Spydie vs. BM: The REAL question

Shmackey

Shmackey

Joined
May 5, 2000
Messages
1,478
Why do we tend to refer to Spydies by name and BMs by number? Spydies have numbers and BMs have names, but I never say "I love my Spydie 81 and my Benchmade McHenry and Williams."

Now the Paramillie and 710--those are great knives.
 
710 is easy to say. C11PBK is not. It doesn't flow off the tongue like 710.

Delica is easy to say. McHenry and Williams is not.

Saying "Spyderco Delica" is way easier than "Spyderco C11PBK".

I think it's simple. People say what flows off the tongue easiest combined with what everyone else says.
 
Copper Crayon said:
710 is easy to say. C11PBK is not.
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It's really just a "Spyderco 11" though. If we added codes for serrations and colors to Benchmade numbers, they'd be just as unwieldy.

Come to think of it, I really like my blue Spyderco Eleven...
 
I've often wondered the same thing.
 
Because Warren Osborne designs a lot of Benchmade, and so did Alan E, and it's just impossible to keep all the names straight with BM, because they give them stupid names. Like, how many Grips are there? And some don't even have names. I find it annoying, but there's really no way around it, until BM hires a decent marketer to give them decent names. I'd also like to mention the McHenry & Williams models, theres a few of them, all without names.
 
Agree with Waliking Man. Unlike Spydies, not all BMs have names. But this trend seems to be changing, the newer ones have names, eg. Apparition, Resistor etc. Even Warren Osborne has gotten in on the act with the new Opportunist.

Personally, I always prefer names as I am numerically challenged. Can't even remember the wife's phone number, thank goodness phones come with memories now.
 
Shmackey said:
Why do we tend to refer to Spydies by name and BMs by number? Spydies have numbers and BMs have names, but I never say "I love my Spydie 81 and my Benchmade McHenry and Williams."

Now the Paramillie and 710--those are great knives.
Click to expand...

Because Benchmade does not even give names to most of their knives, just numbers.
 
I wish people would say the Benchmade names though....the knives from Benchmade that I'm not really into I have to wait a minute and think about which number they are.
 
Artfully Martial said:
I wish people would say the Benchmade names though....
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Let me second that. 710, 550, 806...these I can remember (barely ;) ), but what does a 190, 770 or 960 look like?
Having to check BM's homepage everytime a Benchmade knife is mentioned gets old real quick.
 
We use names for some benchmades - like the grip, no one calls it the 550. But no numbers for Spydies... I usually like the names they use.
 
Sure, but many people know what a 550 is, so in this case using the name is not as important as when you're talking about a BM that is not as well-known.
 
It depends on the knife for me.I say Ares and Skirmish instead of 730 and 630, 750 instead of Pinnacle, I don't know what else to call my 530, or the 690 I used to have. I prefer 806 to AFCK, 42 and 41MC don't have anther name that I know of. I think I like Rukus better than 610, and I don't think of the numbers at all for the Gravitator, Opportunist, or Apparition. Stryker/910 works either way for me. And always a Grip, never a 55x.
 
Names for knives are more difficult to create than it might appear.

Many have been used before, so avoiding those for either legal reasons or to avoid confusion is important.

Many knives are not socially friendly, so if the name of a knife is too aggressive, it can be used against the company. Eg: the Spyderco "SPOT" stands for "Self Protection Option Tool". This model cannot be imported into the UK because the name is considered too aggressive by the UK Government.

Spyderco spends a great deal of time trying to come up with names that work well, roll off the tongue easily, are easily remembered, etc.

The name has to be liked by the customer.

Spyderco has recently taken to removing many of the names that were etched or stamped on the blade, such as "Police" or "Military". Potential legal problems for our customers. We've left names on the "Salt" series to avoid confusion with the VG-10 versions.

A bad name can also kill the sales of a knife if the name does not suit the intended customer.

sal
 
Hi Sal!

May I suggest taking a look at ancient Greek and Roman Mythology?

A great many names that meet your criteria for selecting knife names can be found there.
For example, you could name a line of three similar knives in different sizes (like the Police/Endura/Delica line) Hyperion, Eos and Memnon. Hyperion (a titan) is Eos's (Goddess of Dawn) father, who is Memnon's (king of Ethiopia) mother.

Just a thought.
 
I tend to think a lot of it is because Spyderco knives are kind of quirky and while they do have a lot of models most of them are comparable (obviously not the Kiwi and Delica, but Military, Manix, Delica, Endura, Police etc. have a lot in common). Benchmade, on the other hand, has the Snody Resistor and AFCK. If someone says Spyderco, I think triangular blade with opening hole (which, if I may so so, is probably the most practical and best looking blade for every day use that I've ever seen :cool: ) with handles and a lockback. If someone says "My Benchmade...." I don't know what they're talking about, because that could mean anything from a Griptilian to a McHenry Williams design, if that makes sense.

It's a lot like saying "My SAAB" versus saying "My Ford". SAAB's have a connotation (or used to) of odd-looking hatchbacks, and whether you had a 9000, old 900, new 900, or old 9-3 people tended to associate them with the same basic shape. Ford, however, has had a lot of different styles over the years, and people don't know if you're talking about an F150, Tempo, or Focus wagon/hatchback.
 
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