35 Times People Online Were Better Than Google At Identifying Unknown Objects (New Pics)
The answers come to those who seek them. Especially on the subreddit 'What Is This Thing?'
This online community is home to 2.3 million members who are always ready to help people identify the mysterious objects they found.
The gig is simple: someone uploads a photo of whatever it is they want the name of, and the gang starts commenting under it, offering their input until, inevitably, a person shows up who knows exactly what it is.
However, even if you're not posting anything, scrolling through their solved cases feels like an interesting challenge, where you can test (and expand) your own knowledge. So we invite you to do just that!
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Strange Metal Thing On The Bottom Of My Drivers Side
Answer: Your mechanic is gonna want that back. It’s part of a lift.
This Metal Piece Is Attached To The Wall In A Wc In My Airbnb In France
Answer: It's a magazine rack installed upside down because people decorating Airbnb's don't know what they're doing.
Saw This In A Restroom Which Has Faucets And Drain Down Low And A Dryer
Answer: This setup prevents Muslims from having to lift our legs up dangerously high while trying to stick our feet in the sink one at a time. The alternative to that is we have to take a handful of water and pour it onto our feet below the sink causing the floor to get wet. Muslims also have to keep their feet clean before praying, which is obviously problematic in a bathroom where everyone pisses on the floor and walks with their shoes between the stalls and the sink, so you might see them trying to keep one shoe on while washing the other foot and then switching. It’s also why we take our shoes off before praying and use prayer rugs to avoid touching unclean things while praying.
The day humanity understands that unclean things come from inside the human heart, not from the outside or from innocent creatures like dogs and pigs, this world will be very different.
Round Shelf Attached By Metal Brackets To Underside Of Table. What Is It For?
Answer: It's a place to rest your beer while you play cards.
Weird Semi Circle Wires With Various Beads On A Wooden Plank Found In An Older House
Answer: A Himalayan Calendar. The outer ring as 12 balls, each corresponding to a month. The next two rings have a tens and ones digit. The tens has three balls for up to the 31st, and the next has nine balls, for 0 to 9. And then four rings for the year, up to 9999.
Hard, Waxy, Blob-Looking Thing Found During Low Tide
Answer: It's whale sick get it checked it could be worth thousands a kg. It's an ingredient used in high end perfumes.
What Is This? It’s Made Like A Barrel But Looks Like A Carrier Of Some Kind?
Answer: It is a Vasculum, a sturdy collection container used by botanists on field excursions in which plant specimens can be collected without damaging them.
I'm completely gobsmacked by all these people out there who know these stuffs
Steel, Engraved, Hooked Tool Hidden In The Foundation Of An Old House
Answer: My wife says horse hoof cleaning tool, and she's a major horse gal. Also, burying an iron object within the foundation of a home was once considered good luck.
This item looks like a wedding favor from February of this year. Appears to be the item described but it wasn't in a foundation very long.
Made Of Clay/Terra Cotta, Can Fit Inside A Palm. It Came With Something I Bought But Can't Remember What
Answer: Terra cotta sugar saver. You put it in with your brown sugar to keep it from clumping or drying out in storage.
Have the same but with a tobacco leaf on it, obviously for another purpose : soak in a cup of water for an hour or two and then use in a tin or jar of pipetobacco that has dried out a bit.
What Is This Spoon With A Tong-Like Attachment? Seen In An Antique Store In Lyon, France
Answer: It is a spoon designed to separate the fat from the sauce, called "cuillère dégraisseuse".
Found On Charmouth Beach, Dorset. Screw Cap And Has Bright Green Liquid Inside
Answer: It’s a diver rescue marker, for ocean rescue. You release it to dye the water around you and even at night a blacklight can light it up.
What Is This Wall Mounted Metal Thing That Was Seen In Hohensalzburg Fortress? There Were 3 Or 4 Rooms With One Of These Objects And None Had An Explanation
Answer: These are pretty much radiators that were filled with embers and/or hot stones when needed.
This Plaque Came In As As Scrap Metal. Measures Approx 1.5ft X 6in. Made Of Cast Aluminum. Google Turns Up No Results. Witt??
Answer: Probably a horse. The bottom is the sire and dam.
Found In Kitchen Junk Drawer. Heavy, Solid Brass
Answer: Telephone dialer. You put the ball end in the desired number of the phone dial instead of your finger tip and used it to turn the dial.
What Is This Oval Metal Thing In A Plastic Holder Mounted To The Kitchen Wall Next To The Sink?
Answer: Steel "soap" bar. Removes odors like onion from ur hands when u wash with it by just adding a strong steel odor on top.
