# Names for common things we see every day that people may not know the name to. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648 "2005-09-21T02:52:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/41 "2005-09-21T10:55:39Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > Oh, I dunno, I read it when I was 10 or so in one of those trivia books. After Googling, I’m thinking they might have just made it up. They might, but dragees come in all kinds of shapes and colours, including what I’d normally call sugared almonds. Argentees may be a word used (by somebody somewhere) to specify particularly the little siver ones. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/42 "2005-09-21T10:56:18Z")
One that I only learned recently despite a lifetime of using them. Those thingies for linking hole-punched sheets of paper made from a short length of string with little metal or plastic bars on the end are: Treasury Tags Maybe everyone but me already knew that. Is there a name for the little bobbles on a keyboard that mark the home keys? If not can we coin one? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/43 "2005-09-21T10:58:59Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Is there a name for the little bobbles on a keyboard that mark the home keys? If not can we coin one? Homing nipples? ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/44 "2005-09-21T11:06:46Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Homing nipples? 🙂 Google search on _Homing nipples_ found to be NOT WORK SAFE. ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/45 "2005-09-21T11:20:16Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > 🙂 > > Google search on _Homing nipples_ found to be NOT WORK SAFE. But worth the risk ;). ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/46 "2005-09-21T14:23:21Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > The little plastic bands on the ends of shoelaces are aglets. And the little plastic or metal thing around the hole the shoelace goes through is a grommet. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/47 "2005-09-21T14:56:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Idle Thoughts > The dot above the lowercase i and j? They’re called tittles. > > Of course I knew that. > Matt 5:18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” > > God told me. There are two Mormon “Trivial Pursuit”-type games, intended to help teach the LDS religion. One is called **Jots and Tittles** for precisely this reason. (The other is “Celestial Pursuit”) The point of the original quotes, of course, is that not even anything so apparently unimportant as a single stroke (“jot” = the semtic letter “i”, just like Greek “iota”) or a diacritical mark (“tittle”, which makes it appropriate to use fior the dot on the “i” or the “j”) will be changed. (Also makes it appropriate to use as an almost-synonym for “trivia” in nthe game title) Stop staring at my tittles! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/48 "2005-09-21T15:12:02Z")
I am SO copying this thread and putting into my Trivia file. How about names for common things that a persion invested in the field knows easily but your average not-involved person has no clue? For instance: - the thingys on an electric guitar that translate string vibration into an electronic signal are called **pickups**. The ones introduced by Gibson in 1957 that are used in a huge percentage of electrics out there are called “Humbucking pickups” becase they, um, “buck the hum” - they’re wired in a way to cancel out the radio frequency hum that plagues many other pickups. - in books: - the pieces of paper glued into the hard-cover bindings to help attach the pages to the bindings are called **paste-downs** - the blank papers at the front are called ffep’s - front free end papers - if there is a page in front of the title page that just mentioned the name of the book, it is called either a half-title page or a fly title-page (normally shortened to “the fly title”) - the back of the title page with all the publishing info is called the Copyright page - the front of a page is call the Recto; the back of a page is called the Verso - if there is a few-line blurb on a page in the rear of the book - typically describing the font used or stating the number of copies printed if it was a limited edition is called a Colophon. All for now! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/49 "2005-09-21T15:13:13Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > One that I only learned recently despite a lifetime of using them. Those thingies for linking hole-punched sheets of paper made from a short length of string with little metal or plastic bars on the end are: > > Treasury Tags > > Maybe everyone but me already knew that. I didn’t know that, but I also still have no idea what you’re talking about. The symbol on this [common road](http://www.t2.unh.edu/Summer03/chevron.jpg) sign is a chevron. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/50 "2005-09-21T16:03:03Z")
