# You'd think everyone would know about **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2025, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800 "2025-08-07T06:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/201 "2025-08-10T15:34:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Off top of my head I sure don’t have any idea which date in which month Thanks to the song by OMD I know what time it happened at least. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/d5XJ2GiR6Bo/maxresdefault.jpg "Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XJ2GiR6Bo) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/202 "2025-08-10T16:31:13Z")
Don’t movers have packing knives? Isn’t that what they were invented for? But, yeah. I have a knife. It’s a hand-me-down from someone around here. Ugly yellow handle. 2 blade Uncle Henry. Tip on the big blade is long gone. I understand they have a lifetime warranty. I’ve been gonna send it in for years. Haven’t got around to it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/203 "2025-08-10T16:50:50Z")
These guys didn’t. Was weird to me. I would cherish that knife Beck. Keep it. It stores a lot of stories, more than you have. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/204 "2025-08-10T17:04:03Z")
Oh, I do. It’s always with me. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/205 "2025-08-10T17:26:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The only reason I know about it is because I saw the movie one night on late night tv. I saw thst Henry Fonda was in it and watched it because I like Fonda. Note that the movie covers only the first 3/4 of the book. In the book, the story goes on, and gets even more heartbreaking, if you can believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/206 "2025-08-10T17:39:35Z")
Yes. The book is much better. Steinbeck does go on and on, some. I read it first in highschool. It was a tough read with my limited teenaged patience. Read it again as an adult. It was much easier to go with. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/207 "2025-08-10T19:41:24Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I’ve been carrying a pocket knife since I was ~10yo. Not a day goes by that I don’t use it. I started carrying one as a kid. Back when schools didn’t worry about such things. I gave it up when I started airlining at age ~30 because it was too easy to accidentally bring it to work and lose it to TSA and their predecessors. What I found was I didn’t miss it. It’s literally been decades since I thought to myself “Gee, a pocket knife would be useful right now.” I know that you are in the middle of moving which entails a lot of cutting & such. But during your normal daily life, what needs a knife applied to it? I’m not disputing your experience, just curious how it’s so different from my own. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/208 "2025-08-10T19:59:05Z")
Opening a pkg or envelope. Getting a sticker or stringer out. Cutting a tangled up hair tie out of little girls hair. Cutting open dog or cat food(I know there’s a string, I save those strings. I have a huge ball of them. You never know when a string is needed) Claw packaging. Cutting a knotted up shoestring. Getting a stick-on off a surface. Cutting a coupon. Cutting the knotted rain sleeve off my paper. Removing a tick. On and on and on. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/209 "2025-08-10T20:18:07Z")
In mine, for one tool or another on my Swiss Army: Opening packages (quite frequently.) The strings often don’t work, the tear strips often don’t tear, and a lot of packages don’t have either. Cutting open some types of packages to get the rest of the contents out. Knocking down boxes. Trimming my nails. Cutting twine, used for various purposes around the farm and the house. Removing splinters. Cutting something out of a paper. Cutting some part of a plant open to check development of fruit, remove squash borers, etc., etc. Impromptu harvest of something I’m going to eat myself (market harvest gets a clean knife that hasn’t been riding around in my pocket.) Cutting through an unexpectedly tough weed when I went out to pull weeds and forgot to put a field tool in my pockets for the purpose; or hadn’t gone out planning to cut or pull weeds but noticed something needing cutting. Tightening or loosening a screw. Prying something loose that’s stuck. Poking a hole in something that needs one. I could also go on. I feel unequipped when separated from my pocket knife. I use it multiple times on an average day. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/210 "2025-08-10T20:19:38Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > As everyone knows, a peck is 1/4 of a bushel. You can do the math. [![](https://featureassets.gocomics.com/assets/ea1ecb30482a012e126700163e41dd5b?optimizer=image&width=1400&quality=85) ](https://featureassets.gocomics.com/assets/ea1ecb30482a012e126700163e41dd5b?optimizer=image&width=1400&quality=85) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/211 "2025-08-10T20:41:20Z")
Heh..we have the same thinking @thorny_locust ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/212 "2025-08-10T20:48:16Z")
Heh, what others have said. Today I used it to squirl out a big mailing folder off of the top of the tallest cabinet in the house. I’m a tall dude but the extra 3” it gave me did the trick. I could have got a ladder, but, no need. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/213 "2025-08-10T20:51:08Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I could also go on. I feel unequipped when separated from my pocket knife. I use it multiple times on an average day. Yup. One of the reasons that I don’t like traveling with carryon is that I don’t have my knife. And that has fouled me a number of times once we get to our destination. It’s an essential tool. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/214 "2025-08-11T11:32:04Z")
You never know when you’re going to need to shiv somebody in line at Hertz ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/215 "2025-08-11T14:00:35Z")
That wasn’t actually on either my list or Beck’s; though both lists had things you might want to do while on line at Hertz. And if that’s what I wanted to do, I’d get a different type of knife entirely. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/216 "2025-08-11T15:33:20Z")
> [@abcdefghij](#): > > You never know when you’re going to need to shiv somebody in line at Hertz I don’t remember what OJ (allegedly) used, though. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/217 "2025-08-11T19:37:54Z")
I’m the treasurer for my son’s marching band so I receive signed checks from 100 different parents, mostly late Gen X or Millennials. I’d say about 2/3rds have a recognizable signature. Most of the other 1/3rd have been taught to just make a series of 4 or 5 identical loops in a line. None that are just an “X” (witnessed or not) though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/218 "2025-08-11T19:58:34Z")
Interesting. I have a conventional sig dating from about college that I can reproduce fairly well. The first letters of my names are obvious at a glance and the rest is mere squiggle ending in a flourish. I use this on real documents and on paper checks. I sign all charge slips or anything on a screen with an X. Occasionally somebody notices. I’ve never had an X fail me. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/219 "2025-08-11T20:04:36Z")
Considering that the majority of documents that required my signature greatly favored the other party over myself, or were legitimizing things I really had no choice but agree to, I’ve simplified it to its minimum ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800/220 "2025-08-11T21:10:37Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > ’d say about 2/3rds have a recognizable signature. My signature was legible fifty years ago or so. It’s gotten worse and worse over the years; and for some years now I’ve been telling people “If you can read it, it isn’t me.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youd-think-everyone-would-know-about/1021800.md?page=12)