# Americans and Door Knobs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959 "2005-10-19T19:03:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/61 "2005-10-20T14:02:20Z")
I have my own reason for not liking door handles very much. When I was six years old and living in Germany (where door handles seemed to be the rule), I turned my head at exactly the wrong moment while running down a corridor and rammed a door handle right into my eye socket. Not fun. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/62 "2005-10-20T14:07:05Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > Doorknobs are a lot more attractive… Wow, you’re stating this as a factual answer? Perhaps there’s a difference in the aesthetic appreciation in America, but I see a hulking great doorknob as a damn sight uglier than a slender curved handle. > [@John F](#): > > It’s like picking up a package, when you pick it up you are active with it and when you set it down you are done with it and can walk away. Up = active on, Down =done=off. When I push a button in, or down, I expect it to turn on. When I push a light switch down, I expect it to turn wrong. That’s the natural order of things, it’s you who’s got his wrongness-detector wired back-to-front 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/63 "2005-10-20T14:09:01Z")
Up is ON. The whole thing about which way is ON goes out the window in the case of two switches on a circuit. And if there is more than one way out of a room you simply must have multiple switches. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/64 "2005-10-20T14:10:10Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > No, _down_ means on!! Yes it does! We’re right, you’re wrong, nurr nurrr I’m not listening… 😉 Now that’s just silly. Up is positive, down is negative. Up is active, down is passive. Up is wakeful, down is at rest. Up is heaven, down is hell. It therefore follows that up is on and down is off. Silly British people. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/65 "2005-10-20T14:32:14Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > Up is positive, down is negative. Up is active, down is passive. Up is wakeful, down is at rest. Up is heaven, down is hell. I really must put my foot down, and lay down the law… ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/66 "2005-10-20T14:38:51Z")
Stop it with the negative waves, man. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/67 "2005-10-20T14:55:46Z")
Is there a way out of this difficult conundrum? I say that handles vs knobs is a personal decision–one of our most treasured customs. To have doorknobs is to be an American–clean living, fresh faced and wholesome. To have door handles is to be “continental”, sophisticated and glamorous–they’re just not apple pie and mom, dammit! I live in a house with old glass knobs (very nice), newer brass knobs and \ handles on our patio door and French doors. Call me a free spirit, but I like to dabble in pushing envelopes and racy behavior. Never caught a thing on either handle, but I tend to sashay out onto the veranda with grace and style… Now for lightswitches: the on=up/down=off issue. Now you are entering into fightin’ territory! God made light switches to go up when on, dagnabit! To say otherwise is to slander the American way of life! Look at it this way: when you are “turned on” a certain body part of yours, **Gorilla Man** elevates into an upward position, does it not? (and if it doesn’t, I don’t want to know about it!) Hence and forthwith, on=up. I rest my case. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/68 "2005-10-20T14:57:17Z")
Left side, right side, I dont’ care. I want to know why some doors in London have the knob in the middle, including this well known entrance. [http://www.painetworks.com/photos/fg/fg2091.JPG](http://www.painetworks.com/photos/fg/fg2091.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/69 "2005-10-20T15:18:52Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Look at it this way: when you are “turned on” a certain body part of yours, **Gorilla Man** elevates into an upward position, does it not? Sure - but then I want to get down to business 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/70 "2005-10-20T16:39:14Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Wow, you’re stating this as a factual answer? Perhaps there’s a difference in the aesthetic appreciation in America, but I see a hulking great doorknob as a damn sight uglier than a slender curved handle. [QUOTE] Yes, i’m stating a personal opinion as a fact, because you know, this is GQ and all. My people generally take statement of opinion _not_ as fact. Not sure what yours do. What doorknobs are you looking at? I rarely see “hulking great doorknobs”. Doorknobs blend in, handles stick out. It doesn’t matter if they’re “slender and curved”. Here’s something factual: I’ve gotten belt loops and pockets caught on door handles. Never on knobs, because knobs don’t stick out and act like a hook. Have you ever been jabbed in the hip by a door handle? I have, when trying to keep a door open with hands full of items. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/71 "2005-10-20T16:50:58Z")
