Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

[Manchester]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Just be careful: Next time a hot chick says she's coming over with her stilettos, she may be fixin' to stick ya!

And she might not be a chick.

[Anagram]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Is this what Eddie Murphy was talking about??

[Manchester]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Is this what Eddie Murphy was talking about??

Well done!

[Anagram]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Well done!

[Logliner]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Okay, here's my 2 cents...

Suddenly flashes a stiletto and not the stylish kind on her feet.

[Manchester]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Here's a woman who decided to have it both ways:

Woman Uses Stiletto Heel To Repeatedly Stab Boyfriend To Death

[Manchester]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Thanks, TF. Actually, I resolved the underlying word-choice issue some time ago - with regret, I went with "knife". But I did think this thread ended up as both insightful and amusing ("amusing" in a good way - to me, anyway) because of the variety of perspectives. And that's why I appended my post with that newspaper link.

As for your point re "suddenly", I disagree. It does seem that "then" or "and then" is implied - yet, I see "then" in pros' scripts. I think sometimes it helps set, or change, a rhythm.

I use "suddenly" to indicate that the very next thing doesn't merely happen; rather, its occurrence and/or its timing is unexpected.

Indeed, I think that's the comic premise of the poem you linked. Like the Monty Python routine of 40 years ago, (not verbatim) "And then suddenly, without warning... Nothing happened."

BTW, a switchblade is not a form of stiletto (at least, AFAIK). The knife blade of a switchblade swings out from its case. A stiletto is more like an icepick, with a fixed handle, though there are spring-loaded stilettos, such that the blade "suddenly" springs straight out from the handle.

[slupo]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Now we can't say "suddenly" in a screenplay?

[Manchester]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Some would telescope:

"During the 1950s, large numbers of folding switchblade or automatic opening knives with locking blades were imported from Italy to the United States. Most of these switchblades were side-opening designs, though some employed a telescoping blade.[30] These Italian switchblades were commonly and popularly referred to as stilettos, since most incorporated a long, slender blade tapering to a needle-like point, together with a slim-profile handle and vestigial cross-guard." (a quote from "Stilettos" on Wikipedia).

Huh. Interesting. Thanks.

FWIW, my hunch, based on a number of things, including time spent in and around South Philly, is that the person who posted that at Wikipedia made a mistake. Do I know this to be true? No. But my hunch is that maybe some Americans called them "Italian switchblades" - that is, they are not really switchblades, but are Italian switchblades. Or, "Hey, that's like a switchblade, but the blade comes out the front."

[ComicBent]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

Now we can't say "suddenly" in a screenplay?

Or, to put it another way ... Suddenly we can't say "suddenly" in a screenplay?

No, it is perfectly all right to use "suddenly" and "then" in screenplays. Just use them when they are effective.

[MegaJon]

Re: Does 'everyone' know that a STILETTO is (also) a knife?

A bunch of kids, all of you! I knew the knife before the shoe. It's a stilletto HEEL becuase it looks like a stilletto knife.


Then a knife in her hand - narrow stilletto - reflecting the death in her eyes.