Church key anecdote

[Peter A. McGraw]

A few years ago there was a discussion in this cyberspace of "church key"
as slang for a bottle opener.  I had never heard the word until I went to
grad school in Wisconsin, where I heard it all the time.  Nonetheless the
consensus on ads-l seemed to be that it wasn't a regional expression--a
judgment that seems to be confirmed by its absence from DARE.

Well, the other night I was at a poker game (which we call "choir practice"
in the messages we exchange via the college e-mail system in the process of
organizing a game).  At some point I figured it was time for a beer, and
finding nothing in the host's kitchen to open it with (and possibly
influenced subconsciously by the fact that this was, after all, choir
practice), I asked him if he had a church key.  My question met with blank
stares all around--nobody had the slightest idea what I was talking about.
So this scientific sampling of seven guys demonstrated 100% agreement that
the expression was unknown in the Northwest.  FWIW, all but one of the
seven are in their 30s, and I think most of them grew up somewhere in the
NW.  One went to college in Michigan, and I think all the others went to
Linfield.

Peter Mc.

*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************