Everyday Objects That Started Out As Something Else Entirely

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Everyday Objects That Started Out As Something Else Entirely

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Normally, one glance is all it takes to figure out why a thing was invented. Cars came about because we needed a better way to get from here to there, guns were created because we needed a more efficient way to wreck shit once we got there, etc.

Not so fast. it turns out that when you trace some of the things we use every day back to their origins, you find that, while necessity may be the mother of invention, sometimes her baby daddy is serendipity. For example:

VIAGRA'S ORIGINAL PURPOSE WAS TO TREAT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. ISRIOO a OT7 szJd soud V Contrary to what you may think, Viagra wasn't created to stuff yo

COCA-COLA WAS ADVERTISED FOR ITS HEALTH EFFECTS. N Ccoca Cola HOD Coca-Cola was born during a health craze for sodas in the late 19th century. Its cre

THE TREADMILL WAS CREATED TO PUNISH PRISONERS Through most of the 19th century, convicts in both Britain and the U.S. were made to climb the spokes of

TNT WAS A YELLOW DYE. EXPLOSIVE TNT nUND When German chemist Julius Wilbrand first made trinitrotoluene in 1863, he didn't intend to blow up anything.

HIGH HEELS CRACKEDcO USED TO BE A WARRIOR THING. Long before it became an uncomfortable symbol of femininity, high-heeled footwear was all the rage on

SLINKYS WERE CRACKED COM INTENDED TO STABILIZE NAVAL INSTRUMENTS. In 1943, engineer Richard James was developing springs to keep sensitive instruments

SILLY PUTTY Silly WAS A FAILED pur The ORiGiNa ATTEMPT AT MAKING CAR TIRES. A In the '4Os, the U.S government asked private companies to create a synt

SANITARY PADS STARTED OUT AS BANDAGES FOR SOLDIERS. NEWI NOUVEAN always Odor Lock INUEVO Maxi LeakGuard PLUS NEUTRALIZES odors for hous eonds n second

ORAOKEDCO THE MUUMUU WAS INVENTED TO SHAME HAWAIIAN WOMEN. When Christian missionaries arrived in Hawaii in the 1820s, the first thing they did was co

MICROWAVE OVENS COME FROM RADAR Runsel Hobbe In the years following World War lI, engineer Percy Lebaron Spencer was working with radar technology whe

LISTERINE WAS LSTER A SURGICAL ANTISEPTIC. DEEPER CLEAN THAN BRUSHING ALONE LISTERINE FRESHBURST ANTISEPTIC Kills Germs that Cause Bad Breath, Plaque

THE JACUZZI WAS INVENTED AS THERAPY FOR A BABY. In the 1940s, Italian immigrant Candido Jacuzzi designed a pump that could turn any bathtub into a hea

EYELINER WAS CRACKEDcO AN OLD-TIMEY FORM OF SUNGLASSES. Ancient Egyptians were among the first to wear eyeliner. They didn't do it to look fabulous (a

CHAINSAWS WERE CRACKED INVENTED TO HELP DURING CHILDBIRTH E: Because the past is a horror movie, early chainsaws weren't used to cut trees, but human

AUTO-TUNE'S TECHNOLOGY WAS USED TO FIND OIL. Engineer Andy Hildebrand had worked for years analyzing sound waves to create maps of potential drill sit

BUBBLE WRAP USED CRACKED COM TO BE WALLPAPER. When Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes invented the stuff in the late '50s, they didn't immediately thi

BRAILLE WAS BORN CRACKEDC FOR BATTLEFIELD COMMUNICATION.S Charles Barbier, a captain in Napoleon's army, was commissioned with devising: a system to a

CORKSCREWS WERE MILITARY TOOLS. Early guns were, well, pretty shitty. Bullets got stuck all the time, and soldiers used a tool called a gun worm to
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