# You Can't Do THAT with THAT !! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2002, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083 "2002-07-21T12:33:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/1 "2002-07-21T12:33:46Z")
Recently we painted the dining room. At one end against the short wall sits an antique breakfront. It is immense, almost 8 feet wide and in two pieces. It must weight 400 lbs. It’s also filled with breakables now. Oh, how to move it away from the wall so I could paint behind it? I went and got the 2 1/4 ton floor jack I had in the garage, and brought it into the house. I never thought it would sit in the dining room, but there it was. Squat and ugly. I lifted one side of the breakfront, inched it away from the wall- watching it sway slowly as I did so- then eased it down and repeated on the other side. Voila ! Painted, then reversed the proceedure to get it back where it went. No sore back, no broken curios. Who has used something for other than it’s intended purpose, with great success ( or, atrocious failure? 😛 ) Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/2 "2002-07-21T12:59:51Z")
I used to repair torn nails this way (I don’t wear fake nails) Cut a tiny fingernail-sized piece of pantyhose. Paint torn nail with clear polish. Stick pantyhose to it. Paint over the top. Let dry, do another coat. When it’s dry, get out my Dremel with a fine sanding sleeve on it, and smooth out the top, round out the front, etc. When it was done, you couldn’t really tell unless you were paying attention. And it was strong! ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/3 "2002-07-21T13:04:39Z")
Pantyhose! Yes! Simply ideal for the job, and a great way to use up holed and laddered hose. I used to use tissue, but of course it didn’t have the strength. Thank you, OpalCat. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/4 "2002-07-21T15:01:05Z")
You know chenille sticks (aka pipecleaners)? They’re not meant as hair accessories, but I’ve got a really nifty way of using them. Ponytail your hair, using one end of the chenille stick to make a loop. Wind the stick around the ponytail and then loop the other end through your hair to secure it in place. I also do that ‘chopsticks’ hairstyle with everything from pens to three-foot-long balloon sticks. “Careful, you’ll have someone’s eye out with that!” _Everyone_ looks at you funny when you have three feet of plastic pipe poking out from the back of your head. Bulldog clips are workable for keeping your hair up when you can’t find anything else too. I’ve used a 5c coin or a paperclip when I can’t find a screwdriver. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/5 "2002-07-21T15:35:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tavalla \* > **Bulldog clips are workable for keeping your hair up when you can’t find anything else too.** Bulldog clips??? ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/6 "2002-07-21T17:14:35Z")
Ah, the joys of regional differences in language. A “bulldog clip” is a heavy-duty version of a paper clip. There’s an inch-long black clamp that holds the paper and pivoting steel loops that open the clip then fold down flat. What do you folks call them? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/7 "2002-07-21T17:35:45Z")
Not sure they have a name, but I know what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/8 "2002-07-21T17:37:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Ah, the joys of regional differences in language. A “bulldog clip” is a heavy-duty version of a paper clip…What do you folks call them? Most people here (states) that I know call them alligator clips. 'Course bulldog clip sounds kinda cool. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/9 "2002-07-21T17:51:18Z")
These are alligator clips: [http://www.lakewoodproductsinc.com/](http://www.lakewoodproductsinc.com/) I think he means these, which seem to be called binder clips: [http://www.office1000.com/discount/paper-clamps.html](http://www.office1000.com/discount/paper-clamps.html) ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/10 "2002-07-21T17:56:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Most people here (states) that I know call them alligator clips. 'Course bulldog clip sounds kinda cool. No,[this](http://www.muellerelectric.com/clips/cilg2.html#BU30BL) is an alligator clip. I’m not sure what the other is called, but I’ll keep looking. ---
**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/11 "2002-07-21T18:35:34Z")
Perhaps I was too broad in my assertion, my apologies. Every office that I worked in, with 1 exception, people have called them alligator clips. As far as their proper name? binder clips sounds right. The one exception was when I worked for SCI, Inc - at one of their manufacturing plants which produced printed circuit boards. So yeah, I know what a proper alligator clip is. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/12 "2002-07-21T20:28:23Z")
I’ve always called them those big ass paperclip things. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/13 "2002-07-22T00:53:47Z")
I have a feeling that Bulldog Clips are a case of a registered name becoming generic, like Hoover becoming the term for vacuum cleaner, they are different from binder clips in that they are made of two separate jaw pieces inserted through a split tubular spring. Binder clips, which many people seem to call Alligator clips are usually constructed as a (roughly)triangular section spring with stiff wire loops acting as levers to open the jaw. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/14 "2002-07-22T01:06:12Z")
So, enough about those clips already. 🙂 Pantyhose will make an excellent makeshift fanbelt for a car, too. Don’t do hundreds of clicks with it, but it’ll take you to the next garage without overheating. Shouldn’t the word “MacGuyver” be in the thread title? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/15 "2002-07-22T01:31:44Z")
Used my injured (it had a small cut) right pinkie to determine which clear beaker had acid and which one had base. :o On the first dip, it was obvious it was the acid. Next day, the cut was sealed and almost gone. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/16 "2002-07-22T03:22:30Z")
I had an old Toyota. Rust and metal fatigue had caused the lower radiator hose to be in reach of the fan blades under certain conditions (acceleration torque or going around corners) and so after 3 or 4 abrupt overheating episodes followed by frantic searches for parts stores with the expensive little rubber elbow piece, I went off to the plumbing supply store. Bought a metal pipe elbow. Threaded the rubber radiator elbow piece through it. Would occasionally hear “ting ting ting” on acceleration or cornering but never again had to replace the damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/17 "2002-07-22T04:27:25Z")
I once tried out the new Crock-Pot when sis-in-law and her husband were in town. It was only when the soup was done that I realized that I didn’t have any good way to get it out of the pot–I didn’t own a ladle. SIL was just about to gingerly try to pour the soup over the side when I came up with a better plan. I went to the cupboard, got a coffee mug, and scooped the soup out with that. Much less mess that way. SIL carried on like it was the most bloody brilliant plan she’d ever seen :). I used the coffee-mug method several more times until I found a ladle I liked. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/18 "2002-07-22T08:28:55Z")
One time I was camping and trying to put up a canopy, but the grommet for the center pole had ripped out. I took a plastic lid from a container of dip or something, cut a hole in it, put the pole through the lid, then put the assembly where it was supposed to go in the canopy. The lid kept the pole from sliding through the ragged hole in the canopy. ---
**Author:** ![Sn-man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sn-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sn-man)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/19 "2002-07-22T13:25:45Z")
I love this kind of thing; here is one of my better ones. Some friends and I had gone to Red Rocks Amphitheatre for an afternoon of play and partying. The linkage from the shifter to the transmission fell off because of a missing C-ring. I found a bottle cap; and using a screwdriver, pair of pliers and a rock; fashioned a temporary C-ring. It held together for about week before my friend finally bought a replacement. ---
**Author:** ![bunnymom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@bunnymom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunnymom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083/20 "2002-07-22T13:47:48Z")
Once while my best friend and I were talking on the phone, she was trying to change the water filters on her house. They were too big to get a regular pair of pliers on, but stuck so tight that she could’nt unscrew them with her hands. I told her to go find her husbands oil-filter wrench. It worked like a charm, and its now the official filter removal tool at her house. Makes ya feel kinda clever… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-cant-do-that-with-that/120083.md?page=2)