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30 Times People Had No Idea What They Were Looking At, But The Internet Knew What It Was Right Away
Say you find a coin. Say you have no idea if it's worth a million dollars or less than the leaf of grass you picked it up from. What should you do? Take a picture of it and post it on a subreddit called "What Is This Thing?" And it goes not just for coins. This community easily identifies missiles, slugs, nipple pumps; pretty much any thing they lay their eyes on. The subreddit is home to over 894,000 members and the number is constantly growing as well. Continue scrolling to broaden your horizons and upvote your favorite entries!
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#1
What Is The Point Of Such A Device?
Answer: USB charging condom. This way you can plug your phone into a random USB port and be sure that no data is exchanged. Only the power pins are passed through to the phone. Also called a sync stop.
#2
I Found This Little Guy Under A Stair In A Parking Garage At The Mall. The Clothing Is Made Out Of Thread And His Hair Is Made By What Seems Like Glue Dipped Into Dirt. What Is This Thing?
Answer: It is a worry doll. You tell your worries to it, and put it under your pillow at night. It's supposed to take away your worries while you're sleeping.
#3
Found This In House I’m Tearing Apart In A Book Like Someone Wanted To Keep Them Don’t Think It’s Real Money
Answer: Its money from the Philippines when it was occupied by Japan in 1941.
#4
Found A Rock On The Porch Of My New Home, Flipped It Over And Saw This. Is That A Fossil?
Answer: Yup, that's a fossil. Tree trunk impression.
#5
Found This White Fuzzy Thing In My Basement, Mother Freaked Out. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Spiders infected with fungus look like this.
#6
Anyone Know What Those Round Impressions Are Called, And What Are They For ?
Answer: Old windows were made of glass spun out into flatness. That's the center of the spin.
New windows are made of glass floated on a pool of molten tin, which makes very flat panes without any annoying bullseyes.
EDIT: this is also the source of the myth that glass is a liquid and flows over time. See the center pane of your picture? Someone took the time to get a "good" pane for the center of the window, without any bullseye - put your best pane in that spot, obviously. But the glass is still of uneven thickness, getting thicker closer to the bullseye. So people look at panes like that, with thicker glass in one part, and decide that "hey, the glass must have started off perfectly flat and flowed over time". But no. The glass flowed when it was molten (1500 degrees C!) and does not flow at room temperature.
#7
Grandmother Received This From Her Friend After His Death. Nobody At The Senior's Center She Lives At Knows What It Is. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Opium pipe
#8
This Sticker On The Inside Cover Of A Second-Hand Bible. Pretty Sure It Depicts A Partridge And A Fig Tree, Both Of Which Have Biblical Connections But No Idea What It Means
Answer: No Bush/Quail. 1992 election sticker.
#9
This Belonged To My Great Grandfather. What Is This Thing?
Answer: If it's legit, that's a really old Gibson, from between 1903 and 1933. It's going to be worth more than you think, so be really careful with it. Seriously.
#10
Went Exploring In White Sands, New Mexico And Found An... Object. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Looks like it could be titanium - titanium spheres of similar size are a relatively commonly found space debris
#11
What Are These Things And What Are They Doing?
Answer: They're European red slugs. And they're doing it.
#12
My Girlfriend Found These In Her Dinner? Are They Seeds?
Answer: Pretty good picture of insect eggs.
#13
Researching Plantation Houses In The 1700's. What Is The Thing Hanging From The Ceiling In This Dining Room?
Answer: Very early ceiling fan. The rope at the top would be pulled to create the back and forth motion to fan the air and keep flies away from the table during a meal.
#14
Circular Object On Top Of Car. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Bubbl, It's like an uber targeted toward kids or those with extra concerns around who the drivers are.
"Bubbl Investments, LLC was launched in August 2016 in the DFW area. It was founded by a group of Dallas-based individuals, including the former Dallas Deputy Chief of Police. Our rides are driven by off-duty or retired police officers who have been thoroughly vetted. All fleet and driver owned cars are regulated by the company. Bubbl accurately identified the need to provide a safe ride option especially for children, special need families, and seniors. "
#15
Bathroom Coat Hangers That Can Move Up Or Down. Why Would You Want Them Downward?
Answer: We call them anti-ligature. If the rest of the items in the room aren't also anti-ligature (door knobs, door hinges, tp dispenser, etc) then it doesn't make much sense to have it there. If everything else IS, then you're in a room designed for individuals that are a suicide risk.
