mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Another Thursday, another thingamajig! Today I’m naming those medallion-like thingamajigs you see looping/hanging/dangling from men’s pocket in those old photos where they’re all nattyed up in formal wear. You know what I’m talking about: the chain-like thing that gives the plain-black tails a little color around the waist area.
I’ve always known it was connected to the pocket watch, but I never knew what that thing was called. Whelp, it’s called a fob folks. No, not as in “friends of Bill,” but as in the Low German word Fobke, or “small pocket.”
Indeed, the little watch pocket cut into men’s dress pants is also called a fob, as is the decorative part of a keychain, the Mickey Mouse or the mini-flashlight, or whatever you’ve got going on. (Actually, it would be fun to know what you readers do have going on! I’ll tell you that my key fob is a Philadelphia Phillies “P.” )
Aside from being decorative, the watch fob was (is still?) used to pull the pocket watch out of the pocket. So it served a function. Here are a couple photos I found. Dig that gent’s fob hanging out on the left near his hand-in-pocket.
Comments (14)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
One of my favorite old time movies “Random Harvest”, our hero has a key that he does not remember and he has it made into a fob. He spends much of the movie trying to remember the importance of the key, fiddling with as he does.
posted by KJ on 1-25-2007 at 9:52 am
my key fob is a metal DC emblem from the DC shoe company.
posted by matthew on 1-25-2007 at 11:36 am
My key fob is a Darth Vader Lego mini-figure. Lego has made many keychains with minifigure fobs.
posted by Tim on 1-25-2007 at 12:26 pm
My key fob is the classic “I heart NY” logo. It was the very first thing I purchased when I arrived in the city.
posted by Dawn Lorraine on 1-25-2007 at 12:47 pm
I learned about watch fobs when I was kid and saw the film version of O. Henry’s “The Gift fo the Magi”.
Married couple at Christmas around 1900. No money. He has a family heirloom watch that he loves and she sees a fob she knows he would like. She has beatiful, long hair and he sees a set of hair combs she would love.
He sells his watch to buy her the combs and she sells her hair to a wig maker to buy him the fob.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 1-25-2007 at 12:53 pm
Would you not say, Sheldon, that is the BEST Christmas they ever had?
posted by fred on 1-25-2007 at 12:59 pm
I don’t have to say it. They show it in the movie. :-)
When they find out what the other has done, they laugh about it and kiss. The end.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 1-25-2007 at 1:10 pm
My fob is a Hello Kitty mini tambourine.
posted by Rachel on 1-25-2007 at 8:03 pm
I have a backpack fob, I guess you would call it, of a surfboard that my friend gave me when she came home from her trip to Hawaii. And my key fob is a medallion thing my brother brought back from Mexico.
posted by Janel on 1-25-2007 at 8:23 pm
my key fob is the flag of Ireland and the U.N. symbol I got at the U.N. building (duh.)
posted by Heather on 1-26-2007 at 1:44 am
My key fob is a Harry Potter token that I’ve had for about seven years. Luckily, I’ve never lost my keys (keep your fingers crossed for me).
posted by Cathy on 1-26-2007 at 7:43 am
FOB is also used to refer to someone who just immigrated.
My lovely Mandarin-speaking friends contrast FOBs with ABCs
(fresh off the boat vs. American-born Chinese).
posted by Sammy on 1-26-2007 at 9:43 pm
I have 2 fobs: one is a fleur-de-lis and Nola stenciled in to a rectangular piece of sterling silver. The other one is a rosary ring.
posted by Mary Quite Contrary on 1-27-2007 at 9:15 am
My key fob is a delightful rubber ducky, wearing sun glasses.
My friends have nicknamed it “Dave.”
I myself call it George.
posted by Katherine on 1-27-2007 at 10:22 pm