What’s the origin of “churchkey,” meaning a can or bottle opener?

SDStaff Mac replies:

Two reasons, the first being the “Ben Abbate” answer. For some of us, opening a beer bottle -is- a religious experience. The other is that churches used to have big doors with big locks, with equally large keys. Churchkeys (the real ones) are often oversized hunks of metal, kinda like churchkeys, the bottle-opening kind.

SDStaff Mac, Straight Dope Science Advisory Board

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