# \*Multi-Purpose\* correction fluid **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896 "2008-01-09T20:18:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/1 "2008-01-09T20:18:11Z")
While on the phone, I was fidgeting with a bottle of correction fluid, and noticed that the label reads: Multi-Purpose Bic ® Wite-Out ® Brand Cover-it ™ Correction Fluid My question is – what would the other purposes be? Does anyone polish their white shoes anymore? Would it stay put on a discolored tooth? Could you use it for a French manicure? ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/2 "2008-01-09T20:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] While on the phone, I was fidgeting with a bottle of correction fluid, and noticed that the label reads: Multi-Purpose Bic (R) Wite-Out (R) Brand Cover-it ™ Correction Fluid My question is – what would the other purposes be? Does anyone polish their white shoes anymore? Would it stay put on a discolored tooth? Could you use it for a French manicure? [/QUOTE] Obviously, when your delete button is not working while in a Word document. Duh! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/3 "2008-01-09T20:23:23Z")
Maybe they mean there are multiple purposes for which you might need to make a correction. Like, maybe you want to fix where you accidentally typed “teh” instead of “the” on a personal letter to a friend. OR, maybe you need to erase a couple of extra zeroes in the “income” column on your Federal tax forms. There are lots of different corrections that might need to be made. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/4 "2008-01-09T20:24:40Z")
I don’t recommend it for a french manicure. It’s hard to get off, and drying to your nails. Uh, a friend of mine told me that. Yeah. That’s it. A friend. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/5 "2008-01-09T20:52:02Z")
Sniffing. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/6 "2008-01-09T20:56:22Z")
They used it on Henry Lee Lucas. I believe the results were mixed. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/7 "2008-01-09T20:58:34Z")
Is there a customer service number where you could call and find out what the multiple purposes might be? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/8 "2008-01-09T21:01:19Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] Is there a customer service number where you could call and find out what the multiple purposes might be? [/QUOTE] Nope. I do note, however, that the label on the back has the following: CAUTION: EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE \*KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE OR FLAME \*KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN \*DO NOT SWALLOW OR INHALE \*WARNING: Intentional misues by deliberately concentrating and inhailing contents can be harmful or fatal. I’m guessing, therefore, that after-school snacks or activities would not be among the other purposes. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/9 "2008-01-09T21:13:31Z")
Some correction fluid works better on pen-and-ink. Some on photocopies or computer printouts. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![enigm4tic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@enigm4tic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigm4tic)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/10 "2008-01-09T21:16:23Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] CAUTION: EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE [/QUOTE] Ask any preteen to teenage male. This is the other purpose. Anything that implies it will burn MUST, in the interest of science, be set fire to. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/11 "2008-01-09T21:18:10Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] Some correction fluid works better on pen-and-ink. Some on photocopies or computer printouts. And so on. [/QUOTE] What a profoundly uninteresting answer to this question! ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/12 "2008-01-09T21:26:54Z")
I use it exclusively to write my lab number on my Nalgene waste carboy. Everything else (ballpoint, Sharpie) gets rinsed off by the acetone. So there you have it. Multi-purpose correction fluid is for correcting typos and marking waste jugs. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/13 "2008-01-09T21:42:04Z")
I’ve got one for you. Eons ago when I worked in my first engineering job, my coworkers decided that rather than dress up for Halloween, they’d use white out to draw “costumes” on their photo ID badges. Ruben made his a mummy. Nobody else could think of any other ideas, so it wasn’t much of a Halloween. But there ya go! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/14 "2008-01-09T21:55:49Z")
Do they even still make uni-tasking correction fluid? I remember a time when they had fluids for regular ink, gel ink, typewriters, and when toner was an office novelty, there was even a “Just For Copies” variety, plus the super-quick drying stuff that made you dizzy and clotted up in the bottle after the second use because the solvent was so volatile. Further dating myself, I remember the stuff coming in a variety of pastel colors so you could fix goofs on multilayer carbon forms. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/15 "2008-01-09T21:57:21Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] Further dating myself, I remember the stuff coming in a variety of pastel colors so you could fix goofs on multilayer carbon forms. [/QUOTE] I remember when you could get it custom blended to match your stationery. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-purpose-correction-fluid/432896/16 "2008-01-09T22:31:02Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] \*WARNING: Intentional misues by deliberately concentrating and inhailing contents can be harmful or fatal. [/QUOTE] I like how this implies that the correction fluid is able to divine your intent. If you accidentally concentrate and inhale the contents, White Out will be lenient.