve into something else entirely, taking on new forms and applications.
To learn more about these examples, Reddit user u/EpicEllis2004 submitted a question to the platform, asking what are some of the products that have drifted away from their main purpose. Turns out, it's a topic that really interests people. In just a week, the post has received over 34K upvotes and 14K comments, providing quite a few interesting insights into consumerism. Here are some of the answers.
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History Channel... as far as I am concerned the secret relationships between aliens and the illuminati do not qualify as "history"
The toilet lid of a toilet. Seen too many not even know you're supposed to put the lid down before flushing. Microscopic fecal matter flies everywhere otherwise. Apparently this isn't common knowledge.
This. So many arguements about putting the toilet seat up/down when honestly, everyone should just close the lid once they’re done. The particles spread up to 6 m (19 ft) otherwise.
Slinky, the toy. It was originally designed during WW2 to help sensitive instruments remain steady on ships... to counter the effects of pitch, roll, and yaw. The engineer working on them knocked one off his desk accidentally, saw the way it moved from the table to the chair, to the floor, and a new purpose was born.
On a side note... during the Vietnam War, when the Slinkys were metal, radio operators would carry them through the deep jungles. If they couldn't get a good signal in the jungle mountains, they'd sling a Slinky high into the tree limbs while holding onto one end. It created an instant antenna extension that they would attach to the radio.
Q-tips. The only thing they are used for is the one thing you are explicitly told not to use them for.
The warming drawer on the bottom of all our ovens, which is used as pan storage for exactly %100 of oven owners.
Super glue was meant to be a temporary method of stitching a wound. It was used that way during the Vietnam War. Tell people today to super clue their cuts shut, however, and most will think you're crazy
The type of super glue is very important. This meme creates a dangerous message that any super glue is okay
That is inaccurate. Although it was used during the Vietnam War, it was not invented for that purpose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate?wprov=sfti1
For emergency application, yes. It all depends on composition. In the USSR and probably, until now in Russia they used to have a BF-6 glue to treat wounds. The glue contains some nasty chemicals though (dibutyl phthalate etc.) that affect endocrine system and, some say, can be carcinogenic. DBP is banned in the U. S. and Europe.
My mother superglued my head once after I had split it open for the second time that night. I barely even have a scar.
I used it on a cut on my hand once - palm side, close to my index finger - not an ideal place for a band-aid. Worked great. Way better than the liquid band-aid.
Does that work with all kinds of super glue, or is it only this particular one? I have never seen this brand before, but it seems tempting to me to try if it works.
It should work with most common superglues, as they almost exclusively use cyanoacrylate as active component. The problem is that this is not the main application nowadays, so the ingredients could contain something toxic/irritating.
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No, it was developed as an industrial adhesive decades before the Vietnam War.
Always use superglue on cuts and deep scratches - the certain type of acid used in it also acts as an antibacterial agent
The surgeon who remove my thyroid sewed the muscle layer together, and then superglued the skin. I have to hunt for the scar
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It works really well. I had a cut on my palm that wouldn’t heal, as I worked in a garden center and used my hands for manual labor all day. Crazy glued it shut and had no trouble afterwards!
The ONLY thing, I have been told and not from personal experience, that duct tape cannot "mend" are condoms.
Load More Replies... Works great when you get those little splits at the tips of your fingers in the dry winter months. Those little splits hurt like hell, and the glue seals them nicely as they heal. works great on heel splits as well.
Lots of people know this. Just be careful not to glue yourself to... yourself.
I always use it on annoying nicks on fingers or round nails, even nails themselves if I split one length-ways, takes a few weeks to grow out, but stops all pain instantly. Reapply after a bath!
Except, how do you apply it to yourself without touching your fingers to the wound you are trying to close? Then you’ll glue your finger to the wound.
It comes in a tube. You open the cap. You put the "spout" over the cut, you press on the tube, glue comes out, you move it along the cut. You replace the cap, you use your fingers to "push" the edges together, you hold, depending on the amount of glue, the edges together NOT WHERE THE GLUE IS but just below the edges of the cut. OR, you can "tape" the cut, by placing a piece of adhesive across the middle, pull it tight, then glue the edges WHERE THE TAPE IS NOT, then when the "glued" edges dry, take off the tape and glue the edges that are not glued.
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If you ever buy liquid bandage-it's the same principle as super glue- same as using super glue
"newskin" is just super glue. Great stuff. Super entertaining when you apply it to a small cut on a 6 year olds foot.
Doctors still use it now on cuts that will scar if they're stitched. It cuts down on the scarring and is a lot less painful than stitches. This is great for kids, because it means when the scar fades, it doesn't show.
Bullshit. During World War II, Coover was part of a team conducting research with chemicals known as cyanoacrylates in an effort to find a way to make a clear plastic that could be used for precision gunsights for soldiers. While working with the chemicals, the researchers discovered that they were extremely sticky, and this property made them very difficult to work with. Moisture causes the chemicals to polymerize, and since virtually all objects have a thin layer of moisture on them, bonding would occur in virtually every testing instance. They rejected cyanoacrylates as a feasible option and moved on with their research. Six years later, in 1951, Coover was transferred to Kodak’s chemical plant in Kingsport, Tennessee. That’s when he re-discovered the cyanoacrylates and recognized new potential in them. He had been overseeing the work of a group of Kodak chemists who were researching heat-resistant polymers for jet airplane canopies. They tested cyanoacrylate monomers, and this ti
I have four friends who have had open heart surgery in the last few years - and every one of them had their sternum put back together with super glue. It's now a surgical staple.
