A quick Yahoo search confirmed my feeling that potchkied is Yiddish.
I’m 49 yrs old, grew up in the Northeast (mostly) and never heard the term churchkey before.
I have a several bottle/can openers in my utility drawer. Never knew it was called a churchkey
I learned the term from my mother, who grew up in South Carolina. I always figured it was a slam at the Baptists.
38 years old, grew up in San Antonio. In my family, it always meant the can opener with the triangular punch and was used primarily on large juice cans.
I remember feeling like a complete genius as a kid when I realized that if I punched two holes in the lid of the can, the juice would pour faster, because the second hole would allow air in to replace the juice.
A church key is one with a loop. I don’t know when I learned the term, but it isn’t one I’ve heard ‘in the wild’ as it were.
Been in California since 2nd grade, Ohio before that.
I first heard the term as a kid, maybe early to mid 1970’s, from my dad. The item in silenus’ link is what he was referring to.
Other than my dad, I don’t know if I’ve heard more than 2 or 3 people in my life use the term.
I’m familiar with the device picture on the Wikipedia page, but I know it as a bottle opener, rather than a church key. I’m 37, grew up in New Zealand.
32 years old, from Ohio, and not only do I know what a church key is, I have a few.
No, 42 and from Spain. I lived in the US 1994-8 and 2003, and in Scotland 2008-9.
52, from Mid Atlantic area by way of Scranton, Pa. I’ve known of church keys since I was a toddler. And I’ve heard the loop/no loop argument as a teenager.
My parental-units called the implement pictured in Silenus’ link a ‘church key’.
I grew up in the ATL in the middle of the 20th century.
I have always wondered about the origin of this term.
ETA: Aha! LINK
Chicken butt, right?
You mean your mom didn’t show you how to do that?
Huh. I’m over 40 and I thought it was a no-handled version of a rotary can opener, with or without a bottle opening attachment. Live and learn. Grew up in SoCal.
Old Staff Report:
What’s the origin of “churchkey,” meaning a can or bottle opener?
We had a collection of canned ham keys when I was a little kid. We used them as corn on the cob holders.
I knew of the church key term then ('60s, central IN), but everyone just called them can openers or bottle openers.
I remember when pop cans had no pull tabs.
I have several old church keys. I still use them.
IBC Root beer doesn’t have a twist off cap. Nor does the better brands of beer.
Sorry, but were you raised by wolves? I thought that was standard operating procedure.
On the other hand, my negligent parents never taught me the term church key, so we always had to ask, “The flat pointy can-opener or the big twisty can-opener?” All those wasted syllables.
I agree that the term church key seems more appropriate for the variety with a loop at one end. Maybe that’s where it started and then spread to include those without a loop.
Over 50, yep, we called it a church key (like the one in Silenus’ and Chef Guy’s posts)… interestingly, my dad was from Ohio, mom from Calif. My daughter learned the term from all of us using it.
I imagine, originally, it was applied to bottle openers and eventually the openers for bottles and cans. No surprise, really.
I’m 28 and I’ve always known what a church key was. My grandfather owned a bar when I was little and I thought it was the best place to hang around. I picked up plenty of useful information from him and his patrons.
I know because of the movie Bye Bye Birdie.