Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2004 15:36:08 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Re: Church Key needed at 5th Friday
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

>ronkean at juno.com 01/31/04 02:57AM
>>On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 21:20:07 -0500 "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net> writes:
>>
>
>> A "church key" is a *can opener* of the sort once used to punch
>> holes in
>> the tops of beer (and soda) cans.   They have largely disappeared
>> because
>> all beer (and soda) cans now come with pull-tabs.    Bottle openers
>> (which
>> pop off crimped-on bottle caps) are not "church keys," but with the
>> advent
>> of the twist-off cap, they too are disappearing.
>>
>> --Ted White
>>
>
>Apart from the question of precisely what type of can or bottle opener
>the term 'church key' properly denotes, I wonder how or why the
>expression came to be adopted.

Well . . . you could Google:  "Church key" origin word bottle .
Here's one answer: <http://www.word-detective.com/072999.html>

mjw

>
>Ron Kean
>