# Free church-keys? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 14, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948 "2020-02-14T19:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/21 "2020-02-14T22:36:21Z")
six packs of canned beer used to come wrapped in cardboard: [Falstaff six pack](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/falstaff-beer-six-pack-12-oz-cans-pat-406140766) There was a church key stuck down into the middle of them. The particular six pack picture I linked to has pull tabs, but this was the best example I could find ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/22 "2020-02-14T23:29:19Z")
I frequently experience defective tabs or ring pulls that come off before accomplishing their intended purpose. The can puncturer/bottle opener remains in our primary kitchen junk drawer, rather than being relegated to the secondary junk drawer. It also has a crude but usable emergency corkscrew! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/23 "2020-02-15T03:06:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Oh, and **Cochrane** , some states don’t let grocery stores sell hard liquor, so a moneymaking proposition has been to set up a liquor store next door to a supermarket in those states (like Texas). Right. But that was not the point of my question to **Dinsdale** , though, as he asked if grocery stores sold beer, not the store next to it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/24 "2020-02-15T03:09:35Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Right. But that was not the point of my question to **Dinsdale** , though, as he asked if grocery stores sold beer, not the store next to it. Chicago, born in 60. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/25 "2020-02-15T03:40:45Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I was born in 60, so I wasn’t buying such things myself, but have a vague sense that churchkeys were just the kinda thing that “turned up” rather than being bought. And they never really wore out, so you tended to amass multiple ones. I’d imagine they were handed out at liquor stores and such as promotions. Born in ‘59, and yeah, they were always just sort of around. Nobody ever actually bought one, as far as I could tell. There were plenty around my home, and my grandparents’ house, many with beer logos stamped on them. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Thinking back, my mom bought the groceries and dad always made a separate trip to the liquor store. Did groceries not sell booze back then? Same here. Separate trip to the liquor store. And grocery stores here in New York still don’t sell liquor. Beer, sure, but no booze. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/26 "2020-02-15T04:14:21Z")
In those days everything was free. Every box of cereal contained something a kid could collect or play with. Omar Bread publised comics that their van drivers handed out. Trading cards came with things like cigarettes, until they figured kids would pay for the cards and throw the crappy gum in the street. Free maps at gas stations, free shue horns at shoe stores. My sister still eats with the free silverware from Betty Crocker. When I cleared out my stuff a couple years ago, my church key said Chief Oshkosh on it. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/27 "2020-02-15T04:39:09Z")
I remember when every carton of beer cans came with a can opener, as mentioned above they never wore out so you didn’t need more but you never got around to throwing them out either so you would end up with heaps of them in the kitchen junk draw ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/28 "2020-02-15T07:05:32Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > … My sister still eats with the free silverware from Betty Crocker… All our wedding flatware is from Betty Crocker. I don’t think they do that program anymore. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > To the OP: are they [this kind](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/566051df-802e-4b23-aad1-7a95d562a20d_1.5099597f34b21ed52a02172357994757.jpeg?odnWidth=450&odnHeight=450&odnBg=ffffff) of church key (which look to be stamped out of a flat metal plate),… I have two of these, one with a magnet. But my fridge has panels on it, so they are both in the drawer. Growing up we used the pointy end for cans of Hershey’s syrup and sweetened condensed milk. My grandparents had a wall-mounted Coca-Cola bottle opener mounted in the kitchen. I think they had even got that as a free give away, especially since they never actually drank Coca-Cola. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/29 "2020-02-15T09:44:17Z")
Bottle caps were easy. Just put the edge of the cap against the square edge of a table, counter, auto-part, and strike down firmly on the cap with your fist. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/30 "2020-02-15T10:22:16Z")
Churchkeys are not obsolete. Some bottle beers still require it (not all beers are twist-off) and some cans, like tomato juice, need the puncture-type. Anyone remember the [P38?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener) One came with every Army C-Ration (MRE). GI’s would put one on their dogtag chain so they’d never be without. It was as important as your rifle, but not as efficient. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/31 "2020-02-15T16:35:38Z")
