> I still don't know why anyone would want two door knobs on a door. What a pain that would be. It's hard enough turning one knob with your hands full.

This reminded me of a question I haven't come around to asking anyone yet: What's the knob-to-handle ratio in the US? I've been to the US, but mostly in hotels, and they don't count.

In Europe, or at least Scandinavia, we have doorhandles all over. Very seldom do you see knobs, and not at all in modern houses. We have knobs in the sense of "pulling aids" on entrance doors which require keys to open, but not the American-style turn-to-open ones.

To me, door knobs seems extremely unpractical compared to handles. If you have your arms full of stuff, like grocery bags, and you want to go through a door with a knob, you're in much more trouble than with a handle, which you can just operate with your elbow, foot or whatever you like -- provided that the door swings away from you, of course. But in the other case, handles are still easier to operate. And especially for rheumatic people and such. The drawback is that dogs may find out how to open doors with handles. There's a Far Side cartoon with canine scientists trying to solve the mystery of the doorknob. :-D


Trav"ponderer of cultural differences"holt