What's wrong with the term 'pocket knife'?

U

Uncle Bill

Joined
Aug 24, 1999
Messages
434
I don't see this term used much on the forum.
I see 'folder,' 'tactical folder' (recently in reference to a lightweight calypso, jr.!), and 'traditional folder,' but almost never a reference simply to a pocket knife.

Why is this?

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Bill

Unfortunate but Increasingly Necessary Disclaimer:

While this post likely contains incorrect information, fuzzy logic, poor grammar and misspelled words, what it does not contain is intentional malevolence toward anyone.


 
I suppose it all depends on how one views their knife. I am having a few Blades made for me and I call the baby fixed that I am having made which will be able to fit in my pocket, my pocket knife.

[This message has been edited by Donna Barnas (edited 06 December 1999).]
 
I may be wrong but I call any folder that has no clip, a pocket knife! It goes IN the pocket, not clipped TO the pocket......
I usually carry one of several Case Peanuts or other clipless knives in addition to my "TACTICAL" one hand, thumbstud or hole openers! Depending on who wants to borrow a knife, I decide which one to hand them!!
I love "pocket" knives and am having knifemaker and Guild member, Bill Simons make me a small, lock back, pocket knife! I will post a short review of the knife and maker when I pick it up.
Neil

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Update in process! New knives, pictures, Sheaths!!
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To me, pocket knife is a term for any knife I put in my pocket. I tend not to use the term "pocket knife" because it's pretty general.

Anyway, that's just what I think,
Mitch
 
Good Question Uncle Bill.

I always liked the term "pocket knife." I guess in today's knife environment it isn't descriptive enough. There are several styles of pocket knives. I collect a particular brand of a stockman knife while my brother collects canoe style pocket knives.

I notice several forum members referring to the well carried Swiss Army style as "SAK" which many are carried in the actual pocket. I also carry a small single blade custom folder with no lock but a square walk. It holds a great edge and has performed several various cutting tasks for me. I am of the opinion that what style or make of pocket knife indentifies a particular trait about one's character. Maybe the term "pocket knife" also shows our age. An age from whence a knife was thought of as a "tool" rather than a "weapon."
 
I used to carry a pocket knife in school. I still have it and love it. It is a hungarian-sheppards knife with stag scales that was given to me by my father and I knew the man who made it.
I carried it for several years and during my time in the army. I then discovered lockable knives which were so large I put them in a belt-pouch.
The next step were clipit's.
So there is nothing wrong with the term pocket knife.
Every now and then I'll get a new pocket knife (yesterday another SAK), but the most knives I buy are better described by other terms.
Greetings
red

[This message has been edited by red mag (edited 07 December 1999).]
 
When I was a kid (long time ago) the term pocket knife was magical. Every boy wanted a pocket knife. It was a knife that would go in your pocket (folder) and to which you could kill lions, tigers, crocodiles, and probably save the world if need be. So you kept asking your mother and father for a "pocket knife". Can you imagine asking them for a "tatical folder"? The new names names like tatical folder are advertising hype. They are still pocket knives. But maybe for grownups who can kill lions and tigers and crocodiles and save the world.
 
gort, you can't even give a kid a "pocket knife" these days without jumping through hoops. I wanted to give my 9 year old God Son a Buck Prince last year, and had to get permission from, his parents, my wife put in her two cents, you'd think it was an AK-47…ah whatever. Anyway he got it, and what does he do with it? The same stuff we did, whittles sticks. Soooo dangerous.

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LD
"Every Dog Has His Day"
BFC Member Since October 2, 1998

 
When talking to people that are not "knife" people, I *always* use either "pocket knife" or "pen knife". Instead of saying;

"I collect knives"

say;

"I collect pocket knives"

(See how harmless!)
People seem to then appreciate the fact you're not a Y2K prepared/pseudo-tactical/slash-attacking/weapon-wielding ("don't let your kids get in the way of my self-defense")/special forces wannabe!

-Michael

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Chefget's Knife Page




[This message has been edited by Chefget (edited 07 December 1999).]
 
great post, gort!
biggrin.gif


i use the term "pocket knife" primarily when around non-knife people. i find it helps to offset the kneejerk fear reaction by evoking warm fuzzy feelings: scout camping trips, whittling, dad, gramps/grandma, tom sawyer...

an older gent professor came into my office one day while i was slicing some fruit for lunch with my purple mini socom. he was clearly taken aback at first...so i wiped off the blade, closed it, and handed it to him, saying, "it's my pocket knife--what kind do you carry?" he paused, smiled broadly, and
whipped out something so old and well-loved that i couldn't tell what kind it was. we admired each other's "pocket knives" at length. . .he was quite fascinated with the "new fangled" handle and black blade, seeing them as high tech rather than threatening.

when he left, he said with a wink, "i had no idea you were such a good boy scout!" now he calls me "that high tech tomboy"--he's such an elder gent that it's praise, so i don't mind, even tho' i'm a bit old to be called a boy
wink.gif


i sent him some knife websites...chai, the forum, others i thought might interest him...

smile.gif
we'll see...

let's hear it for saving the world with a tool that fits in our pockets!

silverwing
 
Like Chefget, I find that "pocket knife" is the best descriptive phrase to use around sheeple -- it sounds friendlier than "folder."

At least for me, the term pocket knife evokes memories of my childhood, when boys were allowed to carry pocket knives and adults didn't freak out because we were carrying "weapons." Guess it's a different world now (heavy sigh).

Dave

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Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of More Knives



[This message has been edited by dsvirsky (edited 07 December 1999).]
 
