Last night I was walking with a friend and dropped a glove. He immediately took out a torchlight to help me find the glove. When the glove was found, I was rather impressed and asked if he also happened to carry a knife. Within seconds he pulled out a ~15cm solid swiss army knife.

I can't help but thought about what they said: if something could go wrong, it will, and we would be ready for it.

Did you think that bulge in his pocket was something else?

A true Swiss male always has a knife in his pocket. It's a practical tool and not something used for self-defense.

Welcome to Switzerland. The cheapest place to buy your Swiss knife is at the Victorinox factory story located in Ibach, Kanton Schwyz.

Yes, be well prepared next time for your, "ya call that a knife.......(take out huge knife)......now this is a knife", moment

Exactly...or if he by mistake opens the bottle opener instead of the blade and the other guy happens to carry a huge bottle opener with him. "ya call this a bottle opener....(take out huge bottle opener)...."now this is a bottle opener". I mean, the possibilities are plentyful...and I think MacGyver all showed us the benefits of having a Swiss army knife.

Having grown up in a simpler time...

I find it so odd that carrying a swiss-army type knife is forbidden is many places. As Olygirl says, a knife is a practical tool - a necessary one even.

OH still carries the knife his father rather ceremoniously gave him when Papa decided he was old enough to handle one responsibly - which was about 5 years old. How else would a boy take stuff apart to see how it worked, build a fort, cut down twigs to roast marshmallows, make ersatz hockey sticks and baseball bats out of fallen sticks? Standard equipment for a million childhood adventures.

I carry a swiss-army type knife as well. Admittedly the corkscrew is the tool I use most frequently...

I used to carry a leatherman


but since I train everyday, I try to minimize what I carry so I just leave it at my desk. I missed it 2 days ago when one of my bindings got loose, luckily using the ski lift pass was enough to reattach and make it down the slope.

Until ten years or so ago, I always carried one on planes! (and sometimes a Leatherman as well)

And, until they were outlawed 10-15 years ago, I used to often carry a switchblade when picnicking!

Tom

Cool guys have a knife

But really cool guys have this

I though everyone has a knife on them..

Clearly you are referring to the haircut

I had to carry a knife on me for 10 years when I worked as an agronomist.

I definitely needed it, and used it every day...... it is an extremely useful tool.


I also remember some chick being freaked out when I pulled my knife out of my pocket to get to something else.


I guess it's impossible for some people to change their perception based on their experiences.


Here in Switzerland, I don't have a problem with people carrying a knife at all.

Reminds me of the time my father gave me a sheath knife against my mothers' wishes of course, after he returned from a trip to Finland. 5 minutes later of course, blood and tears but no lasting damage

I do have a torch in my back pack normally but not a knife because I can't imagine I would need it. We do pack one for picnics though...

What you need to watch out for are guys that have a dodgy accent with drawn knives; chances are that they are neither MacGyver nor Swiss ....

I pulled out the knife that I have in my desk at work once and the only two people to give me the wide-eyed stare were two of my fellow Americans.

They were probably thinking: "Dude, how are you gonna defend your family against the commies with that? Ever thought of joining a gun club - pussy?"

Eh ! I guess the phrase " En Raechte bueb haet es maesser im sack " is not commen anymore in Switzerland

My partner was coming out of a tube station in West London when he was stopped by the police doing a random stop and search (I use the word 'random' here lightly...). They found his army knife, he showed them his Swiss ID card and the officer casually slipped the knife back into the pocket he found it in and told him to have a nice day!

I always carried my Kershaw tanto blade automatic knife and Surefire torch with me. Now that I'm in Zurich, I carry my Victorinox with my torch instead.
A torch is sometimes the best self defense tool. When something goes bad, it's usually at night. 200 lumens of retina searing light from my torch will blind an attacker for several minutes, giving you time to get away. The best self defense is being able to neutralize an attacker long enough to get away.

Will you please call it a "Flash Light" .I picture you with your pants on fire

Why, does it only flash?

Next you'll be asking us to not use the word rubber...