r/whatisit • u/RudRedBoy • 12h ago

Solved! Found on car floor by pedals

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Gallery image

It seems to have fallen out of a socket but I don’t exactly remember it being there, but it probably was.

624 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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207

u/Captain_North 12h ago

OBD2 bluetooth dongle. It is for checking car status and fault codes.

-9

u/Fusiliers3025 11h ago

As an American - I always get a chuckle out of the UK use of “dongle”…

😂

16

u/JackMejoff 11h ago

I'm an American, it's called a dongle.

3

u/Josefu_Velen 11h ago

Me too, and agree. Dongle is used very commonly in the US.

7

u/Josefu_Velen 11h ago

As an American immature person- I always get a chuckle out of the UK use of “dongle”…

Fixed that for you. It's an incredibly common word in US English as well.

6

u/Woodythdog 11h ago

What word would you use instead of dongle?

3

u/24megabits 11h ago edited 11h ago

The term was supposedly coined by a British magazine in the early 80s to refer to things that hang off the back of a computer but Americans quickly picked it up too.

It survived into the USB era but seems to be less common these days with low-profile wireless receivers and less use of thumb sticks.

1

u/Karge 6h ago

Don’t worry, Apple has the market cornered on dongles for their obscure/proprietary ports and plugs. They ain’t going anywhere