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.
#1
History Channel... as far as I am concerned the secret relationships between aliens and the illuminati do not qualify as "history"
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#3
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.
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#4
Q-tips. The only thing they are used for is the one thing you are explicitly told not to use them for.
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#5
The warming drawer on the bottom of all our ovens, which is used as pan storage for exactly %100 of oven owners.
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#6
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
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#7
Apparently paintball guns were invented for foresters/loggers/park rangers to mark trees (for cutting etc.) without having to approach each tree.
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#9
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.
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#12
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.
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#13
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
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#14
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.
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#16
Gloveboxes were originally meant to store gloves because people used to drive with gloves on for some reason.
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#18
Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets used as informal databases instead of as a data analysis tool
- You might also like: 50 ‘Weird Facts’ About The World That Might Give You A Fresh Perspective
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