Doesn't anyone realize that most of us have a kitchen drawer full of stainless steel items? Pull out a serving spoon, rub it under running water, works exactly the same
1940 Mercury Dime Turned Into A Two Sided Spoon Of Some Sort With Fused Ring At The Top. Came With Odds And Ends From Deceased Older Relative From Ohio
Answer: A vintage spoon pendant used for illegal substances.
4 Inches, Plastic, Pointed On One Side. Received As A Xmas Gift?! Witt??
Answer: Looks like a page spreader for reading. Point end goes into the spine and thumb in hole so you can one hand books easy.
As an avid reader and even with the explanation I have no idea how this works
What Are These Heavy Metal Objects I Found In A Thrift Store?
Answer: You hang weights on chains to power mechanical cuckoo clocks. One powers the clock mechanism, and the other powers the cuckoo. The weight turns gears in the mechanism as the chain drops. To wind the clock, you pull on the other end of the chain and bring the weight back up, and the same for the chain that powers the cuckoo.
Bought A New Pair Of Nike Shoes. Inside The Box Was This Small, Plastic Bubble, Filled With Air, And What Looks Like Tiny, Colorful Micro Plastics. Has A Loophole On The Top And Is About An Inch Long
Answer: Micro plastic particles. Probably to show how Nike helps to clean up our planet. Greenwashing at best.
that is so dumb. Let's show the world hwo green we are by producing more plastic!
What's This Heavy, Brass, Genie Lamp-Like Object With Both A Weird Cutout Spout And A Narrow Upwards Spout?
Answer: It’s a lamp. It’s literally an oil lamp, to be used to create light. The wick goes in the spout. The oil goes in the belly. You light the wick and a flame will burn on the end of the spout like a little candle, and you can carry your lantern around with you.
What Would This Antique Silver “Locket” Have Been Used For? It Looks Like Possibly Ink Residue On The Two Pads Inside, But No Indication That The Inside Door Would Have Been Sealed Tightly Enough To Be A Reservoir
Answer: It's actually a purse. There's space in there for some coins for bus/cab fare, some powder makeup (behind the little door), and calling cards.
A Short Thick Metal Coil That Can Be Plugged Into An Outlet. Doesn't Seem Very Safe At All. I'm Thinking It's Missing A Larger Piece That Creates It's True Purpose
Answer: Immersion heater. The metal piece goes into a cup of water and heats it.
Found This Spiked Metal Collar Hanging In One Of The Upstairs Rooms In The House I Just Bought In Spain
Answer: Anti-wolf collar for sheepdogs.
Small Trailer With Individual Openings. Seen While Driving, No Obvious Marking That Would Indicate What It’s For
Answer: It's for transporting racing pigeons.
What Is This Cabinet On Wheels I Got At An Antiques Market? The Drawers Can Be Accessed From The Front As Well As From The Back, There Are Also Two Compartments With Small Key (???) Hooks On Each Side
Answer: This is just a scientific specimen cabinet, which could be used for anything from geology to lepidopterology.
Found This In Our Donation Bin, We're A Nonprofit, We Recycle Eyeglasses And Hearing Aids. It's A Gold Plated Speaker With A Short Cord With 2 Prongs At The End, It Also Has A Gold Plated Clip With An Opal-Like Material Of A Horse On It
Answer: An old Beltone type hearing aid. There's a transistor in the tie clip, and it plugs into a cord for the hearing aid.
Wooden Block With 6 Metal Fins, Inscribed 'Hemma Patent'
Answer: Cabbage sliced for making sauerkraut.
Strange Looking Hook Thing Found Buried In A Hutch. The Inscription On The Hook Side Is In French. Any Ideas?
Answer: It's a butter curler, for making fancy bits of butter.
What Are These Little Knit Tubes?
Answer: They can be used to avoid chairs scratching your floors. So they are socks, but for chairs rather than humans.
They also keep your chairs from making the SCRRRONNNNCH noise on the floor, as well. I have some that look like cats paws, and I laughed so hard I cried when I was putting them on my chairs.
Found In A Safe In A Deceased Man's House: 11 Identical Stacks Of Thin Black Paper Strips, Wrapped In Plastic Foil, Covered In Fine White Dust. Measurements Of Each Strip Approximately 16 Cm X 6,5 Cm, Height Of Each Stack Approximately 5 Cm. Other Than That, The Safe Was Empty
Answer: "Black Money Scam". It's construction paper or similar, he was scammed to believe it was currency dyed to be smuggled and could be restored.
Or it really IS currency dyed to be smuggled and CAN be restored?
