Churchkey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Church key refers to various kinds of bottle openers or can openers. One prototypical variety of church key is made from a single piece of pressed metal, with a pointed end used for piercing cans and a rounded end used for opening bottles. Other designs include the slotted key used to wind the scored metal area of the top of sardine cans.
Although some resemble keys and may be kept on key rings, the phrase may just be a sarcastic euphemism, since it is used for opening beer bottles (and old-fashioned beer cans) and not churches. Other explanations give it an almost mythic significance; for example, in Medieval Europe, monks and nobility were the only brewers. Lagering cellars in the monasteries were locked, as the monks guarded the secrets to their craft. The monks carried keys to these lagering cellars on their cinch - or belts. It was this key from which the "Church Key" opener gets its name. Another explanation for the unusual moniker may be that the church key "opens the way to the spirits".
While most current definitions of "Church Key" concentrate on the piercing end, some require the other end be a bottle opener of the style that looks like the non-business end of an old fashioned key.
