The Forgotten Uses of 9 Everyday Objects

Some of the products we use daily have functions most of us are completely unaware of. From features not being used as the manufacturer intended, to details that are functionally outdated but still hanging on aesthetically, here are eight forgotten uses for everyday items.

1. The Tiny “Extra” Pocket On Your Jeans
2. The Hole in Your Pot Handle
3. The Loop on the Back of Your Dress Shirts
4. The Glove Compartment
5. The Tabs on Your Box of Aluminum Foil
6. The Drawer Under Your Oven
7. The Additional Holes on Your Converse Sneakers
8. The Loop on the Side of Your Carpenter Jeans
9. The Little Strawberry Attached to Your Pincushion

The Tiny “Extra” Pocket On Your Jeans

You’ve probably noticed that some of your jeans have a small pocket located in one of the front pockets. Many people think the tiny addition is meant to keep coins from jingling around in the larger pocket, but according to Levi’s, they created it to provide extra protection for pocket watches. Nicknames for the wee receptacle include “frontier pocket,” “condom pocket,” “coin pocket,” “match pocket,” and “ticket pocket.”

The Hole in Your Pot Handle

Most pots and many pans are designed with a small hole at the end of the handle. While they make for an easy way to hang your pots and pans when they’re not in use, they were also designed with another purpose in mind: as a way to hold your spoon or spatula in place over the pot itself, and save yourself from making a mess of your stovetop.

The Loop on the Back of Your Dress Shirts

If you look below the collar and between the shoulders on the back of many men’s dress shirts, you may spot a little loop. Though most men probably don’t use it for its intended purpose—at least, not often—it’s there to provide a convenient way to hang up the shirt when a hanger is unavailable. It’s said the "locker loop" practice began with sailors, who would hang their shirts on ship hooks while changing.

The Glove Compartment

It’s not just a clever name. While most of us probably use the dashboard hidey-hole in our cars to hold our vehicle registration and a stash of fast food napkins, early motorists actually used them to house their driving gloves. Though Packard added the compartment to their vehicles in 1900, it was British race car driver Dorothy Levitt who suggested that it was a perfect place for “the dainty motoriste” to keep a pair of gloves, which, at the time, were more about function than fashion (many cars still had open tops and drivers needed to keep their hands warm in order to steer them properly).

The Tabs on Your Box of Aluminum Foil

If you’ve ever studied a box of aluminum foil or cling wrap, you may have noticed that there are little indentations that, once pushed in, create small holes or tabs on either end of the box. Look a little closer and the reason for these holes is printed right on the box: “Press to lock roll.” Meaning you’ll never have to deal with an unwieldy roll of tinfoil again.

The Drawer Under Your Oven

If you keep cookie sheets, cupcake pans, and pancake griddles in that narrow little drawer under your oven, you’re in good company—so does most of the rest of the world. But in many cases, that’s not how the manufacturer intended you to use it. Often, the compartment is intended to be a warming drawer, a place to keep finished food warm while other dishes are cooking. Some companies specifically warn against using the warming drawer for storage of any kind, so keep shoving your pans there at your own risk.

The Additional Holes on Your Converse Sneakers

The main purpose of those seemingly extraneous pair of holes is to help with ventilation. But they're also there to provide a little extra lacing flair, should you so desire.

The Loop on the Side of Your Carpenter Jeans

Anyone who sported a pair of “carpenter jeans“ in the late 1990s or early 2000s will remember that they came with a denim loop stitched on one side. Though they were purely decorative by that point, they hark back to real carpenter jeans, which have a number of pockets and loops meant to hold tools on the job.

The Little Strawberry Attached to Your Pincushion

That tiny fruit is more than just a cute addition to the average pincushion. It’s filled with emery—the same material you’ll find on your nail file. The emery is a useful way to keep needles and pins sharp; sewers can simply stick them in the strawberry for a quick, easy tune-up.

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A version of this story originally ran in 2017; it has been updated for 2024.