# Can you identify this object? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 18, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121 "2005-12-18T02:13:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/61 "2005-12-19T03:37:16Z")
Is it something used in the embalming and preparation of corpses? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/62 "2005-12-19T03:39:21Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Is it something used in the embalming and preparation of corpses? Ewwww! No. It’s used in conjunction with something you probably encounter every day of your life. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/63 "2005-12-19T03:51:22Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Ewwww! > > No. It’s used in conjunction with something you probably encounter every day of your life. Just so you think I’m not a total lunatic–I had remembered that you had said that after you used it, you had to get another one. (Of course, I slightly misremembered that.) And I just re-read Jessica Mitford’s _The American Way of Death_, which discusses the preparation of corpses in great detail. So, I figured it might be something to retain some body part or something, and you couldn’t reuse it because it would be buried with the corpse. Or something like that. Okay, so maybe I’m a total lunatic. It made sense at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/64 "2005-12-19T03:53:54Z")
> [@Green Bean](#): > > Okay, so maybe I’m a total lunatic. It made sense at the time. I don’t think you’re a **total** lunatic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/65 "2005-12-19T03:55:43Z")
Okay, a wild guess: Does a garden hose go between the prongs of the forked end and the swivel bit used to constrict the flow? If not, does something shaped like a garden hose (a rope, perhaps) go between the prongs of the forked end? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/66 "2005-12-19T03:57:44Z")
> [@Mbossa](#): > > Okay, a wild guess: > Does a garden hose go between the prongs of the forked end and the swivel bit used to constrict the flow? > > If not, does something shaped like a garden hose (a rope, perhaps) go between the prongs of the forked end? No and no. However, something does go in between the forks. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/67 "2005-12-19T04:04:53Z")
Will you tell us what industry it is used in? ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/68 "2005-12-19T04:05:06Z")
There appear to be two tabs on the swivelling bit – one upturned and one downturned. The downturned tab appears to restrict the swivelling bit from turning the full 360 degrees. Does it have a purpose apart from that? In fact, would the thing work if the swivelling bit could turn 360 degrees? Does the upturned tab serve a purpose? Would the device still work if you broke it off? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/69 "2005-12-19T04:08:00Z")
Spaghetti eating fork? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/70 "2005-12-19T04:10:16Z")
Does it pull knots tight on a curtain draw cord? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/71 "2005-12-19T04:14:13Z")
> [@Mbossa](#): > > There appear to be two tabs on the swivelling bit – one upturned and one downturned. > > The downturned tab appears to restrict the swivelling bit from turning the full 360 degrees. Does it have a purpose apart from that? In fact, would the thing work if the swivelling bit could turn 360 degrees? > > Does the upturned tab serve a purpose? Would the device still work if you broke it off? The downturned tab does serve a purpose. The upturned tab serves the purpose of not allowing the swiveling part to go 360 degrees. The device could work without it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/72 "2005-12-19T04:16:44Z")
Does it have something to do with a telephone cord? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/73 "2005-12-19T04:19:35Z")
Duke of RatCrafter\_Man - Not cords, but it does tighten something and you do have to twirl it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/74 "2005-12-19T04:21:59Z")
:smack: Left out a comma there. Didn’t mean to fuse you two together. No cords of any kind are involved, though. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/75 "2005-12-19T04:40:41Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > It’s used in conjunction with something you probably encounter every day of your life. Like a car? If so, does it have something to do with seatbelts? ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/76 "2005-12-19T04:40:49Z")
I’ll throw out some wild guesses. Does it have anything to do with food preparation or sailboats or cable tv or piano tuning? Or any combination thereof? ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/77 "2005-12-19T04:42:37Z")
Does it tighten (or untwist) the wire around newspaper bundles? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/78 "2005-12-19T05:32:07Z")
Damn this thing looks familiar. Is it some sort of special-purpose adjustable wrench? You slide the prongs over something, then adjust the arm so that its tab hooks on something else and then the whole assembly can be rotated? ---
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/79 "2005-12-19T06:26:41Z")
My guess… screwdriver or, eh, nail driver for the lack of a better word. Kinda like a proto-cordless drill… sometimes you just don’t have enough wrist strength. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121/80 "2005-12-19T09:29:02Z")
It doesn’t _do_ anything, that’s the beuaty of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-object/336121.md?page=5)