Have we completely changed the meaning of EDC???

I'm in the "Geez man, relax!" camp. Do you really expect everyone to only own and carry one knife? Ever actually read through one of those "one knife for six months" threads? They tend to get awfully boring pretty quickly.

I carry a knife everyday, therefore any knife I carry is an EDC... that day ;)

On the other hand, I am amazed by all the other tons of stuff many people EDC. I've gotten along fine my adult life with a knife, a lighter, my billfold and keys. Some of you folks could literally set up not just a survival shelter/campsite but a complete working business office with the stuff in your pockets and man-purses.
 
Truth in advertising.
I suggest the new term "OAWC"
Once a week carry.
Or "UIBTLRK"
Until I buy the latest rage knife.
FOTD - Flavor of the day.
TMKPD Today's Multiple Knife Personality Disorder.
 
For an enthusiast, every day means a different knife.

For the purist, maybe that means one knife every day.

I am not limiting myself in that way, but I do carry one knife every day, and it is a traditional. I also carry another knife every day, and that one can vary.

Such is the life of a knife aficionado, and I am enjoying every day of it.

best

mqqn
 
I suppose EDC is also a category of knives. Knives that the hobbyist finds favorable for that purpose, and we all know that knife nuts have more than one :D

Whatever the case, I EDC (aka carry) a different knife almost everyday, selected from my knives in my EDC rotation. So in this context it's a synonym for "carry".

May not be grammatically correct, but everybody in the biz knows what it means. It's just knife talk, big whoop we developed our own slang, it's normal. Happens across humanity, developing a lingo within a group. This isn't the first time this subject was raised, the last one ended up pages deep in W&C. Some people here have a problem with it, especially the English majors and the politically correct but it's not that serious. To me, dull knives are a bigger concern :p
 
I have categories of knives. Some are collectors knives and get very little (if any) real use. I have several large fixed blade knives that I use for working on my property and some smaller ones that I use for hunting or fishing or whatever. None of these will be carried regularly.

But I have several knives of which I use daily. I "carry" one or more of these knives "every day", thus I feel comfortable in calling them EDCs. I don't see that as ruining the term. But, JMO. :)
 
I'm a knife nut and have a lot of knives. I also have multiple things I carry everyday, including a knife (s). I have had a Benchmade Rift in my right front pocket for years now. I also end up on the coast a lot so I always have a Spyderco Salt that I use as a money clip inside my left pocket. I also have a Leatherman Micra, a Swisstech plier tool, wallet, lighter (don't smoke), EagleTac flashlight, keys, pill fob, KelTec PF9, Samsung Galaxy S3, and a few other things. They get taken out of one pair of pants and put in the next pair the following day.

Since I am a knife nut I carry another knife that I do rotate IWB. A lot of time it is a Para 2, or whatever other knife that is new and needs loving. Since I am a knife nut my Rift and flashlight also get clipped to my boxers at night when I sleep. When you get woken up in the middle of the night to your wife screaming you don't think real well and it's nice to have tools with you without thinking. My little dog was being taken out to pee and something grabbed her in the dark, probably a coyote. We live in the country so no leash. Luckily I also have an AR15 behind a door that I quickly grabbed as I was running outside and shot a round into the dirt. Whatever dropped her and luckily only had her by the skin giving a couple superficial punctures. Having the flashlight was crucial so I'm not completely nuts. I now have a vertical grip with built in light. And also expands into a tripod that works pretty good.

Maybe there should be another term, EDTK. Every Day Task (or Type) Knife. For those knives that aren't carried everyday but do the chores that an EDC does.
 
I will stay awake tonight worrying about whether we have changed the meaning of edc. Were really in a pickle now.
 
goodeyesniper said:
Maybe I'm just being an elitist because I accidentally found my grail and EDC when I bought that Military hoping to have a cool knife, kept in the drawer, that would retain its value. (even though it actually doubled in value almost instantly :p ) I never thought it would even be a seldom carried knife, let alone my sole knife for 2+ years.
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And for me, there's no such thing as a grail knife. I could be granted an indestructible, never dulling knife forged by God himself, with custom scales from Allah, and I would STILL buy new knives every week, and I would STILL rotate knives out, because I don't like carrying the SAME knife every day, no matter how amazing, awesome, and wonderful it is.
 
Agree on the terminology point by Goodeye.

