Re: pen knife
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy Seigel" <jseigel@panix.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca>
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 7:41 PM
Subject: pen knife
Contrary to the actual words, a pen knife is like a Swiss
Army Knife but with only 2 blades -- a big one at one end
and a little one at the other end, that fold into the
handle. ...Boys & men would carry them in their pockets in
case they had to sharpen a pencil or play a quick game of
mumblety peg, scrape some chalk off a pastel stick, or
other chore around the house. In other words, a "pocket
knife" (Is that term still in use? I feel like Methuselah
!)
J.
On Mon, 7 Jan 2008, Dave S wrote:
It is sort of fun to read old articles. For example, to
make the powder for
the process, the articles say you can scrap pastel with
"pen kr ife." I
checked the article. It looks like it does say that, but
I think it probably
means "pen knife." The author probably wrote the article
by hand, and
perhaps the typsettor didn't understand the writing. But
what is a "pen
knife?" I am guessing it must be something like what we
call X-Acto knife
today if it is used for scrapping pastel to make powder.
But that is just my
interpretation. Reading old articles (or any article)
always involves some
interpretation.
I rather think the origin of the term comes from a small
knife used for sharpening pen nibs rather than to any
resemblance to a pen. I always associated the term with the
sort of knife Judy describes, i.e., a small folding knife.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com
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