I'm trying to prove a point. Without looking it up, what are these?

atocci@kbin.social to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 89 points –
104

Aglet. Thanks Phineas and Ferb!

I'm too old to know what Phineas and Ferb is, but when I was young I used to love knowing obscure words like:

  • The indent between your upper lip and your nose is called the philtrum (more commonly known now because of piercings

  • The recess on the bottom of a wine bottle is called a punt.

  • The infinity symbol (like a sideways 8) is a lemniscate

  • The cap on the pointy end of an umbrella, or any other tubular thing (including a pencil) is called a ferrule

  • The space between your eyebrows is your glabella

Etc. Anyway, aglet was one of those. I was always so happy when I had an opportunity to use one ("Oh, man, my aglet broke!").

And the infinity symbol is likely related to the analemma, the shape the sun traces out over the course of a year.

But are you old enough to remember Tom Cruise discussing them in the film Cocktail? (in the cinema on the original releaseโ€ฝ )

I personally don't know what they're called but to my cat that's called food.

Aglet. Archie comics did a bit on them, that's where I learned

Easy. The 80s and older crowd will know this from some inherent eldritch knowledge or have no idea. But everyone else will know this from Jimmy Neutron.
scrolling through the comments, seeing Phineas and Ferb everywhere

I'm only in my mid twenties. Y'all need to stop making me feel old.

I know it from an Archie comic I read in the 90's

I watched Jimmy Neutron, but I guess I never saw (or maybe just never processed) that episode.

Shoes.

Shoes, with the Aglets of the laces resting upon them.

OP, theyโ€™re obviously called aglets.

Didnโ€™t Phineas and Ferb teach you anything?

Exactly the point I'm trying to prove ๐Ÿ˜‰

I knew a kid once who said when he grew up that he wanted to be the guy that puts the aglets on shoelaces.

I don't know what ever happened to him, but I like to think he found his calling in shoe plastics.

These are Aglets. I didn't look it up, i watched Phineas & Ferb as a child.

They're aglets. I believe Phineas and Ferb is a cartoon, but I've never seen it.

I misremembered it as eglet, and I probably learned it from uncle John's bathroom reader because I am old.

Whoa, hold on now... I'm not old, and I shit through atleast 4 edition's of Uncle John's bathroom readers in my pre and early teens

Aglets, if youโ€™re talking about the ends on the laces, and please update why youโ€™re asking lol

My thinking is that the aglet is a well known word these days, but if you were to poll a group, it would be mostly younger people who know what it is. Because of Phineas and Ferb.

I'm glad so many people responded and most people got it right! But, I'll have to do a real poll to figure out if there's any actual correlation here, and also account for the fact that people who know what it is were more likely to answer than those who don't.

I believe there was a book in the 80s called Sniglets that made up words for things and this was one of them. I didn't remember what it was called. Any or all of this memory could be wrong.

All words are made up

I only know they are aglets thanks to "Repossessed!" Fantastic spoof of The Exorcist with Leslie Neilson and Linda Blair (from the original). Blair played Nancy Aglet and fought possession again. They made a joke about her name that got the word weirdly stuck in my brain. "We've tried everything the devil hates. Sex, drugs, rock and roll..."

(during a wrestling match between the priest and the possessed woman)
"You know, Mean Gene, professional wrestlers don't use steroids anymore!"
"Or any LESS!"

Not the reasoning I would have expected, but interesting nonetheless

Saw a post here recently about a 'reverse exorcism,' in which the devil tries to get the priest out of the child.

Oh my... lol. Not sure if I could handle that one, maybe as a gag bit in a larger comedy/parody...

Shoes? Maybe Reeboks?

Edit: I am appalled by how many people know the term aglet.

I watched phineas and ferb in german so it is 'Pinke' for me.

laced shoes on a white surface and beside one shiny metal tube (or bar)

It is a bar, but specifically the things on the tips of the shoelace

I didn't know the answer (Aglets) neither in English nor in my first language. I believe you are compiling results (?).

I am hoping to, but I realize that this might have been too open ended to get useable data. I think I'll try again with a Google Form later.

Please, next time, on this photograph, draw red arrows towards the "aglets" ๐Ÿ˜€

Aglets, but according to Tom Cruise in Cocktail, they're Flugelbinders