I still keep P-38s and P-51s around in the bug-out kits. I think there’s a FRED in one of them as well. A quick survey of the kitchen and drawers shows more [unitasker](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Loot-Crate-Exclusive-Predator-Bottle-Opener/223205890144?hash=item33f81b9860:g:4QEAAOSwhX5b0-94) bottle openers than anything else. We must have a half-dozen of that type, advertising Salvator or Bitburger or some SF franchise. Anybody remember [these](https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CARLING-BREWERIES-MONTREAL-BOTTLE-CAP-OPENER-THE-KEY-TO-A-GOOD-DRINK/303475364231?hash=item46a88a9187:g:GksAAOSwQpNeO6p4)? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/32 "2020-02-15T19:07:37Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > Church-keys are not something people my age tend to have. Or know what they are. My husband knows what they are (I insist on keeping one on my refrigerator door) but has been arguing with me for 23 years about the name. To him and his family, it’s a bottle opener. He never heard the name church-key until I told him I needed one. I first heard the term while watching “Bye Bye Birdie” on television when I was a kid. I still wonder what the guy who unlocks the church on Sunday morning uses. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/33 "2020-02-15T19:32:03Z")
I recall giveaway bottle and can openers in the 1970s. We used them to open large cans of fruit juice. You had to make two holes to get it to pour right. I remember getting a free bottle opener whenever you ordered a pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/34 "2020-02-15T19:42:42Z")
I have an old Coors one that I probably filched from one of my parents. I’ve had it for decades, still use it to open cans of evaporated milk. Occasionally for other things. Oh, and to remove beer caps, of course. Most of my beer preferences don’t run to twist caps. **RioRico** , I wish I’d thought of Claws of Steel. 😃 My parents and siblings are probably glad I didn’t, though. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/35 "2020-02-16T01:18:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > , or [this kind](https://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/q12cqi/picture115674963/alternates/FREE_1140/church%20key) (which seem to be cast)? (We have a few of both designs.) Until you posted that picture, the term “church key” seemed, to me, to be a quaint anomaly of American idiom. You could also buy can openers in any typical grocery store, and that’s what you would have to do – if you accidentally threw out the one you used in the kitchen, and if you didn’t go to the beach or to picnics, didn’t hang out at bottle shops or trade shows, and didn’t buy tourist souvenirs, ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/36 "2020-02-16T03:39:37Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [these](https://www.amazon.com/Keychain-Bottle-Opener-bartender-Versatile/dp/B07WVVRLSS/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=pop+the+top+bottle+opener&qid=1581711970&s=hi&sr=1-11) became the tool of choice for beer advertising. I have one of those in 12k gold. It was a gift from my grandmother to my grandfather. It is engraved _So you thought you had everything_ with both of their names on it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/37 "2020-02-16T03:45:29Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Until you posted that picture, the term “church key” seemed, to me, to be a quaint anomaly of American idiom. When I was in college (Madison, Wisconsin, 1980s), there was, in fact, a bar just off campus called “The Church Key.” It was built in a former church, and it even had a balcony (the former choir loft). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/38 "2020-02-16T09:21:11Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Churchkeys are not obsolete. Some bottle beers still require it (not all beers are twist-off) and some cans, like tomato juice, need the puncture-type. I’ve not seen a can needing puncturing for quite awhile but I’ve not bought Hollywood Ranch Market V8 lately. > [@](#): > > Anyone remember the [P38?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener) One came with every Army C-Ration (MRE). GI’s would put one on their dogtag chain so they’d never be without. It was as important as your rifle, but not as efficient. I whip out my keychain, actually up to four carabiners clipped together (but usually not all at once): one with home keys, one for the RV, one for the car, and one for a whistle, mini-flashlight, mini-Swiss Army Knife (for the toothpick and tweezers), Army dogtag - and a P38. Don’t leave home without it. (The corkscrew and tinwhistle are in my day bag.) In the back of my office desk I found five churchkeys I’d forgotten all about. Or maybe they’re breeding. There’s an old legend: wire coathangars, which always go missing, are the larval form of metal churchkeys, which appear from nowhere. Logical. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/39 "2020-02-16T13:27:46Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I still keep P-38s and P-51s around in the bug-out kits. I think there’s a FRED in one of them as well. > > A quick survey of the kitchen and drawers shows more [unitasker](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Loot-Crate-Exclusive-Predator-Bottle-Opener/223205890144?hash=item33f81b9860:g:4QEAAOSwhX5b0-94) bottle openers than anything else. We must have a half-dozen of that type, advertising Salvator or Bitburger or some SF franchise. > Anybody remember [these](https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CARLING-BREWERIES-MONTREAL-BOTTLE-CAP-OPENER-THE-KEY-TO-A-GOOD-DRINK/303475364231?hash=item46a88a9187:g:GksAAOSwQpNeO6p4)? I thought that is what OP was talking about. I wouldn’t call the opener with a puncture tool at one end a a bottle opener at the other a “church key”. It doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to an actual church key. While we are on the subject of opening beers, why do most American craft beers require an opener? Too expensive to use twist offs? ---
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948/40 "2020-02-16T14:39:55Z")
Now that I work in the food processing industry and have had classes on food safety it almost makes me ill thinking of the pointed end can opener that we used to open cans and how nasty/gunky it would get and never bothered cleaning it. Went and looked at mine in the kitchen utensil drawer…I am running it through the dishwasher the next load, yuck! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/free-church-keys/847948.md?page=3)