I may be in the minority, but while I own probably 50+ knives acquired over the years, the original Spyderco Manix, "WalMart" Spyderco Native, and 29-year-old SAK Grand Prix are the three that truly do get carried because I long ago selected them to meet all of my normal everyday knife needs & do not rotate anything around.

Those three are on me every time I leave the property, unless it's a dressier affair than Levi's, an airplane flight, or a backcountry jaunt. If slacks, it's the Manix in a belt pouch & the others stay home to reduce pocket bulk. If airplane, nothing on my body. If backcountry, the Manix may be replaced by a fixed blade.

EDC should probably be held to just what it says, an individual knife carried everyday, not a generic rotation class. :)
Denis
 
I agree completely with Goodeye, the terminology is being misused. I also find it pretty irritating. Don't think we can fix it though. :) It has, unfortunately, evolved, which is why many of these guys are arguing with you. If we move this to whine and cheese I can offer some recommendations on what to do about people who missuse this phrase. :)
 
You can all argue, I OTOH, will continue with my rotation and will call my knives anything I like and no one can do a darn thing about it. I bet ya'll will still know what I mean.
 
EDC is not a term used by many folks outside a few niche communities as someone implied earlier.

I do think it has become just an internet "term" for most folks who use it. Lazy language or typing if you will. We know LOL is used when people really mean "I almost chuckled". I preffer using words over abbreviations and text talk, but I have been known to get lazy occasionally. Who knows maybe I will brb to ttyl, oh nvm
 
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To make things more complicated, my EDC (carry everyday) is SRM 710. However, since it's a backup in my wallet, the actual knife I use to cut on daily basis changes (depends on which I carry, and usually several).

I like powernoodle definition and also OP's argument.;)

Words as used and re-used, can evolve. This is how we also evolve.
 
Because of the internet, (YouTube, and various forums) EDC has become synonymous with, "...pocket dump".

It seems what ever the tactically minded generation had, flashlight, knife, pen, phone, watch... (I could go on forever) can be substituted for the phrase EDC, when did the term/acronym become common use?

I have been guilty of over using the term but in my defense I've always carried a lot of stuff, just for example, typically two knives in left pocket a large single locking blade with a clip, a smaller two blade, right pocket, same, basically a redundant set, fixed blade in my back pocket and one around my neck, more like jewelry, a small titanium Spyderco police model necklace.

Then there are three in my wallet, along with a pick set.

Now 'cause I have alotta stuff I carry, (throw back to the old days when I was at mechanic and needed to carry all these tools).
As a result of bad habits I developed I carry a bag loosely called BOB in that bag another 5-15 knives and.tools,I always have a gun me too.

The main difference is that I use all the same 10 or so knives one at time, they all get used, they're the same knives carriedFor months at a time then I'll mix ´em up.

I guess you could say I have a bunch of knives that I carry for months at a time, they are my EDCs, they see 95% of my r every day use, is just dependent on the environment and task, (right tool for the right job)

It's 2:30am, I'm tired and probably not making much sense so I'll revisit this later after some sleep.
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Yeah, you're free to call your pocket knife a banana too. I won't get mad about it, but I might start a thread about it not making sense how you refer to your knife... :p EDIT: that was not aimed at the most recent previous poster, just a few of the earlier comments I didn't feel like quoting...

jc57 said:
All of the people who took the term EDC literally posted about 5 times and then once they found their one knife, stopped posting here.

So you are left with those people who don't take the term literally. It's a form of survivor bias.
Click to expand...

lol that's a damn good point.

FCM415 said:
May not be grammatically correct, but everybody in the biz knows what it means. It's just knife talk, big whoop we developed our own slang, it's normal. Happens across humanity, developing a lingo within a group. This isn't the first time this subject was raised, the last one ended up pages deep in W&C. Some people here have a problem with it, especially the English majors and the politically correct but it's not that serious. To me, dull knives are a bigger concern :p
Click to expand...

Isn't slang generally supposed to shorten and/or simplify words and phrases? EDC does the opposite in everything but one basic form of typing.

When you make a "word" like EDC mean literally anything you want it to, it becomes much more convoluted and confusing. It's also a much bigger mouthful than just talking about it normally.

