Jim_R
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- Feb 17, 2010
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Jim
When I was growing up, my dad always carried a ~4" Case pocket knife (something like this). I saw him use it frequently, and I developed the opinion that it was a handy tool. (Plus, I was a kid, and knives were just cool!)
When I was in college, one of my buddies carried a Swiss army knife. I thought it was kind of weird and bulky, but over the years I saw him use a fair number of its features, including during a road trip when he used several of its bits to wrangle his VW Bug back into operational order.
Since becoming an adult, I have almost always carried some sort of a knife on my person, including Swiss army knives. I have found that I use them frequently, though probably most often as a letter/package opener and toothpick carrier. I feel uncomfortable/"incomplete" when it's not in my pocket. (Note--I have never considered my pocket knife as a weapon, nor does my "discomfort" when it's not in my pocket have anything to do with fear for my personal safety. It is only a utility tool in my mind.)
In "recent years" (say, the last ~20 or so) it's become more difficult to just carry a knife. Used to be, I only had to remember to remove it when I flew commercial (and I don't remember but maybe it wasn't a big deal before 9/11?). Today, I never know when I'll need to go through a metal detector: Baseball game, music venue, amusement park, state fair, etc. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. Size of venue is not always a good indicator. I have had to forfeit a good many knives due to unexpected metal detectors and the hassle/impracticality of going back to the car. Occasionally, there's been some convenient landscape where I could surreptitiously plant my knife and recover it again as we were leaving.
But it wasn't until very recently (like last year) that I learned that not everyone considered a small pocket knife a "normal"/"okay" thing to carry. I was with a larger group that included friends-of-friends at an outdoor festival (far from where I live) where I ended up losing a knife at the entrance, and several members of the group gave me a bunch of grief for carrying this. "Why do you need to carry a weapon like that??" was the common refrain. None of them would believe that someone might just like having a variety of potentially-useful tools easily at hand. Only 3-4 were really vocal about it, but a couple of others nodded, and nobody else in the group of ~12 carried a knife or spoke up in my defense that they thought it was a "normal" thing to do. I was on an island.
So I wonder:
- Is this a regional thing, where it's normal in some places and weird in others?
- Is this a change-with-the-times thing, where it used to be normal 50+ years ago but has become weird and I didn't notice?
- Has it always been weird and I never knew?
- Was I hanging out that day with the only 12 people who think it's weird?
When I was in college, one of my buddies carried a Swiss army knife. I thought it was kind of weird and bulky, but over the years I saw him use a fair number of its features, including during a road trip when he used several of its bits to wrangle his VW Bug back into operational order.
Since becoming an adult, I have almost always carried some sort of a knife on my person, including Swiss army knives. I have found that I use them frequently, though probably most often as a letter/package opener and toothpick carrier. I feel uncomfortable/"incomplete" when it's not in my pocket. (Note--I have never considered my pocket knife as a weapon, nor does my "discomfort" when it's not in my pocket have anything to do with fear for my personal safety. It is only a utility tool in my mind.)
In "recent years" (say, the last ~20 or so) it's become more difficult to just carry a knife. Used to be, I only had to remember to remove it when I flew commercial (and I don't remember but maybe it wasn't a big deal before 9/11?). Today, I never know when I'll need to go through a metal detector: Baseball game, music venue, amusement park, state fair, etc. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. Size of venue is not always a good indicator. I have had to forfeit a good many knives due to unexpected metal detectors and the hassle/impracticality of going back to the car. Occasionally, there's been some convenient landscape where I could surreptitiously plant my knife and recover it again as we were leaving.
But it wasn't until very recently (like last year) that I learned that not everyone considered a small pocket knife a "normal"/"okay" thing to carry. I was with a larger group that included friends-of-friends at an outdoor festival (far from where I live) where I ended up losing a knife at the entrance, and several members of the group gave me a bunch of grief for carrying this. "Why do you need to carry a weapon like that??" was the common refrain. None of them would believe that someone might just like having a variety of potentially-useful tools easily at hand. Only 3-4 were really vocal about it, but a couple of others nodded, and nobody else in the group of ~12 carried a knife or spoke up in my defense that they thought it was a "normal" thing to do. I was on an island.
So I wonder:
- Is this a regional thing, where it's normal in some places and weird in others?
- Is this a change-with-the-times thing, where it used to be normal 50+ years ago but has become weird and I didn't notice?
- Has it always been weird and I never knew?
- Was I hanging out that day with the only 12 people who think it's weird?
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