but this latest one is actually funny. I’m sure they don’t think so, but it is. The so-called Hercules Knot jewelry which supposedly is a token of your unbreakable love bond or whatever the fuck? It’s a square knot.
The reef knot or square knot is an ancient and simple binding knot used to secure a rope or line around an object. Although the reef knot is often seen used for tying two ropes together, it is not recommended for this purpose due to potential instability of the knot.
Er. Yeah.
To release the knot a sailor could collapse it with a pull of one hand; the sail’s weight would make the collapsed knot come apart. It is specifically this behavior which makes the knot unsafe for connecting two ropes together.[3]
Er. Yeah.
The reef knot’s familiarity, ease of tying, and visually appealing symmetry belie its weakness. The International Guild of Knot Tyers warns that this knot should never be used to bend two ropes together.[12] A proper bend knot, for instance a sheet bend or double fisherman’s knot, should be used instead. Knotting authority Clifford Ashley claimed that misused reef knots have caused more deaths and injuries than all other knots combined.[13] Further, it is easily confused with the granny knot, which is a very poor knot.
Er. Yeah. Perfect knot for symbolizing a relationship in this day and age of no-fault divorce…
This is as bad as every kiss beginning with the name of a bad mall-based jewelry store.
(I must admit that I had to look this up, because I had incorrectly thought that it referred to the Gordian Knot, which I thought might have been one of the Labors of Hercules. Turns out that knot was “untied” by Alexander the Great and had nothing to do with Hera’s little boy.)
Every 11 year old Tenderfoot Boy Scoout knows you never use a square not to tie two ropes together — you use a sheet bend. Thta is if they still teach knots in today’s urban-driven Boy Scouts.
Yeah, I figured it was a sheet bend or a splice or something till I looked it up. I’d never heard of a Hercules knot.