In the mid 90s, I was given a fairly hefty Swiss Army Knife as a leaving present from work. It’s got all the usual gubbins; screwdriver, toothpick, flamethrower etc. But there’s one thing which always baffled me.
On the back, in so far as these things have a ‘back’, is a fold-out hook. It’s fairly thick, and an odd shape, with a little nodule sticking out.
In the absence of either the Web or any explanation in the packaging, my friends and I speculated on and off for years about what it might be for. Is it some sort of specialist tool used in fishing or sailing? Are you supposed to carry things with it, turning the knife into a makeshift handle? Is it for winding something, making twine or suchlike?
Years later I remembered this quandary, and now having access to the Web I jumped onto Victorinox’s website and looked it up. Finally, I could put this puzzle to rest.
According to the official website, it’s a “general purpose hook.”
Bastards.