10 things you use everyday but don’t know their names
This might come across as strange, but there are several things we use everyday, whose names we somehow don’t know, because we have not bothered to find out. Here are some of them:
1. Wine bottle indent
Wine bottle anatomy
There is an indent at the bottom of most wine bottles. It is known as the punt, Historically, punts were put there by glassblowers to make sure the bottle could stand upright and there wasn’t a sharp point of glass on the bottom. It is also believed that it helps the bottle to be stronger and withstand pressure.
2. Beer foam
Beer foam known as barm
The foam that appears at the top of beer in a glass is typically known as beer head or collar. However the proper name is Barm.
It is the frothy foam on top of beer which is produced by bubbles of gas, typically carbon dioxide, rising to the surface of the glass. The elements that produce the head are: wort protein, yeast and hop residue.
3. Skin under your nose
Cleft under your nose
The depressed area of skin under your nose and above your upper lip is called the Philtrum. The Philtrum is the vertical groove between the base of the nose and the border of the upper lip.
The human philtrum is bordered by ridges, and known in medicine as the infranasal depression, but it has no apparent function.
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4. Smell of rain on dusty ground
Petrichor
You know the smell of the first rains when it touches dusty ground? That smell has a name, it is called Petrichor. It was coined from the Greek “Petra” meaning stone and “ichor” meaning the blood of the gods and goddesses.
The term was coined by two Australian researchers in 1964 and really became a word in 2011 when it popped up in a Doctor Who episode.
For example: “Other than the petrichor emanating from the rapidly drying grass, there was not a trace of evidence that it had rained at all.”
5. Area between shoulder blades
It is almost impossible to reach that spot
That area between your shoulder blades that you can never scratch is called the acnestis. Having an itch in that spot can be the most annoying thing ever.
6. Palindromes
Palindromes
There are some words, phrases or numbers that read the same way forward or backward. For example: “Mom” or “Taco Cat” or the sentence “Marge lets Norah see Sharons telegram” or “Dad” or “1818”.
These words or numbers are known as palindromes.
7. The dot on an ‘i’ and ‘j’
The little dot called a tittle
When you dot an ‘i’ or a ‘j’, you probably give little thought to the name of that dot, surprisingly it has a name. That thing you use to dot a lower case ‘i’ is called a tittle.
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8. Wire cage for bottle cork
Wire cage for champagne cork
The wire cage that fits atop the cork of a bottle of champagne is known as either agraffe or muselet.
It fits over the cork of a bottle of champagne, sparkling wine or beer to prevent the cork from emerging under the pressure of the carbonated contents. The muselet comes from the French museler, to muzzle.
9. Shoelaces
Aglets make lacing shoes less cumbersome
When you lace your shoes, do you wonder what those sheathes covering the tips of your shoelaces are named? Well even if you don’t, they are called aglets.
An aglet or aiglet is a small sheath, often made of plastic or metal, used on each end of a shoelace, cord, or drawstring.
An aglet keeps the fibers of the lace or cord from unraveling; its firmness and narrow profile make it easier to hold and easier to feed through the eyelets which are the holes for the laces.
10. Toothpaste
Nurdle is a tiny dab of toothpaste
When you press toothpaste out of its tube onto a toothbrush, that 1″ strip of toothpaste applied to a toothbrush is known as a nurdle.
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