Plastic Ring With Three Relatively Sharp Metal Claws, Found On Beach In Scotland
Answer: It's a "claw" to help pull in fishing nets.
We Found This On Top Of A Bookcase While Cleaning Our Office. It Appears That The Jar Is Sealed. The White Things Inside Weigh Next To Nothing. We Didn’t Want To Open It Until We Have Some Idea As To What It Is. They Look Pretty Soft. Nothing Identifying On The Jar Itself
Answer: They look like silkworm cocoons.
In my region, there was an important production and trade of silk (a proof is the "Silk Exchange", built in the 15th century). All kids at a certain moment received silkworm eggs. This is definitely the cocoon. The butterfly in the inside is probably dead.
What Is This Wavy Pattern On The Back Of A Piece Of Mail I Received?
Answer: Obfuscation pattern, it's there to hide info or keep people from trying to read through an envelope and look at personal information.
Plastic Device With A Blade That Cuts A Chunk Out Of Paper
Answer: Wow, that's a blast from the past. It's for write protecting a 5.25" floppy disk.
It’s for making a single sided disk double sided.
"Blast from the past" is right, I remember these, they used to come with a bunch of stickers to go back over the punched hole to make the disks write-able again.
I Spotted A Few Of These Wrought Iron Poles On A Road In Central London, They Must Have Had Some Historical Usage, But I'm Not Sure What. Perhaps For Lamps? Did The Circle At The Top Used To Hold Something? Was The Arm On The Right For Hanging Something?
Answer: It's an early 19th C Gaslamp. The gas is piped up the pole, and a copper pipe would have extended into the glass lamp house, which fitted into the hoop.
Not seen that exact type before, but yeah. The horizontal piece was used by the lamplighter to prop a ladder against - yes, they had to climb up each lamppost to light them manually. Lots of them still to be found in many British towns to this day, converted to electricity sometime in the mid 20th century. Sadly a lot of them were ripped out and replaced by modern monstrosities back in the 1960s-70s.
Note: this post originally had 139 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
I found this thread super informative and fun. Alot of Bored Pandas are younger and may not have any exposure to many of these items and thus have no point of reference to even guess. Some items may be regional or just way too old for people to know about. I read this post with one of my 14yr old sons and it was very educational. Sure, I knew alot of these things too but I have life experience and points of reference for what things might be used for. There were also quite a few new things I learned about too. I'd like to see this type of thread again some day in the future. Thanks 🐼s!
I'm obviously wasting my life away, as many (50%+) of these I knew. Although everyone should know the Goethe book press, and if you don't, here is a cool 20 minute documentary on printing and paper manufacture (starring Arthur Weasley). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9Qhl-DJck
I love these types of articles. So much more uplifting than all the ones that are about people putting each other down.
Hey, I have an object here and I don't know what it is. I found it hidden at the top of the bathroom cabinet of the apartment I just bought. Does anyone know what it is? Heeeeelp 😝 IMG_5457-6...8f-png.jpg 
Maybe I'm just in a cranky mood, but I got irritated at the ones where the person could easily have asked museum staff or the employee handing them the item instead of posting their question online.
You don't know a lot of introverts or people with general anxiety, do you?
Load More Replies...
You can say things WITHOUT being abusive in your delivery. Jiminy cricket, did you wake up on the wrong side of your web?
Load More Replies... I found this thread super informative and fun. Alot of Bored Pandas are younger and may not have any exposure to many of these items and thus have no point of reference to even guess. Some items may be regional or just way too old for people to know about. I read this post with one of my 14yr old sons and it was very educational. Sure, I knew alot of these things too but I have life experience and points of reference for what things might be used for. There were also quite a few new things I learned about too. I'd like to see this type of thread again some day in the future. Thanks 🐼s!
I'm obviously wasting my life away, as many (50%+) of these I knew. Although everyone should know the Goethe book press, and if you don't, here is a cool 20 minute documentary on printing and paper manufacture (starring Arthur Weasley). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9Qhl-DJck
I love these types of articles. So much more uplifting than all the ones that are about people putting each other down.
Hey, I have an object here and I don't know what it is. I found it hidden at the top of the bathroom cabinet of the apartment I just bought. Does anyone know what it is? Heeeeelp 😝 IMG_5457-6...8f-png.jpg
Maybe I'm just in a cranky mood, but I got irritated at the ones where the person could easily have asked museum staff or the employee handing them the item instead of posting their question online.
You don't know a lot of introverts or people with general anxiety, do you?
Load More Replies... You can say things WITHOUT being abusive in your delivery. Jiminy cricket, did you wake up on the wrong side of your web?
Load More Replies...