It might look like your toothbrush is divided into colors for no real reason other than looking cool. But it’s actually not the case. The reason they color a part of the toothbrush blue is actually for an incredibly practical purpose. The blue bristles start to lose their color right around the same time one needs a new toothbrush.
So, essentially, the faded color is a reminder to go out and buy a new one. We do think that this should be made a little more public though; there are probably tons of people unknowingly holding onto faded and soft-bristled toothbrushes, wondering when they should buy a new one.
The Stripes in Your Toothpaste
If you've ever bought a tube of Aquafresh toothpaste, you've definitely noticed that the toothpaste has multicolored stripes. And no, despite the fact that the stripes are red, white, and blue, this has nothing to do with patriotism. Back in the 70s, people started to notice that brushing their teeth wasn't enough to keep bad breath away for long periods of time.
So, toothpaste makers added an ingredient (the blue stripe), whose sole purpose was to act as a breath freshener. Then, when people started to get concerned about the health of their gums, they added the red stripe, which is meant to control plaque. Multicolored stripes became a huge seller, and with time, many other toothpaste brands followed suit.
Women's Shirt Buttons
You would be surprised to learn about buttons on a woman’s shirt. Not only do they keep your clothes closed tight, but their position on your shirt — whether they are on the right or left, is symbolic of social status.
That’s right! Back in the day, buttons on the right would indicate that you might have been a farmer or ‘commoner’ because chances are you were dressing yourself. Buttons placed on the left, however, told the world that you were upper-class and most likely dressed by servants. We wonder if button placing might have been a sneaky little marketing ploy in 17th-century France. Sounds like it could have been.
The Square Hole on the McFlurry Spoon
McDonald's ruined many a person's diet when it introduced the scrumptious McFlurry ice cream. If you've ever had the pleasure of enjoying one of these, you definitely noticed that they give it to you with a very weird-looking spoon.
The McFlurry spoon has a square-shaped hole through its handle, and it's actually used as an attachment to the machine that mixes the ice cream and toppings together. The machine's bar slips into the spoon and stirs it thoroughly. The only reason they give you the spoon with it is to minimize the mess. Pretty neat, right?
Order of the Letters on a Keyboard
Keyboard creators must have a good reason to not arrange those letters alphabetically. Not doing this seems pretty counterintuitive. Well, there is a reason for this, and surprisingly, it didn't start out like that. The first keyboard did, in fact, have letters that were arranged alphabetically.
But since typewriters were once clunky devices with metal arms, expert typists would type too fast and inevitably jam the keys over overly-quick usage. As a result of this, keyboard manufacturers decided to randomize the order of keys, thus slowing down the typists and giving each letter a little ‘break’. By now, the world is far too used to the order of the letters, so it doesn’t look like we’re planning on going back anytime soon.