Imagine I started a popular phrase. Maybe i coined the term "Do-It-All" knife. Meaning I had one knife that literally did it all for me. I start repeatedly referring to my DIA knife, and it made sense. Maybe a few other people picked it up and it spread to different internet forums and video websites... Fine and dandy. But then all of a sudden you have people saying, "This is my DIA knife that I just use for cleaning fish.", "Man, I love this knife. It's been my DIA knife for detailed wood carving for the past week!"... Not only are they using it incorrectly, all they have to do is completely remove the DIA from those posts, and the sentences makes a whole lot more sense, are easier to type and speak, and don't give mixed signals.

It's just a weird evolution of the phrase that now obeys no laws of common sense, reality, convenience, or anything else. It merely exists to make your sentences longer, your posts less coherent, and every statement you make much more vague.
 
goodeyesniper said:
When you make a "word" like EDC mean literally anything you want it to,
Click to expand...

Who is doing that, exactly? Near as I can tell, it is pretty much universally regarded as meaning "what I carry regularly". If someone says "these are my 10 EDC knives" 99.9% of the people here are going to realize that it means "these are the 10 knives I carry regularly", if someone says "I EDC a Glock 26", pretty much everyone takes it to mean "I carry a Glock 26 regularly". If someone says "I EDC a knife, flashlight, multitool, and watch", everyone gets that it means "I carry these items regularly". I don't see people saying things like "I went to Outback and EDCed a ribeye" or "To get to work I EDC my Ford Escort".
 
goodeyesniper said:
Yeah, you're free to call your pocket knife a banana too. I won't get mad about it, but I might start a thread about it not making sense how you refer to your knife... :p EDIT: that was not aimed at the most recent previous poster, just a few of the earlier comments I didn't feel like quoting...



lol that's a damn good point.



Isn't slang generally supposed to shorten and/or simplify words and phrases? EDC does the opposite in everything but one basic form of typing.

When you make a "word" like EDC mean literally anything you want it to, it becomes much more convoluted and confusing. It's also a much bigger mouthful than just talking about it normally.

Imagine I started a popular phrase. Maybe i coined the term "Do-It-All" knife. Meaning I had one knife that literally did it all for me. I start repeatedly referring to my DIA knife, and it made sense. Maybe a few other people picked it up and it spread to different internet forums and video websites... Fine and dandy. But then all of a sudden you have people saying, "This is my DIA knife that I just use for cleaning fish.", "Man, I love this knife. It's been my DIA knife for detailed wood carving for the past week!"... Not only are they using it incorrectly, all they have to do is completely remove the DIA from those posts, and the sentences makes a whole lot more sense, are easier to type and speak, and don't give mixed signals.

It's just a weird evolution of the phrase that now obeys no laws of common sense, reality, convenience, or anything else. It merely exists to make your sentences longer, your posts less coherent, and every statement you make much more vague.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, I am neither for or against EDC being used incorrectly. I can care less.

Do I even use the term "incorrectly" myself? Actually no, but if I did and someone had a problem with it, I would tell them to F/O. Point being even if you are correct, so what? Do you go down the street and correct people's grammar down the street? There's nothing you can do about it. My statement was not in any way to disagree with your stance, I was merely trying to prod you along to the reasoning as to why people do it.

I suggest you read this one to feed your appetite:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-What-does-EDC-mean?highlight=sticktodrum+edc

Anyways, this is too petty for me to be taken seriously. Moving along... Here's a :thumbup: for your troubles.
 
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This is a very interesting thread. I'm usually pretty loyal to my favorite knives, but I also rotate a little bit. I have two EDCs (that I wear together, I do not rotate them) and a work knife. My EDCs are a Spyderco Navaja and a Zero Tolerance 303 and I carry them a LOT, around the house, going to the store, and just casually. My 'work knife' is my Zero Tolerance 350 that I carry when I know I'm going to be using my knife pretty hard and getting it scratched up or dirty in the desert, mainly because its stonewashed and handles the wear and tear better, its light and small so I have extra pocket room, and its cheaper than my other knives but still very well built.

I don't believe that people should limit themselves to one or two knives, I have a few knives that I don't carry, but I keep them because I like them. I am loyal to my EDCs and my work knife because they suit my needs. I went through a few knives before I found out what I needed and wanted, and I intend to go through more. In fact I have started saving up for my next EDC that will replace my Navaja. I'm going to keep my Navaja but it will no longer be my EDC, it will be my dress knife... just as soon as I get out the scratches. :D

Sorry for the long reply, its late and I'm bored... Just thought I'd put in my two cents. Have a good night everybody.
 
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