Ever heard of this old saying?

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Jan 3, 2001
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My brother-in-law told me his son had dug up an old pocket knife that had a coin jammed between the blade and the handle. He continued to say that all that was needed now was a piece of string. I didn't understand what he meant, so I asked him to explain.
He said that there was an old saying that you should always carry a knife, a piece of string, and a coin, then you could "cut, tie, and buy".

Cut, Tie, and Buy

I like that :-) Anyone else ever heard that saying ?
 
It just means being prepared for anthing....that's all.

Like today we carry our knives, cellphones, torches etc.
 
I wonder if it might not also be rooted back in the days of the general store or butcher, when it might be useful for a person to be able to cut their own brown paper, tie it around their parcel, and pay for it?

Just a thought. I love thinking about how sayings evolved, and where they might have come from. Purely apocryphal, at best, but that's my guess.

:D
 
Damn Kal, I had to look that one up!!! :eek:

apocryphal:
1) of dubious authorship or authority.
2) inauthentic; false.
3) (cap.) of or related to the Apocrypha.


Originally posted by Kalindras
Purely apocryphal, at best, but that's my guess.

:D
 
I know this is a little off topic but has anyone heard the old superstition about never folding a knife that someone else has opened? Just wondering if it might be a regional thing here.
 
That's new to me Yobbos1, though it sounds like it could well be a saying.

I've been doing searches of old sayings on the net, and have drawn a blank.

Nice idea Kalindras :-)

I'll see if my brother-in-law can shed any more light on things. He did say it was his mother who had told him the saying, but I know she's passed on, so unless she told him where it comes from it's going to be hard to get any more information.
 
Originally posted by yobbos1
I know this is a little off topic but has anyone heard the old superstition about never folding a knife that someone else has opened? Just wondering if it might be a regional thing here.


yobbos1, almost no one where I live will close a knife that someone else has opened. I have never figured out why. When I ask why they just say that what they have been taught and that's it. I find myself doing the same thing after living here for over 15 years.:eek:

Dean
 
There's an old superstition that it is bad luck to return a knife you are handling back to it's owner in a configuration different than what it was handed to you. If the owner hands it to you closed or open, you are supposed to return in the same way. This is true both in NC and MN, so it spans at least 2 regions.
Dave
 
Originally posted by yobbos1
I know this is a little off topic but has anyone heard the old superstition about never folding a knife that someone else has opened?
I think it's considered bad luck. Something about signifying the severance of that friendship/relationship.
 
The thing about the coin jammed between the blade and the handle got me to thinking. When I was a young lad, I had bought a knife at the five and dime (yes I'm an old f**t) and I was so proud of it. I was showing my new knife around and was told by an older person to "put a nickle in it a throw it away, then when somebody finds it, it will at least be worth a nickle to them."

This might explain the coin in the knife that was found.

Steve
 
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