church key

File:Ancient warded lock key transparent.png

File:Clé ouvre-bouteille.JPG

The term in the beverage-opening sense is apparently not an old one; Merriam-Webster finds written attestation only since the 1950s.{{Citation |title=church key |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/church%20key |work=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |postscript=.}} Several etymological themes exist. The main one is that the ends of some bottle openers resemble the heads of large keys such as have traditionally been used to lock and unlock church doors.{{Citation |title=church key |url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=church+key |work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |edition=5th |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |postscript=.}}

A church key initially referred to a simple hand-operated device for prying the cap off a glass bottle. Called a "crown cork" and later a “bottle cap”, this kind of closure was invented in 1892. While there is no evidence that the opener was called a church key at that time,{{Citation |title=Churchkey |url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-chu2.htm |work=Worldwide Words}} the shape and design of some of these openers did resemble a large simple key.{{Citation |title=Church key |date=January 1980 |url=http://www.just-for-openers.org/Church-Key.html |work=JFO Newsletter}}

In 1935, beer cans with flat tops were marketed, and a device to puncture the lids was needed. The same term, church key, came to be used for this new invention: made from a single piece of pressed metal, with a pointed end used for piercing cans—devised by D. F. Sampson{{Citation |title=Newsletter |url=http://www.bartenderschoolofsantarosa.com/usbgnewsletter/usbg_news_date_p8.shtml |work=United States Bartenders Guild |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511222412/http://www.bartenderschoolofsantarosa.com/usbgnewsletter/usbg_news_date_p8.shtml |archive-date=May 11, 2006}}{{Citation |title=Short History of the Beer Can (part 2) |url=http://www.streeter.org/community/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=468 |work=Streeter's Electronics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720171523/http://www.streeter.org/community/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=468 |archive-date=2011-07-20}} and licensed by the American Can Company, which depicted operating instructions on the cans,{{Citation |title=Flat Top Beer Cans |url=http://www.ebeercans.com/flat-top-beer-cans.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704141656/http://www.ebeercans.com/flat-top-beer-cans.php |archive-date=July 4, 2008}} and typically gave away free "quick and easy" openers with cases of their canned beer.[http://rustycans.com/HISTORY/OIs.html Opening Instruction Cans]

File:- Coca-Cola - Old bottle opener -.jpg|Bottle opener

File:1940 - Daeufer Beer Bottle Opener - Allentown PA.jpg|Bottle opener with advertising text - sometimes given away by shops and beverage companies as promotions

File:Flaschenoeffner.jpg|Bottle opener with wooden handle

File:Combination can bottle opener.jpg|Combination can (left end) and bottle (right end) opener, very common variety for decade

File:Opening a Beer Can 1963.jpg|Opening a beer can with a "church key", 1963

• Churchkey Can Company

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{{Wiktionary|church key}}

• [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-chu2.htm World Wide Words]
• [http://www.just-for-openers.org/Church-Key.html Illustrative historic photos]

Category:Food preparation utensils

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