Art, obsession, and identity
It wasn’t until the late 16th century that European craftsmen revived the sofa, though it was at the time markedly a bit salacious because it was advertised with women splayed across them. King Louis XIV was a notable fan, and filled his properties, including the Palace of Versailles, with them.
Bill Bowerman coached runners in the ‘70s on a slippery but hard track. One morning, when he saw his wife's waffle iron, he had an epiphany: he’d create a new kind of running shoe with a waffle-patterned sole to help runners improve speed. That waffle-inspired design kicked off the global sneaker powerhouse.
The fun sprayable string actually started out as an attempt by Robert P. Cox and Leonard A. Fish in 1972 to build a device that could create an instant cast around broken bones, which medical professionals could spray over fractures. One of the 500 nozzles they tested happened to send the foam very far, and they turned it into a toy.
Amy Azzarito, a design historian, explains: “This thing that we interact with every single day of our lives was once deemed immoral and unhygienic.” The fork was thought too similar to a devil’s pitchfork.
The idea for the colorful kids' dough started as a soft compound, by the company Kutol, which homeowners could press against wallpaper to remove soot, since most homes before the ‘50s relied on coal. When electricity came along, Kay Zufall, a preschool teacher and sister-in-law to Kutol’s head, had the million-dollar idea, and the rest is history!
The packaging staple reportedly first started out as an idea for artsy, textured wallpaper by Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes in 1957. They sandwiched two plastic shower curtains together and pushed them through a sealing machine, and three years later discovered the best use for them was not on walls or as greenhouse insulation, but as packaging wrap.
However, that all changed during the Italian Renaissance when people started eating syrupy soaked fruit for dessert, which was too sticky for fingers and was just sinfully sweet enough to bring back the fork.
In the 19th century, Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna asked inventor Thomas Adam to create rubber from a milky latex material of the Central American sapodilla tree, called chicle. The rubber didn't pan out, but Adam went in another direction.
Brace yourself, because this one’s gory. Up until the 18th century, the caesarean section didn’t exist, so doctors would help difficult deliveries by taking at knife to the pelvis bone to make room for the baby. In 1780, a pair of doctors created a hand-cranked blade on a chain, which gained popularity first in bone-cutting procedures before it became popular with other materials like wood.
In the 15th century, heels were the shoe of choice for Persian soldiers as the sole helped them clip into their stirrups. The Persians then brought heels to Europe, where men there reportedly started wearing them because of how tall and intimidating it made them seem.
The morning breath slayer was originally developed as a surgical-grade antiseptic, and was even marketed as a floor cleaner at one point.
If this exercise machine feels like torture to you, you’re onto something! During the Victorian period, the "treadwheel" was used as an energy-producing form of punishment for those sentenced to perform penal labor.
The ammonia fertilizer Fritz Haber pioneered is celebrated by many, but he also used his talents for evil. During World War I, the German chemist became known as the "father of chemical warfare," and developed and weaponized poison gas, which led to some declaring him a war criminal.
You may have some cherished old cassettes lying around, but the magnetic tape inside was a hot commodity when the Nazis developed it to record and rebroadcast their radio addresses. When the war ended, Allies brought the technology out of Germany and sold it commercially.
While contemporary fireplaces are mostly for design, for millennia the fireplace was an essential everyday source of both heat and light that was rarely allowed to die out, and some reportedly remained lit for generations.
We now tend to have more than one clock in our homes, but in the period of time after its invention and before its widespread availability as an alarm, clock-less factory workers paid “knocker-uppers” a small fee to knock on their windows in the morning.
In Europe, early versions of plates were cut from large round loaves of whole wheat bread that were aged for a few days, then sliced into two three-inch rounds. It would not be eaten as part of the meal, but rather given to the poor, or the dogs.
Wooden locks of the massive Greek and Egyptian doors equally required massive keys, which could be three feet in length, and were so heavy that they were commonly carried slung over the shoulder—a fact mentioned in the Bible.
Created by colonial settlers in North America in the 18th century, the rocking chair was a mashup of the chair and the cradle, meant for nursing mothers. It quickly caught on with others, however, and was soon a staple of the American home.
The tasty s'mores biscuits were first introduced by the Presbytarian minister Sylvester Graham as part of a special diet that was meant to curb "carnal urges," as a popular theory of the time was that sexual appetite was the ruin of society and that it could be reduced by eating bland food.
It took a long time for people to warm up to the idea of baths. The ancient Greeks enjoyed rinses post-exercise, but from the 16th to 18th centuries medical experts advised against baths, believing that the soak would open the pores and allow infections in.
In the 17th century, Dutch vintners would boil their wine in order to reduce its volume for transport, then cut it with water when they were ready to drink. They didn't realize, however, that transporting the concentrated mixture in wooden casks would accidentally turn it into something very different: brandy.
See also: The most bizarre TripAdvisor reviews
Our homes are loaded with stuff, some of which we bought with purpose, others which are more for fun or decoration, and others which slip your mind when even thinking about your stuff because we take them for granted. We think most of these things are completely normal, and today they may be, but so many household objects have strange and intriguing histories behind them.
Click through to see surprising stories about everyday things–you’ll look at your stuff in a completely new way!
Bizarre histories behind everyday objects in your home
You may never see them in the same way again
LIFESTYLE History
Our homes are loaded with stuff, some of which we bought with purpose, others which are more for fun or decoration, and others which slip your mind when even thinking about your stuff because we take them for granted. We think most of these things are completely normal, and today they may be, but so many household objects have strange and intriguing histories behind them.
Click through to see surprising stories about everyday things–you’ll look at your stuff in a completely new way!