Another funny sheeple & knife story....

B

biogon

Joined
Jan 2, 2002
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Kirch's post reminded me of a conversation I recently had...

About a month ago I was talking with a female co-worker (yes, attractive, yes, fairly young, and no, not married) in her office.

She had just received a package, and couldn't get it open with the office-issue blunt-nose scissors.

So I break out the trusty knife. I happened to be carrying the MOD CQD Mk II, and I swing it into play.

<click>

"My God, I didn't know you had a sword!"

It's got a 3.4" blade, folks. This is the BABY version. Granted, it's kind of scary looking with a black coating and serrations, but... with everything being said and done... this ain't no Lord of the Rings, y'know?

She proceeds to go next door and ask everyone if they knew I carried a weapon around.

Her officemate (probably a little more realistic) mentions that her brother and dad all carry knives and that it's just "a guy thing".

Ahem... us guys DO need to open packages for chicks, sometimes -- especially since we don't got them fangs 'n claws that are built-in anymore, yes?

-Jon

Epilogue:
About a week later I stop by again and show her the Benchmade 690. That's a much prettier knife, and she actually wanted to hold it. Much better. Whew. I'll have to stop by again when the Marlowe custom comes in. Anyone wanna lend me a SIFU? ;)
 
Ya know this "sheeple" thing kinda bothers me a bit.
Most folk's just don't know about knives nowdays.
Especially the kind we carry here at the forums.
You'd actually be suprized at some that never have
heard nor seen a pocketclip or a one hander!!

I don't carry a one hander but several of my
friends do.......now. Once I took the time to
explain my hobby and what it had to offer.

So don't call'em sheeple.....call'em potential
knife knuts and infect them with the knife bug.

Once you make friends of your enemies,
you will have no enemies.
 
Originally posted by biogon

She proceeds to go next door and ask everyone if they knew I carried a weapon around.
Click to expand...

That's pretty sad. Reminds me of a chick I once dated (keywords: ONCE) who asked me if I had killed anyone when I mentioned that I had firearms in my home and that I was an NRA member.
 
I wonder when this "sheeple effect" gets inculcated. My large Sebenza often causes the "gee, that's a big knife" response (with the person imperceptibly backing away). But the small Sebenza never does; people react not much differently than if it were an SAK. So, why does .5" of blade length matter??

The most common question, though (and women ask this 95% of the time), is: "Why do you need to carry a knife?"

If a person can't take even a moment to consider why something might be useful, it makes me wonder. Most people truly do think that life has only one shape, one flavor, and the fact that they don't need a knife most of the time means that nobody ever will.
 
I have had two encounters in the last three weeks. I opened a plastic bag, containing a network cable, using my small Sebenza in our admin's office. Her response was, "they let you have that here at work?". My response was, "yep" and continued with the bag cutting. The week before I had carried my BM 710BT. The better encounter happended just last week. I was walking through the cafe' for lunch when I fellow co-worker spotted my Sebenza. His response was, "whoa! Is that a Sebenza!". We ended up talking about knives for almost the whole lunch hour. It's good to find that there are some people out there that understand the need to carry a knife.
 
I know people who screams aloud whether I carry a multitool with a blade or a small KFF.
I don't think the blade length matters. Some people are just ignorant.
 
Originally posted by JohnW
I wonder when this "sheeple effect" gets inculcated. My large Sebenza often causes the "gee, that's a big knife" response (with the person imperceptibly backing away). But the small Sebenza never does; people react not much differently than if it were an SAK. So, why does .5" of blade length matter??
Click to expand...

JohnW -

It doesn't matter to you, nor me, nor the rest of us knifeknuts. But consider that not only is there a 0.5" difference in blade length between the small and large Sebbie, but there is also a difference in blade depth (from edge to spine).

In my opinion, the blade depth has a much more pronounced impact on the sheeple than the blade length. Consider the fact that I'm carrying a BM 940 right now that is a good 0.5" longer than the small Sebbie; however, the blade depth is equal to or less than the small Sebbie, and nobody bats an eye. The larger Spydercos seem to produce the same effect in sheeple due to the generally wide blades.

Not that it's right, mind you, but just something to consider...

Matthew
 
Face it. We are a media educated country. Whatever is depicted on television or in the movies stays embedded in peoples minds. It doesn't really matter how rediculous it is. What perceptions viewers have of politicians,breakfast cereal, movie stars or anything else is almost always from exsposure to the media. That is what controls a very scarey amount of american minds. This isn't a new topic here on the forums but it is something that we all have to deal with. I delight in the fact that we, yes I said WE, "convert" quite a few people into the reality that a knife is just a tool. A lot of people aren't quite ready to accept that fact about guns just yet. Lots of mind minipulation has been going on for quite a few years but, that is another matter. I, we, will have to start with knives and go from there. Just my opinion.
Greg
 
You know what I need to vent! I hate being asked if I killed anyone with a knife that I give as a gift. I hate being asked, "Do you always have to carry a SHANK". I hate being told it's illegal even when I know damn well it is. I hate reasoning with them over and over. And I hate it the most when the people that tell you this crap are your absolute best lifelong friends. :p In between a rock and a hard spot for me.
 
