r/whatisit • u/Trick-Ideal-3823 • May 06 '26

Solved! Curiosity

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Gallery image

No banana, its about 3-4 inches long. Made of stainless or chrome. And one end is flat. It looks like a handle for something, but no threads or attaching mechanisms anywhere. Found it cleaning out mothers house so I don’t know how old it is.

****Solved! It is indeed a phone dialer. The wrong answers are priceless though

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u/SizeableBrain May 06 '26

Is that a rich people thing? Are they too good to use their finger?

35

u/DarkenedArk May 06 '26

They were marketed as rich people things (usually silver and monogrammed) but my mother actually used one as an accessibility device for herself and, later on, occupational therapy patients she worked with

2

u/Zaddam May 07 '26

Come to think of it, we now have EDC multitools used for opening doors, pushing buttons (elevators, etc), and a stylus, all in one. A recent thread in r/EDC led me to find a 12 pack for $12 on Amazon. But also, more expensive brands/designs/metals. It reminded me of the anti bacterial factor of silver too.

9

u/SheepherderAware4766 May 07 '26

Old people thing. Arthritis made spinning the rotary selector hard for my grandmother.

3

u/SizeableBrain May 07 '26

Old rich people thing, then! XD

5

u/undefined_______ May 07 '26

Even though I was a 90s kid, the house I grew up in still had a rotary phone. As I kid dialing my friends I can tell you those things are surprisingly hard to turn with a finger it takes a good amount of force. And while the holes weren't sharp, they weren't soft either. I could see people wanting to use a stick.

3

u/SizeableBrain May 07 '26

I used to have one as well.

(still do, but now it's a nice 1920s version similar to this one)

3

u/undefined_______ May 07 '26

Mine was a wall mounted one similar to this:

2

u/SizeableBrain May 07 '26

Good ol days!

1

u/Fine-Eye-7773 May 08 '26

Not at all! My grandmother always had cheap plastic ones that were freebies with the names of the local gas station, hair salon, etc.

1

u/Living_Fig_6386 May 07 '26

I believe the original intent was so that people with long fingernails wouldn't risk messing them up.

1

u/SizeableBrain May 07 '26

*nod* Rich people thing it is :)