I was quizzing people at my workplace today to see if they knew the phrase "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate", and it seems that in my small sample, those of us 33 and up do, and 33 and under do not. Although not everyone 33 and up knows what spindle actually is.
I know what spindling is, and I think the deal here is that it appeared on the bottom of certain standardized tests?
ETA: [link]
For much of the 20th century IBM cards had the warning "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate," printed at one end, and that became something of a motto for the post-World War II era, though many people had no idea what spindle meant.
I know what spindling is, and I think the deal here is that it appeared on the bottom of certain standardized tests?
I think that it appeared on a lot of punch-carded items. I believe my grandma's social security checks had it, and they were meant to go through a punch machine. When I used to play office, I would make big business-like checks and punch holes in them to make a punch card.
curse your sudden, yet inevitable cross -post!
Ah well. I was just at a diner where they spindled the checks!
I know the "do not fold, spindle or mutilate" warning, but didn't really know what spindling was.
Isn't spindling where they put it on one of those pointy metal spikes?
I was wrong about spindling, I thought it was rolling paper. Apparently it's the same as spiking it, according to wiki.
(xpost)
Spindles seem dangerous. I feel like I would have fallen on my spindle and died or something. I always thought the "mutilate" was the funny part. I never really thought about mutilating pieces of paper before being warned.
Isn't spindling where they put it on one of those pointy metal spikes?
Yes, apparently.
I mutilate a lot of paper.
When I used to play office, I would make big business-like checks and punch holes in them to make a punch card.
Dude, me too! And my grandma used to do the books for my grandfather's store on this ancient manual adding machine, with the big heavy keys and extra keys for 10, 100, 500, and so on. And a handle you pulled down instead of an enter key. And roller paper, which I suspect I wasted in reams. Or rather, rolls. I used poker chips for the money.
(I never played office the same way at home, where we had a digital calculator, although I played with the calculator endlessly. It had tiny red LED digits that you could only see at a certain angle, much like the first digital watches that only displayed a time when you pushed a button when you made them do so, and I suspect it was Not Cheap, as it was years before basic calculators became a disposable item. Playing office required cash-register-ish sound effects, and I'm sure the fact that I knew grandma was Doing The Books helped.)
I LOVED playing with old adding machines and new calculators and typewriters. One of my best afternoons was visiting an acquaintance of my mom's at a health food store where she worked. She let me price things using the handheld machine. Ka-chunk, ka-chunk. Most fun evah!
t the dweeb tag never closes