Super glue is great for small/micro cuts! My mother as a cosmetologist, often resorted to super glue if she ever accidentally snipped herself
Did some googling on this. Using the actual multi-purpose superglue that you find in the stores can damage tissue. There are safer medical grade glues that they use, like Dermabond.
I had total hip rea months ago. There were dissolving stitches on tissue inside my body, but the outer part of the large incision was closed with glue. It was a special surgical glue, but my guess is that it's very similar to this stuff
Unless you're a chef. Super glue it and sear it on the flat top. This is common kitchen knowledge.
Being an outdoor enthusiast, I know people who have done this. Thankfully have never needed to do it myself, though
I have a scar on my hand from a cut that needed stitches but I had "super glue on hand".
We've done it for years but have family that was in the military. Once I explain, people usually listen. If not, they can wear bandaids. Lol
Works so much better than liquid-bandage or anything else! Just don't stick it in your eyeballs
Still done a lot in emergency rooms,especially for kids. Also vets use it a ton!
My dad cut his head and when we was at the hospital they said if we had superglue and some sort of compression we could have done it ourselves my dad was annoyed cuz we did in fact have those things xD He ended up going back to the doctors anyway and been written off for a mild concussion as well
I use it for that all the time. But then, I learned First Aid in the Navy.
I've always been told that superglue can get hot enough to burn, but until this week I'd never experienced it. I've often felt it get warm as it dries on the skin, but never uncomfortably hot. Recently a blob fell off my project and onto my finger tip and it solidified instantly with intense heat. I ended up with two large blisters.
I’ve had my finger glued shut in the ER with superglue when I sliced it open
It works well in the shop in a hurry. then masking tape - electrical tape leaves black glue all over your skin.
It's used here in the UK still cos my son has it when he cracked the back of his head open. It was seen as too awkward for stitches and the glue would adhere to some of his hair too and hold the wound closed. Worked perfectly
My toddler had a wound on his head glued after falling and banging his forehead on a table. No anesthetic needed, 2 seconds to do and then steri strip on top.
I knew it could be used to stitch wounds but never knew that was its original function.
None of you will believe me but I’ll tell you anyway. The next time you get a nasty cut clean it out with ACETONE (yes, it will hurt but no worse than alcohol & will evaporate in less than 10 sec.) & seal it with Superglue. I promise it will heal cleaner & faster than any cut you’ve ever had.
I do this all the time and people think im nuts. But ive never had to get stitches
I've used it for this a few times, it's why it's SO effective at sticking your fingers together while the thing you're trying to fix, falls apart
Old bartender trick keeping one of these on you. When your hands are constantly wet, cuts happen easily and bandaides obviously won’t work with wet hands…
I used it on my thumb just the other day after a can lid cut. Lasts a few hand washings & a shower. peel off the remains & reapply.
You'd be surprised how many art/design students (and therefore artists/designers, pro sewers) use super glue to close their wounds. When you're in the middle of an all-nighter trying to finish a project and you slice your finger open with an X-acto knife, often the superglue is closer at hand and easier to find than the bandaids, and has the bonus of not interfering with finger/hand dexterity like a bandaid would. Honestly I swear artsy folks diy their first aid more often than they take the time to go find the first aid kit. Once while doing some last minute costume design fixes I sewed through my finger (not as bad as it sounds. Needle hit my fingernail which kept it from going all the way through my finger though it did stab it. Hurt like a mf) and I couldn't find a bandaid, so I made one from scrap fabric and duct tape. Superglue is great for when you know you probably need stitches, but this is due tomorrow so no time to go to the ER.
oh yeah...back in architecture school...building a model before finals...3 am...Xacto knife up my arm? Superglue. Dont even have a scar LOL. Stung like hell though.
I do this with cuts. Especially ones on my fingers! It keeps the cut closed and sealed ,so water and dirt doesn't get into it . Way more effective than a bandaid.
My son did this to a gash in his forehead and I thought he was crazy!
I have a bottle of cynoacrylate on my workbench specifically for gluing wounds shut.
My husband and I super glue our cuts all the time, especially useful when out camping or fixing vehicles!
I'd rather use masking tape. Sticks better than those bandaids and the cuts heal faster.
They wont think you're crazy if they've heard of "liquid skin". Same thing, just considered "medical grade"
I once used it to fix a split in my daughters fingernail. She showed it to the staff at her social club for young adults with special needs and one of the staff members had a right go at me about it until I pulled out my phone and showed them proof that it was originally called liquid suture and it was actually invented for closing skin wounds. The staff member was still giving me the side eye weeks after, lol.
This works so well! If you can get the bleeding to stop you can save the time and hassle of a trip to the ER or walk-in clinic. And in the US that means big $!
