Wow. Misplaced nostalgia?
We must live in alternate universe's because I find the boy scout pattern knife a very handy item for everyday life. The can opener? Used for small to medium Phillips screws, and the hook is useful for lifting a pot off the campfire or even stove. I find the can opener hook uniquely usefull for getting the cotter pin that is the trailer hitch retaining pin our of the hitch on my truck. For whatever reason, it's a little crowded under there where the hitch frame is right next to the frame of the truck and using the can opener as a hook avoids banging my knuckles on the truck frame.
Flat screw driver. I find it a very handy light pry tool for those things that need to be opened, like a can of plastic wood or putty for a repair on wood, as a small putting knife for patching the little holes in the wall when my better half decides that a picture needs to be moved to another wall and the hole gets a little bit of spackle on it. When. job is done, an nice cold bottle of Guinness needs an opener. I've found the screw driver to be a nice general tool for things you know is absolute positively going to scew up a knife blade. Like finishing up an excessive walk and seeing some beautiful wild flowers growing up in the dry rocky Texas dirt, and using the screw driver to dig up the little bouquet of flowers to bring home to my better half. It's only a screw driver, who cares if it gets a little scratched up. The flattop can be dressed with a file.
I've used both the screw driver and can opener like a pipe bending tool when I need to bend something a particular shape. The Bird feeder fell down when the rope holding broke, and the heavy bail was bent. The Victorinox screw driver got hooked under the bend and then in the middle of the bend and used to put pressure on a particular spot to bend it back. I couldn't do it with bare fingers, but the Victorinox flat screw driver/bottle opener worked great as a bending tool.
The awl. I could go on and on about how useful the awl is in modern life. Zip ties hold a lot of stuff together, and the Victorinox awl is absolute a great zip tie removal tool. The thin skinny tip slides under the zip tie, and with a twist of the wrist you bring the sharpened edge of it up against the plastic zip tie and cut right through it. I've cut off a lot of zip ties, and the Vic Awl is a great tool. It also strips wire very well for an electrical repair. It makes starter holes for wood screws when putting up a shelf out in the garage or shop.
The tools on the "Boy Scout" knife are limited only by your limited imagination. Misplaced nostalgia? Yeah, I guess it's as misplaced as the nostalgia for the revolver as a self defense tool, or a box of matches for starting a fire. They still work as well as 'back then'.