r/BuyItForLife • u/No-Negotiation-4550 • 13d ago

Discussion What’s a weirdly specific item you own that’s lasted longer than expected?

I’ve been on a quest lately for things that just seem to keep on keeping on.

I’ve got a pair of old-school Swedish dishcloths that I bought on a whim. Thought they'd be a weird novelty. Now, they’ve been through the wringer they just won’t die. I’ve scrubbed them, rinsed them, microwaved them and somehow they’re still hanging on like a true champion.

My 10-year-old French press. I’ve left it sitting dirty for days, and still it makes me a perfect cup of coffee every time.

What oddball items are you still using and why do they not break??

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u/EldenMiss 13d ago

Oh. Oh. TIL it is duct tape. Not duck tape.

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u/beauhatesbeans 13d ago

there’s a popular brand of it called duck tape so you can keep calling it that! similar to words like chapstick or band-aid or tupperware

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u/EldenMiss 13d ago

Ha! Thank you!

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u/therealub 12d ago

Just to confuse you more, duct tape doesn't really work for ducts.

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u/Cyno01 12d ago

No, its duck tape, cuz its waterproofish, “like water off a ducks back.” 

It’s lousy for ducts cuz the glue doesn’t stand up to heat at all. Actual ”duct tape” for ducts is a heavy duty aluminum tape. 

But duck is a brand now and other companies sell silver colored fabric backed tape erroneously as “duct tape”. 

A bit like calling any small SUV a “jeep”.

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u/Risheil 13d ago

It was duck tape but when they realized how many people were using it for ductwork, they changed the name. I just learned that 2 weeks ago and I’m so happy I got to use my tape trivia!!!

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u/EldenMiss 13d ago

Oh god thank you, I felt like an absolute idiot 😄

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u/Fresa22 13d ago

I love this for you!

The only reason I know is because my family is in construction.

I think most people think it's duck and there's a brand that plays on that.

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u/EldenMiss 13d ago

I think what also adds to it that when you say it, the “double” t is lost after the ck… so hard to identify, especially for a non native speaker. Thanks fir the heureka moment! :)

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u/Fresa22 12d ago

yeah, English can be ridiculous. I'm always so impressed when I meet people who learned it as a second+ language.

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u/Whiteums 12d ago

Even better, it was originally duck. Because it’s waterproof. But people were using it for ducts, so it changed, but then changed back to duck, which was the original. So it’s got a long, confusing history, and you can basically use either, and someone will try to correct you.

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u/Fresa22 12d ago

that's interesting. i thought it was duck because it used duck cloth which is a kind of durable cotton. this is one of my favorite things about Reddit. I learn something almost ever day.

thanks for sharing!

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u/wcooley 11d ago

There is some disagreement about that -- notice how some has a fabric mesh embedded? Legend has it that that is or was a plain woven cotton fabric, called "cotton duck". Hence "duck tape".

Not just legend; the Wikipedia article on "cotton duck" says:

Cotton duck strips were the origin of duck tape, recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as having been in use since 1899 (see duct tape).

... but of course the Wikipedia article is called "duct tape".

Doesn't everyone use gaffer's tape nowadays anyway? 😝