Wednesday, June 29, 2005
The Butter Knife
Was it just in my dysfunctional family or did everyone's family use a butter knife as a tool? I can remember how vital the butter knife was in keeping our house together, literally. Keep in mind, we had about a dozen tool boxes in our shed FILLED with tools, yet the butter knife was the tool of choice. My Mom would put everything together with a butter knife. I am talking swing sets, barbeque grills, furniture, bicycles and all kinds of toys. She would never really read the instructions, she'd just have the cigarette in her mouth burning down to the filter with a 6" ash hanging off of it, parts to what she was building spread out all over the ground, and she'd yell, "GET ME A BUTTER KNIFE!!!!!!" She'd sit on the ground all frustrated with that cigarette hanging out of her mouth cursing until she put it together with that handy dandy butter knife. It didn't matter if it was a regular or phillips screw, the butter knife was used. Did anyone else experience the legend of the butter knife?
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13 comments:
What great memories that brings back! My dad was the same way...putting together my bike, a stereo,fixing the car...LOL Even though he had every other tool known to man.
It wasn't I need a standard screwdriver...it was "Diane can you grab me that old butter knife?"
Priceless...
Now even this story sounds familiar....
Absolutely! And those family members most handy with the butter knife were the same ones who used their thumb to push food onto their fork. Go figure.
I am scarred by the butter knife. My mother didn't use it as a mechanical tool, but as a beauty tool. After every meal out, my mother would pick up the butter knife, clean it off (if used), angle it perfectly at her mouth, spread her lips just so and check to see if there was any food in her teeth. At the dinner table. Even in nice, expensive, elitist type restaurants. So embarassing! And she does it to this day.
Sugar V, i don't believe in waste!!!
Diane, I am glad I wasn't the only one traumatized by the butter knife....
Julie, so true!!!
Fuz- I thought I had it bad!!!!
That's funny! No, I can't recall the butter knife being used as a tool except for spreading butter. My family must be odd that way. ;)
Nah, we really only had one butter knife, and it was part of the "nice tableware" so it didn't come out to play too much. That and my dad was a carpenter, and he would likely have a cow if someone used something for other than its intended purpose.
Nope, though a hard-earned lesson from me - a Swiss Army knife is NOT what you should use in place of the butter knife-tool.
The butter knife in my house is like Duct tape - the "fix all." I was rolling as I read this, thinking about all the times I had heard this phrase.
Awesome!
Not in my house. My dad was in the army and we had hundreds of knives for every reason. I grew up thinking that you had to change knives at least five times a day.
So true CMac. I just used the butter knife to screw on the blades for the babies room ceiling fan!!
Now that I know, I'm going to use the knowledge well ;)
This reminds me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (not mine, the movie), where the father thought Windex fixed, cured and bettered anything and everything.
We only would use the butter knife to tighten the handles on the pots and to this day I will reach for a butter knife to tighten a pot handle. After all, it's all kitchen stuff. I'm sure it's been used for other things growing up but nothing specific stands out.
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