We see it all the time, but does anyone actually know what it’s for?
If you’ve ever held a pair of scissors in your hand and wondered ‘what’s that bit in the middle of the handle that looks like a set of teeth?’, we’re about to put an end to your wonder.
Considering you can perform almost all of your household and office cutting duties with the main blades at the end of a pair of scissors, why add another sharp element closer to the handle?
That very question (just worded differently) was asked on a Reddit thread, and over 40 people chimed in with their thoughts.
In a subreddit called r/whatisthisthing – which is described as being primarily for “the identification of mysterious objects” – a curious user shared an image of a pair of heavy duty scissors containing the mystery jagged piece in the middle, followed by the question: “What is this toothy part of scissors in the middle of the handle intended for?”
The top answer, and the one that seems to have everyone’s minds at ease, came from a user by the name of 22taylor22, who wrote: “These started on cooking sheers, they are for griping bones on poultry and breaking bones if need be.”
While this seemed to be viewed as the definitive answer, there was several other suggestions.
One person commented: “Bottle openers. You use these to grasp a twist to open bottle cap then twist.”
Another added: “I thought it is for cracking nuts,” while one more revealed: “I’ve always used them to cut foil on wine bottles.”
Maybe the implement is intended for multiple uses? It certainly sounds like people have found them to be successful at performing numerous jobs, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong.
Plenty of other folks online shared their own useful uses for the gizmo, saying you can ‘run a bone through it to strip meat off too’ and are ‘great for cracking lobster claws’.
One person even said they were ‘pretty good for removing the tops off of boiled eggs’. There’s one you can try out this weekend. Proceed with caution, of course