> [@Doobieous](#): > > Doorknobs blend in, handles stick out. It doesn’t matter if they’re “slender and curved”. Again, this is your opinion. I see it the opposite way. > [@](#): > > Have you ever been jabbed in the hip by a door handle? I have, when trying to keep a door open with hands full of items. I’ve snagged clothes on handles, and I’ve bruised hips by bumping into doorknobs. I guess this proves…errr… > [@sciurophobic](#): > > Left side, right side, I dont’ care. I want to know why some doors in London have the knob in the middle, including this well known entrance. > > [http://www.painetworks.com/photos/fg/fg2091.JPG](http://www.painetworks.com/photos/fg/fg2091.JPG) Aha, these were/are purely decorative. Any self-respecting city gent wouldn’t ever need to open his front door himself, because there’d be a servant to do so from the inside. So no need for a functional mechanism on the exterior. And in fact 10 Downing Street can still only be opened from inside, although most doors of this type will nowadays have a discreet Yale lock, or some other secure system such as a keypad beside the door. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/72 "2005-10-20T17:24:24Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Sure - but then I want to get down to business 😉 And you do so by turning the lights down (pun!) or off. My work here is finished. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/73 "2005-10-20T17:42:53Z")
When I was stationed in Germany we talked longingly about returning to the “land of the round doorknobs”. We didn’t have anything against doorhandles, it’s just one of those silly things you miss while you are away from home. Missing decent plumbing on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Is\_Schwa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8baadc/32.png) [@What\_Is\_Schwa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Is_Schwa)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/74 "2005-10-20T18:23:47Z")
> [@Vetch](#): > > You can’t swap my door handles round, they’d be upside down. When fitted correctly the handles’ end is biased downwards. Think of it this way… if you take THE WHOLE DOOR off its hinge, you can now put the door whichever way you please. Lets say you are outside your house, looking at your door, and the handle is on the right. Walk inside, close the door, and turn around, and you are in for a suprise (in case you aren’t near a door, the handle will now be on the left). If it pisses you off that you have to use your right hand when you are outisde, take it off the hinges, put the hinges on the opposite side, and put the door back up. Why is this so hard?? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/75 "2005-10-20T18:25:05Z")
> [@What Is Schwa](#): > > If it pisses you off that you have to use your right hand when you are outisde, take it off the hinges, put the hinges on the opposite side, and put the door back up. > > Why is this so hard?? You’ll then get pissed off that the light switch is behind the opened door 😛 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Is\_Schwa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8baadc/32.png) [@What\_Is\_Schwa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Is_Schwa)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/76 "2005-10-20T18:39:58Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > You’ll then get pissed off that the light switch is behind the opened door 😛 Haha, i was trying to avoid the lightswitch derailment. Oh well… man that pisses me off!! Or, once i lived in an apartment that had a door on the top of a stairway that opened out towards the stairs. Coming up with a bag of groceries and trying to open the door without falling back and killing one’s self was quite a jig. ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/77 "2005-10-20T21:46:04Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Some people forget how big Europe is 😛 (UK+France+Germany = two-thirds of the US) You are not thinking historicaly. It is only recently that a German door handle maker could sell its product to the entire EU. For much of the last 100 years, it would only sell its product in Germany. That gave it a market about as big as Texas. By contrast, even 100 years ago Sears was shipping its doorknobs to the entire US. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/78 "2005-10-20T21:53:36Z")
> [@Can Handle the Truth](#): > > You are not thinking historicaly. It is only recently that a German door handle maker could sell its product to the entire EU. For much of the last 100 years, it would only sell its product in Germany. That gave it a market about as big as Texas. By contrast, even 100 years ago Sears was shipping its doorknobs to the entire US. Well, if we’re talking historically, then in 1910 the population of Germany alone equalled two-thirds that of the US 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/79 "2005-10-20T23:35:52Z")
Because door knobs were originally that: knobs. The closing and locking devises came afterward and were separate from the lock itself. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/80 "2005-10-20T23:55:21Z")
I miss those old-fashioned, faceted glass doorknobs. If I ever have a house of my own… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959.md?page=5)