h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know about America, but I can assure you that over here in the Third World (Britain) non-electric can openers are still very much the norm. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen an electric one!

There IS an electric can opener in England! My Dad owns it. He doesn't use it though. He spits at it, calling it a new fangled load of rubbish.

And quite right too.

I too have never seen an electric can opener! Having said that I am not one to embrace modern technology with open arms. I'm more likely to kick it as far away as humanly possible!

Eugh.....what am I doing on the Inernet? All I wanted to do was send a Morse Code message !!!

I've seen one in England - in my aunt's house in Cambridgeshire - but it's only used for calling the cat in and I don't think I've ever seen anyone open a tin with it. The cat used to come running when it heard the whirring electric motor noise, under the foolish assumption that a tin of cat food was being opened for it (which was extremely foolish, as they used weird foil wrapped packets, or crunchy stuff in boxes). Since the cat (Mittens) died a few years back, I believe the eletric thingy has been gathering dust ....

I tried opening a tin of kidney beans using the opener on my Swiss Army Knife (I don't even own a non-electrical opener). I managed to hack half the lid off, then I was able to writhe it open using the pliers until the beans fell out. Who needs an electrical opener?

Going on this thread no one on this side of the pond.

I've never seen one either...

Nor have I ever succesfully opened a can with the non-electric sort - not without ending up with severely damaged hands, anyway.

We (at my home) all use the 'Radical Redistribution of Matter Based on Misplaced Trust' can-opener. Originated from Israel, we haven't even moved to the one with gears. It's not a problem to use and is very quick.

Let's not forget the traditional screwdriver and tin snips approach, which is probably best reserved for those religious holidays that feature the consumption of sardines.

JTG

In my part of America (Canada), I have only ever seen one electric can opener. It was in our house in University. It was a pile of crap in nice 60s style orangey-yellow plastic, and just turned cans around in circles denting the lid and frustrating people.

I've neever owned anything but manual openers. I have learnt to buy a good one otherwise they wear out really fast, and become veery annoying. Last cheap one drove me to toss it in the garbage and whip out the swiss army knife and wrestle with sharp bits of shredded metal.

In my experience, electric can openers are as useful as garlic peelers - the best garlic peeler is called "a knife". I can peel a clove in about 1/2 second with one of these (cut of the end most of the way and pop off the skin).

not only am I familiar with non-electric can-openers of the type described, but I can use them too...

no mean feat for a lefty!!!!

has anyone any idea what a pain it is to be presented with a righty can-opener!

my own can-opener is of course, not electric, but ambidextrous too.

still has the really bad edges though!

I wonder if there has been a boon in opener sales after new year's from those folks who stocked up in fear of the year 2000?

Probably not. In all the frenzy, I'll bet most people didn't think about it.

As an American (USA brand), I have seen a great many electric can openers. But, I have never been able to get one to work (the magnets NEVER work). Noone else has apparently, because all the ones I've seen have been in the far corners of kitchen counters collecting dust.

I myself am a firm believer in the two handled crank opener. It's fast, easy, and pretty hard to cut yourself with.

Yeah, you know, I've always filed the electric can opener into that realm of ideas that didn't get improved upon, and, of course, one of those "labo(u)r-saving devices" that just doesn't save enough labor to be worth it. People still seem to have them, buy them (here in the US I mean), they've been around for 30 years or so, and they are still readily available, but I can't see having one. For one, I don't open a lot of cans, and two, it is just not worth it. They don't work any better than the hand operated sort, if not worse.

I was forced to replace my old handheld opener with a new hand held opener. It is a gerat contraption.

It will open anything.

I purchased this new model because, on the label, it was written "The same can opener used by the astronauts of Skylab." I have no idea how long the thing was on the shelf.

And Skylab fell out of the sky.

Untrue... we have this really boffo cordless handheld electric can-opener thing. It's white, and it has a recharger that plugs in, just like a cell phone, and it sits in it and looks cool. And then you pick it up, attach it to a can in precisely the same way you attach a manual one, press the tasteful little grey "go" button and hold the handle (and the can spins on the counter) or hold the can (and the can opener works its way around independently, seemingly in midair, wahoo, look at it go) and then the magnet successfully grabs the lid.

Just saying. They make really cool ones, but most people still have those under-the-counter Black & Decker jobs that rust on the sixth day.

But they *have* been improved upon.

Like the baby boom - there was probably an electric can-opener boom (primarily in the US I suppose judging from the entries here) in the late 60s and 70s. The Nation proud of flinging cans into space full of people with little high-tech can-openers, feeling the pressure to buy a gadget for everything bought these "solutions looking for a problem" - as they never worked well, they mostly sat around to gather scorn and/or dust. THen with the technology boom in the 90s, improved miniaturisation, etc. really funky ones have now emerged. Still if the blades aren't strong and well made these will soon be "recycled" along with the rest.

Or the relentless stabbing and sawing with a serrated table knife. Best done with chain mail gloves.

Well very few things are strong or well-made presently, but they're as strong and well-made as the blades of new manual openers. Not as strong or well-made as, say, your average sledgehammer, but equally good at can-opening.