# What item have you carried on your person for the longest time?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 10, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848 "2006-03-10T16:53:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/41 "2006-03-11T16:24:35Z")
My Army P38. It’s a can opener and so much more. It’s gotten a little rounded over the years, but it still works in a pinch.
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### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/42 "2006-03-11T16:41:48Z")
I’ve carried my swiss army knife on me whenever I could (e.g., not while flying or in elementary school) since I got it in…1992, I think. It had been my grandfathers.
Truly continuously (eg, always in my purse/bookbag/wallet) would have to be the little rubber carp I have carried around on me for six years, followed closely by the little teeny Eeyore towel (the little ones that come all shrinkwrapped, and you put them in water to restore them to full size) that I’ve had for five years.
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### Author:  [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/43 "2006-03-11T17:41:29Z")
It used to me my social security card, I had that since sometime in high school up until sometime in college, then I realized what a BAD IDEA having that in your wallet is, and took it out. I would say it was in there for 6-8 years.
Currently, it’s a 1000 Italian Lire note that I got in Spring of 2000, so almost six years now (though it’s in its third wallet. The first wallet it was in was the one I had when I went to Italy, then _while_ in Italy I got a new wallet and it was transferred into that one, and in X-Mas of '03 I got another wallet.)
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### Author:  [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/44 "2006-03-12T04:38:19Z")
My original Social Security card from about 1969. The old ones were two-part cards that you separated along perforations. The other half is still in my “important papers” file with my original birth certificate.
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### Author:  [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/45 "2006-03-12T04:48:57Z")
My favorite necklace
It’s silver and has four small tags on it which say, on the fronts, “sing,” “dance,” “live,” and “love” and on the backs (respectively) “as though no one can hear you” “as though no one is watching” “as though heaven is on earth” and “as though you’ve never been hurt”
I’ve worn it since I got it (four years ago, perhaps?) and only take it off during dance classes, showers, or any time I’m onstage.
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### Author:  [@Barely\_Adequate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barely_Adequate)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/46 "2006-03-12T05:03:34Z")
A “Certificate of Birth Registration” which is a wallet-size card issued by someone at the Detroit Dept. of Health with the initials “CR” on Dec 7, 1954. I was 15 years old at the time, so it was my only “official” ID card that indicated my age. My Social Security card is the original one issued in 1959.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/47 "2006-03-12T06:43:45Z")
Like a lot of people, it’s my key-ring, which I’ve had for a little over twenty-five years.
It was one of the items in my Christmas stocking in 1980 (the first year we lived in Vancouver.) Then, it was a shiny new VW-branded leather keytag – one of those common types with a stainless steel disc and a leather back. After six or seven years, the plastic that covered the decal peeled off. Not long after that, the decal itself peeled off, leaving a plain steel disc. As the twentieth century neared its end, the loop that held the steel part on gave way to entropic forces, and the stitching that held the tag together slowly came undone, leaving the tag flapping in two parts.
For the past three or four years, it’s down to just the ring.
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### Author:  [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/48 "2006-03-12T07:09:13Z")
> [@BMalion](#):
>
> The steel pins I have in my leg since 1984.
Heck, I’ve got you beat by 21 years. 😉
I’ve had my Social Security card since 1977. I have a small brass skeleton key on my keyring that I got about 20 years ago at a swap meet.
The thing that has the most meaning for me, though, is a prayer wheel pendant that I got about 8 years ago. When I’m home, it hangs near my front door. I put it on every time I go out. I plan to be buried or cremated with it.
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### Author:  [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/49 "2006-03-12T07:10:33Z")
Oh, and happy anniversary to you and your wife,\*\* AskNott!\*\*
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### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/50 "2006-03-12T08:36:40Z")
Chapstick.
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### Author:  [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/51 "2006-03-12T09:42:57Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> [Soap box] People, people, people. Get those Social Security cards out of your wallet! Someone steals your wallet (like happened to me back in November) and a thief has everything they need to steal your identity. [/Soap box]
My thoughts exactly!!!
I first went to Switzerland in 1981 and bought a Swiss Army Knife and had my name engraved. I have had it in my pocket ever since and it has come in handy about twice a week on average. I once went to a big, exclusive party for big time celebrities in Beverly Hills…I happened to hear the caterer having a major fit in the background. They had thirty cases of wine, and nobody thought to bring a corkscrew! I saved the day.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/52 "2006-03-12T10:00:25Z")
Probably my earrings; had those for going on eight years now.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/53 "2006-03-12T14:13:13Z")
I, too, carry my social security card since 1959.
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### Author:  [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/54 "2006-03-12T20:41:22Z")
I’m surprised by how many people who have something they keep with them _at all times_. I don’t have the discipline! The closest I have is my 12 year old hairbrush (almost two thirds of my life). It fascinates me, because I didn’t set out to keep it… it’s just outlasted everything around it. I don’t carry it on my person, but it’s always at the place where I sleep.
My sandals are my ‘lucky’ possession though. They’ve walked on all continents (except Antartica, and I’m working on that), been submerged countless times and set alight. I’ve had them for almost five years, and even my friends are encouraging me to get rid of them. Never!
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### Author:  [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/55 "2006-03-13T04:41:46Z")
Keyring -bought in 1972 or '73 in Piketon, Ohio
SS card - probably got it about 1961/62
wedding ring - 38 years in July
REI membership card - 25 years or so
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### Author:  [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/56 "2006-03-13T05:01:56Z")
When I was 17 and moved out of my family house to go to university, my mother gave me a two-dollar bill. It’s been inside my wallet since 1990. Just last month, I went to China and got back a crisp five-jiao bill. I stuck it inside my wallet next to my two-dollar bill.
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### Author:  [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/57 "2006-03-13T20:54:56Z")
My first library card from when I was probably around five or six, which makes for approximately 21-22 years worth of transference from wallet to wallet. It’s got my childhood address on it, and holds lots of memories of me descending on the library like Ye Olde Thirteenth Plague at a frighteningly early age. I stopped carrying it a few months ago in a bid to thin out my wallet… I should probably put it back in for sentimental reasons.
A cheapie ring that I got in middle school and kept wearing on and off – I’ve been in an on mood for the past few years. It’s probably aluminium or tin, all I know is it’s really light, never tarnishes, and doesn’t make me break out in a rash. And it’s the only ring I’ve found that doesn’t annoy the heck out of me after a few months.
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### Author:  [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/58 "2006-03-13T21:01:11Z")
I have almost nothing that I owned prior to about 1980 (if you discount the record collection). The closest thing I have to report is my Canadian birth certificate and Social Insurance card. These are not the originals, they were replaced after having been stolen several times, so they date from the late '80s. They are on my person at all times, except when I’m not wearing pants.
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### Author:  [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/59 "2006-03-13T21:02:06Z")
My Jewel card, which for you non Chicago area folk is a local grocery chain. They require you to present around a credit card looking dealy to get the best deals on stuff in the store. I’ve had it since I was 17, so that’s 11 years. The best part of it is that it’s not even really mine. It was my girlfriends at the time, and she lent it to me to run to the store while we were cooking something once.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/60 "2006-03-13T21:13:01Z")
The ‘rents’ front door key (used to be mine, too): 16 years this June.
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