I think the real truth of the matter is, it's no different here in America than anywhere else in the world. The knife aficionado will have a nice knife on him, and the non knife person won't have any knife at all, unless it's required by a job or sporting activity like fishing or backpacking. From what I' ve seen of people sawing open boxes with thier house key, I seriously doubt many people don't even bother carrying a knife at all, unless they are one of the obsessed cult followers of the knife. Certainly, with modern life in the big city, you can get by with no knife at all, and millions of people do it. If the non knife obsessed does recognize in the dim recesses of their minds that they do indeed need a knife, they will buy something cheap, and small enough to fit on a key chain. Of the 35 million knives produced each year by Victorinox, 9 million of them are the tiny classic. Imagine 9 million knives each year, for years. That's a SAK classic for just about every keychan that is carried. Not too many years ago, one of the knife magazines had a full cover photo of a classic, and billed it as the most confiscated knife in the world by airport security all over.
The awful truth is, that for most people these days, a knife is not high on the list of important things to carry. Most people woujld rather have a nice pen or watch, or the latest phone, than a knife to carry. We're different, because we're the obsessed, the mutants. Those who think starting the day without a knife in our pocket is worse than going without our morning coffee. And I love my morning coffee, don't get between me and the coffee maker when I come downstairs in the morning. I'd soon as go out without my pants on than without a knife in my pocket, but I've always been looked at as the strange one. Most co-workers and friends think I'm a little nuts over knives, and those who do carry a knife, just carry some small pen knife like a Buck companion or Victorinox classic. Or a gas station 2.99 special.
With modern life in the 21st century, a knife is just not as important as it used to be. Very few of us will skin buffalo for a living, or fight off wild injuns while trapping the high country. But there is still UPS packages to open, string to be cut, and sundry other little things that come up in the day in a life in the big city. A knife is still a nice thing to have on occasion, but it's not going to be a matter of life and death too often. On the other hand, twice in my life, I had to act in an emergency where once it was a matter of freeing a girls loose sneaker lace from an elevator, the other was an over turned car that was smoldering with a driver that had to be cut from a seat belt. I was glad I had a knife, even though it was a modest slip joint and did the job well. The small sharp 2 inch blade cut the seat belt just fine.
It's sad, but carrying a knife seems to be going out of style except for the afflicted like us. The rest of the world is content with the latest electro gadget of the month.
Carl.
lol Cheers everyone!