Don Rac. That's when you tell them that if they ever need to use one to give ya a holler.
Greg
 
I agree totally with the "depth" thing (I refer to the measure as width, however). My Rookie has a longer blade than my Delica, but the optical illusion of the more pronounced hump/hole on the DElica makes it look like a much bigger blade.
 
I have noticed that black blades and anything larger than 3" or so causes a fair flap in work if customers see it!

I was opening some boxes with my LCC D/A when I looked up to see two coppers looking at the knife in my hand...:eek:

The ofhand comment was don't carry that down the pub and let me look at that...:eek:

Five mins later the copper is asking me if I could get him an LCC!:p

On a more serious note, a knife can scare those who do not dare.

Dare to accept a tool and always look for the worst in a person. Anyone who is scared by a pocket knife is illeducated and I feel sorry for them. A tool has a use, a multitude of uses, the knife is the ultimate tool IMHO. Weapon is but one of the many uses. A car makes a good weapon... the list goes on. Hollywood has a lot to answer for.:mad:
 
My favorite office "Is that a weapon?" story has to do with a nosey accounting assistant... she noticed my leatherman Wave sticking out of the hip pocket on my painter jeans one day... H2G she asked if I was carrying some type of weapon!?... I quickly wiped out the needle nose plier and said "it's a tool... see.." I didn't mention the Kershaw Boa in my other pocket.:D

She's the type that would go running to Human Resources and have all blades longer than 1/2 inch band from the building...:barf:
 
The General,

Good story! I like the ones with good endings.

I'm going to admit my absolute ignorance of UK laws...

I thought it was illegal to carry any fixed OR folder, concealed in England, much less an auto?

In Switzerland, apparently it's illegal to carry concealed any locking folder or FB (hence the abundance of slipjoints.)

-Jon
 
Okay. I'll spew out a story.

I was walking down the street one day, when a Sheriff's Office patrol car pulled up along side of me. One of the computers at the jail had apparently crashed, and they couldn't find me at the office (I'm a network engineer for the county). The officer told me about the problem and asked me to come back and help. Well.... I normally ditch my knives before hitting the jail, but couldn't help it in this emergency.

So I get into the jail and the metal detector just about overloads. I had my large Sebenza, Vic Cybertool, 154CM Camillus EDC, and a Buck Cadet. It was like a scene out of "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome". To make matters worse, they had some secretary screening the people coming in. She looked with her mouth wide open as I unloaded all of the hardware. :eek:

The deputy, who knows me, just grinned as all of this happened. So then the secretary looks up at me and says, “What are you? Some kind of prison assassin or something?" Without skipping a beat, I pointed at the rubber band she was playing with and said, "Be careful. You could put somebody's eye out with that thing."

I can still remember the roar of laughter coming from 5 corrections officers and a deputy. The secretary was not amused. :p
 
I had some idiot at work today ask me why I was carrying two knives, before I could even answer he then pipes up with "I just carry a gun instead" as if I am regularly killing ppl throughout the day....

My reply left him dumbfounded "What good is that if you need to cut something?"
 
A few weeks after 9/11 when people were still really keyed up, I was working in an office environment fixing some phone problems. As I walked down the hallway holding my tone probe (a bright orange plastic gizmo with a cone-shaped metallic tip), a middle aged woman stopped dead in her tracks and stared at it. "Is that a weapon?" she asked.:rolleyes:

I'm not making this up.

Unless we've recently perfected some kind of Flash Gordon ray gun, I don't see how this thing could have been mistaken for a weapon. This woman is probably out looking to buy robot attack insurance right now.
 
I agree with Starfish about blade depth. Nothing gets more attention than my M18 unless its an automatic.
I took my gf to Kuwait International the other day. I dropped her off then parked the car and walked to the terminal. When I saw the metal detector (they're at the entrances here, not at the gates) I remembered I had a Leatherman Wave, large Sebbie, a Gerber Guardian on my boot and a tiny blade on my moneyclip. I did a U-turn and unloaded in the car.
I remember a time when every man carried a pocket knife. With my dad and grandpa it was always a Case knife. It was a rite of passage to get your very own Caseknife. It was never called a Case, or a knife, it was a Caseknife. Later I moved on to Buck but now I'm more pricey. I remember reading "Huck Finn" and Tom getting a genuine Barlow and what a big deal that was.
 
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