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Ordinary Oddities

Home oddities

Household objects pick up myths quickly, because everyone handles them and nobody has a reason to look anything up. Color codes that supposedly reveal ingredients, holes that supposedly need a secret key: the explanations that spread are often more exciting than the real ones.

The home oddities here give the real explanations, usually rooted in how the thing is manufactured or how it survives daily use, and say clearly when a popular claim is a myth.

2 questions answered

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    Why do padlocks have a tiny hole at the bottom?

    The tiny hole at the bottom of a padlock is a drain. Rain gets in around the shackle and through the keyhole, and the hole lets that water, and grit with it, run out instead of pooling inside, where it can rust the parts or freeze and jam the lock. It is not a keyhole and opens nothing.

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    What do the squares on toothpaste tubes mean?

    The small square at the sealed end of a toothpaste tube is an eye mark, a printed target for a light sensor on the production line. The filling machine uses it to line the tube up before sealing and trimming it. It says nothing about the ingredients. Its color just needs to stand out from the background.

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