# Americans and Door Knobs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959>\
**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:** 5\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/81 "2005-10-21T01:45:14Z")

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It comes down to America being so uptight about sex. That has led to the popularity of seeking relief by humping doorknobs, which are much more ergonomically designed for that sort of thing than door levers.

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**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/82 "2005-10-21T02:40:02Z")

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> [@Dr. Rieux](#):
>
> I miss those old-fashioned, faceted glass doorknobs.  
> If I ever have a house of my own…

Check out your local flea markets. Around here, it seems like there’s always a guy with a big box full of those old glass doorknobs. Often, there are several such people.

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**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/83 "2005-10-21T11:10:15Z")

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> [@Exgineer](#):
>
> 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.

What about all the old systems that used negative logic? The telegraph, teletype, many old computers and logic circuits, RS-232, etc.

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**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/84 "2005-10-21T13:02:14Z")

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You’ll note that we don’t use any of that ass-backwards crap any more.

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-and-door-knobs/326959/85 "2005-10-21T16:23:55Z")

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“Uncle Sherman” light switches aren’t nearly as funny in the UK as they are in the US.

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