The problem I have with "pocket knife" is that it means nothing.

10 people walk into my store looking for a pocket knife, 9 of them mean something completely different, and every one of them is rude because I don't know exactly what they mean and pull it out of the case for them.

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Marion David Poff aka Eye mdpoff@hotmail.com
Coeur D'Alene, ID
http://www.geocities.com/mdpoff

An interesting business oppurtunity... http://www.geocities.com/selouss

"We will either find a way, or make one." Hannibal, 210 B.C.
 
Great comment, Gort! Best post I've seen in a while!

Ditto also the sentiments that "pocket knife" works best when speaking w/"Normal People". W/the "in-crowd" (us!), I prefer folder (since, technically, I carry it in a belt pouch, not pocket, yadda yadda, etc etc.)

On a semi-related note: I once asked the "outdoor expert" at Sport Chalet (an upscale chain retailer in CA for the espresso crowd) here in Irvine where he carried his fixed blade knives. He replied, "switchblade knives?" No, FIXED blade, I repeated. "Switchblade?" he asked again, puzzled. He had never heard the term before. Needless to say, Sport Chalet (this one, at least) does not carry those exotic fixed blades...

Glen
 
A pocket knife is a knife that is normally carried in the pocket. Hence, for me, a Buck 110 or Gerber FSII is not a pocket knife. I don't think I'm mutilating the language if I call my Endura, AFCK, Military, etc. "pocket knives", which I sometimes do if I want to take advantage of that term's non-threatening connotations. When I hear the term "pocket knife" used by others, I tend to think of Scout knives, SAK's, traditional stockman patterns, Barlows, and that sort of thing.

David Rock

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AKTI Member # A000846
Stop when you get to bone.
 
Well, I don't think I have ever referred to anything that I carry as a "tactical knife" or "tactical folder" to any of my friends or my family. Neither do I call them "clip-knives", "clip-its", "slip-joints" or just plain "folder." I have always carried two types of knives, a "pocket knife" and a "knife." I put a pocket knife inside my pocket, and a knife anywhere else.
The only place that I refer "tactical folder", "folder", or "fixed blade" is here on the forums, because people here can differentiate between the various subtleties of the terms.

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St. Mary's County, Republik of Marilundt
 
The previous posts were right on as far as I'm concerned. Actually, I think that you have to be aware of what crowd you are in or next to as to how you describe your "pocket knife". Like anything else once you know what the rules are you're more likely to avoid the pitfalls.
 
I'll refer to any knife I have on my all the way up to mini-AFCK size as "my little pocketknife." That kind of shows I'm not attaching too much significance to it, and therefore sound less threatening.

However, I find the term "pen knife" is a bit trickier. Unfortunately, I've met a few people, when they saw my little pocketknife (SAK, or a little Buck), and I called it a little pen knife, they were taken aback. They'd never heard the term, and had pictures in their minds of an ink pen with a dagger blade hidden inside. I thought to myself, this is ridiculous, they don't even know what a pen knife is.

Pocket knife seems to be a term almost everybody but a complete idiot should be able to comprehend.
Jim
 
Uncle Bill - until I saw your post I wasn't aware that there ever was a problem referring to knives as "pocket knives." I've been carrying "pocket knives" for over 30 years, most very usable baby Old Timers (a gift from one of my Grandpa's) or a SAK Classic (a gift from my Mom). I sometimes augment them with various others (mini-AFCK, Umfaan, etc.) but they are always referred to as my pocket knives.

I hate the phrase "tactical" cause for almost all of us they really aren't, no matter how much we'd like to think we have some James Bond in us. Even as a LEO I never really thought of my knives as "tactical." Just tools, plain and simple, that I never, ever leave home without.

Kind of a rambling response to a great question. Just my $0.02

AJ
 
I am sooo confused. All these funny words. Tell me if I've got it right. Gerber makes that stuff you feed babys (I still like it for dessert when there isn't any jello). I used to live next door to the Barlows, so I know who they are. A traditional stockman is one of those stuffed shirts up on Wallstreet. And if your knife is broken and the store exchanges it for a new one, then it's called a switchblade. But if they repair the knife it's called a fixed blade. And I know that you use a pen knife to cut open the pens they keep the sheeple in, so a pocketknife must be used to cut pockets in clothes. The guy who lives in the room next to mine is a folder, because he always gives up when we play poker here in the institution. I guess a tactical folder is the guy who turns and runs way when a fight breaks out. And I know what a Buck is, I see them in the woods sometimes from the exercise yard. A SAK is what I used to bring my groceries home before they put me away here in the home (Hey, I know it's really not my home, but that's what those guys with the white coats always call it).

But what is a dagger?


A complete idiot

(Uncle Bill, PLEASE bring me a knife next time you come visit so I can use it to cut my way out of these restraints, and slip outta this joint before Dr. Silverwing comes back and gives me that medication to make me so calm.)

[This message has been edited by Paracelsus (edited 07 December 1999).]
 
I use the term pocket knife for any knife I plan on carrying in my pocket.I have been known to say folder or lock back or lner lock here in the forums but that is just to specify what type of pocket knife I am talking about.
Hey Dr Lathe, I carry different knives for when someone wants to borrow them too.I usually have a 4" trapper a Delica and a pair of gerber pliars. I used to just carry the pliars and the delica but it scared the hell out of me when I handed someone my delica and they had no idea how to close the blade. The first thing they did is wrap a hand around the blade and push.And the pliars are way to complicated for some reason so I have the trapper to lend people.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
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