13 Things You’ve Seen a Gazillion Times and You Probably Still Don’t Know the Real Name Of

There’s a lot of things around you that you’re familiar with. However, even if you’ve seen them hundreds of times, you probably have no idea what their correct designation is. The smell of rain, having a second toe longer than your big toe, the light-colored part of your nails, and the plastic tips of your shoelaces are examples of some details that have a name, but that might be unknown to many of us.

At Bright Side we love interesting facts. That’s why we’ve looked into a number of objects and things used in everyday life that we actually don’t really call by their name or that we just didn’t know there was a word for.

1. The figure showing a 5 in the dice is called a quincunx, that is, 4 points forming a rectangle or a square, and an extra point right in the middle.

2. Maybe you thought this part of your shoelaces didn’t have a name. However, it’s called an aglet, and it’s meant to allow laces to fit easily into the holes in your shoes without splitting.

3. This feature is popularly known as “Greek foot” and the specific variation of having your second toe longer than your big toe is called Morton’s toe.

4. The smell that is produced when rain falls on dry soil, and which is popularly known as “the smell of rain,” is actually called petrichor.

5. The separation or gap that forms between 2 teeth is called a diastema, and it can result from a disproportionate relationship between the size of your teeth and the size of your jaw

6. The whitish crescent-shaped area at the bed of your fingernails is called a lunula. The older you get, the less likely you are to have it!

7. That sudden rumbling you hear coming from your stomach as a sign of hunger is called borborygmus. It’s no wonder nobody knows what it’s called...

8. You’ve probably always called it a “division sign,” but in fact, this symbol is called an obelus.

9. That little crack that runs from the top of your lip to your nose is called a medial cleft or philtrum (and some animals have them too).

10. Sometimes known as pin pillow too, the actual name of this very useful object is a pin cushion.

11. The bright red flesh that some birds, like the rooster and the turkey, have is called a caruncle. This type of lump can be found near the beak, the neck, or the head.

12. Those grass-like things that are rolling in the deserts and that we see in the movies are called tumbleweeds.

13. The small strips attached to trousers that are used to hold your belt are called loops or belt loops.

What else would you add to this list? Did you already know what these things were called?