Apparently paintball guns were invented for foresters/loggers/park rangers to mark trees (for cutting etc.) without having to approach each tree.
Wonder how many minutes it took after the initial product release that 1st forester thought that it would be funny to shoot Mike on back.. Maybe hours but definetly not days..
Snuggy was originally designed for wheelchair users. Outerwear designed for walkers is cumbersome to take on and off for wheelchair users so snuggies were designed to help with this.
Ketamine is for horses and not for Saturday night.
It's been approved for use as a human sedative, it's used in operating rooms and ICUs. And remember those Thai kids that were trapped in the flooded cave? Each kid got a shot of Ketamine before the final rescue, it kept them quiet as heroic spent hours dragging them to safety through a dangerous flooded cave.
WD-40 was developed as a rust preventative (it’s even in the initials: “WD” means “Water Displacement”). Nowadays people use it to lubricate mechanical parts.
Pipe cleaners,
Use them for all sorts of arts and crafts as kids. It wasn't till I owned a tobacco pipe and went to buy them that it actually clicked
Oh my Jesus Christ. I haven’t thought about these since I was in primary school. Back then, I assumed the ‘pipe’ in pipe cleaner referred the things that ran along the walls of my house and I didn’t question it. It’s only now, reading this as a fully grown adult, that I realise it’s not that kind of pipe at all. That update has been pending for decades!
I think people already know this but the neck on the beer bottle is actually supposed to be held so you don’t warm your drink too fast.
No thank you. I don't trust my clumsy hands to hold it steady at the neck.
Gloveboxes were originally meant to store gloves because people used to drive with gloves on for some reason.
People used to drive with at the very least - gloves, dust coats, goggles, and hats on, if not full face masks. Because cars didn't have roofs or windows and the roads weren't paved, anyone who drove the first cars was going to get all the dust, mud, or weather in the world in the face.
Minoxidil was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and people reported unusual hair growth all around the body, since it promotes blood flow to the skin pores. They came up with a topical version and voila, millions of people smear that sh*t on their scalps and beards everyday and its the one of the only clinically proven ways to cure baldness.
Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets used as informal databases instead of as a data analysis tool
Facebook... originally intended to help college students meet, now used to control political behavior.
Zuck started it for dude-bros to rate the "attractiveness" of female students. So...It went from shitty to shitty in a different way, really.
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Lots of medical products had entirely different intentions! Dramamine was originally meant to combat hay fever, but turned out to be exceptional at preventing nausea (which is good as it's useless at preventing hay fever). Spironolactone was being tested for blood pressure uses until they realized that it acts as a testosterone blocker (it does actually affect blood pressure, but barely compared to more traditional blood pressure medications). Pharmaceuticals is basically an entire industry of "not what I was going for but let's roll with it".
Skin So Soft (S.O.S.) from Avon was a beauty product, but was found to be an excellent mosquito repellent
Should I say autotune software. I think it was invented to improve the mistakes made after recording, now it's used to enhance voice and sound quality, and hide flaws of the singer and musicians.
Coke was a soft drink before,now I use it to clean my toilet and sink.They're quite cheap.
Coke actually started out as a medicine and was developed by a pharmacist. It originally contained cocaine but that was removed in the early 1900's and became a drink.
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And canola (rapeseed) oil was originally developed as an industrial lubricant too - the petrochemical industry shut that down fast!
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Here in India, 'Clinic Plus' is still sold and promoted as a shampoo but is an amazing bike and basin/bathroom cleaner.
BoredPanda. It was created for art/photography and such and now it contains a lot of posts shaming people.
It seems like you pushed a Qtip a lot too far in your ear.
Load More Replies... Facebook... originally intended to help college students meet, now used to control political behavior.
Zuck started it for dude-bros to rate the "attractiveness" of female students. So...It went from shitty to shitty in a different way, really.
Load More Replies... Lots of medical products had entirely different intentions! Dramamine was originally meant to combat hay fever, but turned out to be exceptional at preventing nausea (which is good as it's useless at preventing hay fever). Spironolactone was being tested for blood pressure uses until they realized that it acts as a testosterone blocker (it does actually affect blood pressure, but barely compared to more traditional blood pressure medications). Pharmaceuticals is basically an entire industry of "not what I was going for but let's roll with it".
Skin So Soft (S.O.S.) from Avon was a beauty product, but was found to be an excellent mosquito repellent
Should I say autotune software. I think it was invented to improve the mistakes made after recording, now it's used to enhance voice and sound quality, and hide flaws of the singer and musicians.
Coke was a soft drink before,now I use it to clean my toilet and sink.They're quite cheap.
Coke actually started out as a medicine and was developed by a pharmacist. It originally contained cocaine but that was removed in the early 1900's and became a drink.
Load More Replies... And canola (rapeseed) oil was originally developed as an industrial lubricant too - the petrochemical industry shut that down fast!
Load More Replies... Here in India, 'Clinic Plus' is still sold and promoted as a shampoo but is an amazing bike and basin/bathroom cleaner.
BoredPanda. It was created for art/photography and such and now it contains a lot of posts shaming people.
It seems like you pushed a Qtip a lot too far in your ear.
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