**Treasury Tags** Seems to be a British thing maybe? I’ve never heard of them either. Here’s some info tho, with pics: [http://www.wordridden.com/journal.php/20050825005227.xml](http://www.wordridden.com/journal.php/20050825005227.xml) > **[Treasury tag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_tag)** > > A treasury tag or India tag is an item of stationery used to fasten sheets of paper together or to a folder. It consists of a short length of string, with metal or plastic cross-pieces at each end that are orthogonal to the string. They are threaded through holes in paper or card made with a hole punch or lawyers bodkin or electric drill, and the cross-pieces are sufficiently wide as to not slip back through the holes. > The names Treasury tag and India tag are first found on record in a list of... [http://www.mayfairstationers.co.uk/product\_info.php?products\_id=2752](http://www.mayfairstationers.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=2752) When I was Googling this topic, I came across an entry that said “see: Paperclip”. Someone should tell the British 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/51 "2005-09-21T16:32:09Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > They might, but dragees come in all kinds of shapes and colours, including what I’d normally call sugared almonds. Argentees may be a word used (by somebody somewhere) to specify particularly the little siver ones. You mean there really are “silvered almonds”? I always assumed they were a typo for “slivered almonds.” (You know, the kind they put in the packet with the frozen green beans.) Also: Is there a name for the eensy tapioca-looking granules used to cover [nonpareils](http://www.bissingers.com/category/detail/5517.html)? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/52 "2005-09-21T18:03:30Z")
I don’t know the name of the “ƒ” symbol but it’s used on the Macintosh to mean “folder” — i.e., when you install some new piece of software, let’s say Pixelware® Hoozit™v.2.5, if there’s an actual installer it may create a folder to house the actual application plus all the support files and libraries that let Pixelware Hoozit do its thing, and that folder will be called “Pixelware® Hoozit ƒ”. ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/53 "2005-09-21T18:06:15Z")
The round decorative metal disk where plumbing comes out of the wall is called an **escutcheon**. The movable piece of wood for tightening the hair of a violin bow is called the **frog**. The common grapefruit spoon is also called a **citrucule**. Okay, I made that one up. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/54 "2005-09-21T18:48:30Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > **Treasury Tags** > > Seems to be a British thing maybe? I’ve never heard of them either. > > Here’s some info tho, with pics: > [The tyranny of the treasury tag. - WordRidden](http://www.wordridden.com/journal.php/20050825005227.xml) > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury\_tag](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasury_tag) > [http://www.mayfairstationers.co.uk/product\_info.php?products\_id=2752](http://www.mayfairstationers.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=2752) > > When I was Googling this topic, I came across an entry that said “see: Paperclip”. > > Someone should tell the British 🙂 Treasury tags are normally used when the papers to be bundled together are too thick for a paperclip. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/55 "2005-09-21T18:54:33Z")
not seen, but heard daily: _borborygmus_ is the sound caused by the passage of air through the intestines, plural is _borborygmi_ ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/56 "2005-09-21T19:32:02Z")
When you go to a chi-chi coffee shop and are served your soy milk cappuccino with a shot of imported almond syrup in a glass, and that glass has a wire thing around it with a handle so you don’t have to touch the hot glass–well, that wire thing is called a **zarf**. The wire cage over the cork on a champagne bottle is an **agraffe**. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/57 "2005-09-21T20:44:12Z")
I don’t know whether to pity or admire the person who sees it every day, but the space between the genitals and the butthole is the “perineum.” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/58 "2005-09-21T23:16:06Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Homing nipples? Actually, _nipple_ is the plumbing trade term for a little pipe segment which connects two larger pipes or other plumbing components. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/59 "2005-09-21T23:44:46Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > One that I only learned recently despite a lifetime of using them. Those thingies for linking hole-punched sheets of paper made from a short length of string with little metal or plastic bars on the end are: > > Treasury Tags > > Maybe everyone but me already knew that. > > Is there a name for the little bobbles on a keyboard that mark the home keys? If not can we coin one? Boring, but they’re called [Keyboard bumps](http://www.hooleon.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=OV-0253&Category_Code=A-KBT) ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648/60 "2005-09-21T23:52:11Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Also: Is there a name for the eensy tapioca-looking granules used to cover [nonpareils](http://www.bissingers.com/category/detail/5517.html)? They are also nonpareils. [http://www.nutribase.com/cookingi.shtml](http://www.nutribase.com/cookingi.shtml) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-for-common-things-we-see-every-day-that-people-may-not-know-the-name-to/322648.md?page=4)