Church key anecdote

[Wilson Gray]

I was just going to ask that: wadn't it more than one kind of a church
key? In order to be defined as a church key, one end of the tool had to
have a doodad that punched a triangular hole into the end of a beer
can. The other end of the tool could be "blank," so to speak, or it
could have one of at least three kinds of crown-cap openers. There was
a kind of roughly circular or triangular shape that lifted off the cap
without obviously damaging it, leaving the impression that the cap
could be re-cycled. (It couldn't be.) Then there was a kind of hook-ish
shape that tended to slip off the crown cap, making it a pain to use,
and which definitely bent the crown cap out of shape. Then there was a
third shape that's even harder to describe, but I'm sure that the more
mature of us know what I mean. This also bent the cap out of shape.

-Wilson

(Just heard a trash-TV guest say about her ex, "He comes across as all
swah-VAY and everything.")

On Feb 25, 2005, at 12:44 PM, Mullins, Bill wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Church key anecdote
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> Current ebay lot # 6157169131
> has 15 different church keys, of various sizes and shapes.
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> ViewItem&category=566&item=61571691
> 31&rd=1
>