Clip Point History

Will Power said:
Slipjpoint has always struck me as a bizarre term anyway, sounds like a house of ill-repute or gambling-den:D ..)
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That's a good one :)



Interesting that Webster's has it's source for pocketknife in 1676, some 51 years earlier than the OED.
Does this suggest the term is American and it took 51 years to cross the Atlantic? My how the speed of life / culture has changed!


As far as slip joint, I interpret it a bit different than spring slipping against tang. To me it reflects the fact the knife blade is somewhat stiff when open, and with a bit of pressure, it will "slip" at the joint upon closing.
 
Pinemoon said:
As far as slip joint, I interpret it a bit different than spring slipping against tang. To me it reflects the fact the knife blade is somewhat stiff when open, and with a bit of pressure, it will "slip" at the joint upon closing.
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Yes.
 
Best use of "clip": " 'e was givin' me missus some sass, so I clipped 'im right round the ear 'ole."

All this dictionary discussion reminds me of the story about the little girl who was asked what she thought about the encyclopedia. "It's OK, I guess, but it told me much more than I wanted to know about aardvarks."

:D:p:cool:

Oh, and I checked my copy of the New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD). No mention of clip point, but there is an entry for "slip-joint pliers." "Pocketknife" is defined as a folding knife suitable for carrying in a pocket (paraphrasing).
 
Lots of odd logic here...the fact that we know that knives with "clip point" blades occurred long before the introduction of the clipper ship is irrelevant. Today we all accept that there are "gun dogs" but we also all know that dogs were around long before guns were invented. What things are named/called/referred to change with the times. One potential avenue of research beyond the English dictionary is to see how this blade form is referred to in other languages...do these other languages appear to indicate the bow of a clipper ship or the clipping off of the blade?

Now that all said, I would tend to follow most here and assume that the "clip" refers to the "clipping off" of a portion of the blade to form a sharper point.
 
Well Marke, your the Oligist! Kindly research the “Clippoint” Clippership reference in other languages for us!:)...
 
Well I just Googled various translations:

German: Clip-Klinge
French: Lame de clip
Italian: Lama a clip
Dutch: Clip mes

That seems like a dead end...and I can’t read the Chinese or Swahili translations...Need some of our fellow porch members with better language skills than me give it a go.
 
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