People of the internet were recently scratching their heads over what these mysterious bumps were on a library handrail, and some of the guesses were truly off the wall!
(See what I did there because railings are typically suspended from walls? Whatever, let’s move on…)
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The internet loves a good puzzle from time to time.
Yes, nothing sends those pesky internet dwellers into a frenzy more than a quick game of, “What the hell is this thing that I’ve found?” Except perhaps a conspiracy theory, people really eat those up!
However, the people of Reddit have a particular penchant for mystery.
So, when one person posted a photo of this rail, their curiosity was piqued.
The photo was taken in a library. These four little raised metal donuts had Redditors donning their dear-stalker hats and raising their magnifying glasses to the screen. Which incidentally probably isn’t a good idea for the sake of your eyes.
People were quick to offer their suggestions as to what the metal Cheerios could be.
A few people thought that they really weren’t anything of interest, with some people exclaiming: “Are those just huge rivets?”
Another person suggested: “I think these might actually be the holes made by a friction drill bit”.
Friction drill bits leave similar style raised edges around the holes that they drill.
However, these were not the correct answers.
A few people naturally joked about what they thought the holes were.
Some of the most popular suggestions in this vein were the likes of:
“To put your straw in for rail drinks.” Ah, yes, nothing says refreshing like sucking someone’s hand sweat out of a railing.
Things got a little silly.
“It’s a flute,” suggested another. And, in fairness I’d love for there to be more urban flutes installed around the world, it’d really add a whole “Legend of Zelda” vibe to the planet.
A few people were also just downright confused.
A staggering amount of people thought that they were jack sockets for headphones/aux leads, “I thought those were headphone jacks and I was very confused”. With some joking, “If you plug in an audio jack do you hear the soul of the building?”
And, as always there was one person who went a little too apocalyptic.
Their explanation of the rings was: “They have to add holes, usually near joining pieces before galvanizing or acid dipping to prevent it from exploding from all the heat build-up inside the pipe.” Jeez, not everything has to be about explosions okay!
Eventually, the answer was revealed.
The poster explained that they were instructions for blind people to read what floor they were on, “I’m pretty sure this might be a tactile cue for the blind.”
Which is pretty neat!
However, someone raised the point, “If this is intended for blind people, how are they intended to know that this feature even exists…”
Although, it turns out braille on handrails is not a rare occurrence.
Yes, it came to light that braillings (please, hold your applause, it’s an obvious joke) are quite a common feature, in particular in public places such as train stations, tube stations, libraries etc.
Some places also have braille on signs.
The above braille was installed upside down so that blind people would be able to read it as their hands passed along the railing above. I do think they could have moved the whole thing up a bit, how long do they think blind people’s fingers are?!
Can you think of an alternative reason why these little metallic polos may be there?
People are still arguing in the thread about what the true purpose of these tiny rings is! (I know, people arguing on the internet? You’ll just have to take my word for it!)
What side do you land on with these metal frosted Cheerios? Do you think that they are braille, simply part of the construction, or something more sinister and conspiracy-theory-esque? Let me know in the comments!