#16
These Were Free Roaming At A Zoo So Didn’t Have A Sign/Info On Them. Thought They Were Hares But Walkedon All Fours And Hand Quite Long Front A Back Legs. What Is This?
Answer: Patagonian Cavy.
#17
I Found This Jammed In My Front Door Lock, It’s About 1.5” Long. What Is This Thing?
Answer: It's a tension wrench from a lock pick set.
#18
My Sister Found This When Cleaning Out A Fish. This Was In The Mouth And There Was A Smaller One In The Stomach. Anyone Know What It Is ?
Answer: Tongue eating parasite (cymothoa exigua). Truly harrowing.
Eats the fish's tongue and then takes the place of the fish's tongue.
#19
Car Part Found In Bicyclist Hit And Run Fatality Today
Answer: 1988 chevy Silverado headlamp bezel.
People keep asking how I knew this....I've been a Maryland state inspector for a long time, and part of each car and truck inspection up until recently was a mandatory headlamp adjustment....If I had to guess, I'd say someone from the Hoppy brand headlamp aim checker company probably bribed some politicians a long, long time ago, which made it mandatory for each station to buy their equipment to perform inspections....Anyhow, I've done a shit-ton of headlamp adjustments, so right away I knew what that notch in the plastic was for....I first checked 1988 Ram 1500 trucks and by chance, there was a picture of a mid 80's Chevy truck.
#20
Some Kind Of Explosive Lying On The Floor Of Server Room?
Answer: It’s a Sagger Missile A Russian MCLOS ATGM. Good luck w that bud.
#21
Saw On My Flight To Cali. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Specifically, this looks like Concentrated Thermal Solar. It uses mirrors to reflect the light to a central tower which is barely visible in your picture due to the glare coming off of it. The light is then converted to heat where it drives a steam turbine, or some other heat engine.
#22
I Saw This “Cloud” On My Way To Work Yesterday Morning, May 22nd, At 5 Am Est. Other Than This, The Sky Was Completely Clear. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Rocket launch. I live near a launch complex. See this a lot.
#23
Heathrow Airport. Looks Like It Hasn’t Moved In Ages. What Is This Thing?
Answer: For fire training, for the airport fire brigade.
#24
Saw This Natural Phenomenon Near My Home. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Lenticular cloud.
#25
I Found This Thing In My Food. It Was Just Stuck To A Piece Of Meat; It Wasn't Lodged Into It Or Anything. Anyone Know What It Is?
Answer: Cattle/pig microchip for meat traceability.
#26
It Is Approx. 3 Meters Long And Open At The End. Found With Some Similar Looking Ones Scattered Around On A Hillside While Hiking. What Is This Thing?
Answer: This device is called Gazex and it's used to start avalanches, so they can control when and where they happen. This avalanche control system uses specially constructedand "exploder" sites and tubes built at key locations in avalanche territory to set off avalanches at controlled times. The exploders literally detonate a mixture of oxygen and propane from the tube structures. The explosive force expelled from the tubes triggers avalanches. The explosive bursts are fueled by gas canisters stored in tanks beneath the exploders on the mountain.
#27
I Drive By This Every Day, What Is On Top Of This Car?
Answer: It’s a crane arm — for filming in movies... it’s how they filmed the Red Bull Kluge video.
Kevin Camp 5 years ago
That is a camera rig car. For filming moving cars and such. The vehicle is painted flat black to keep light relfecting from it from interfering with the exposure while filming. Work vehicle.
#28
What Is This Black Stuff Appearing On The Walls Of My Hostel’s Bathroom? It’s Almost In Every Corner As Well
Answer: Termite infestation.
#29
Dark Line On Earth Visible In The Spacex Falcon Heavy Stream. What Is This Thing?
Answer: It's land. New Caledonia
#30
Found This Kayaking In The Mississippi River Yesterday, I Think It’s Some Kind Of Exact Fungus But I’ve Never Seen This In My Life. What Is This Thing?
Answer: Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) colony.
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What do you think ?
Kaisu Rei 5 years ago
These are really cool, I had never heard of most of these and it's nice to learn new things!
Kaisu Rei 5 years ago
These are really cool, I had never heard of most of these and it's nice to learn new things!
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