{"id":8271,"date":"2016-05-28T03:49:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T11:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/?p=8271"},"modified":"2016-05-28T17:01:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T01:01:52","slug":"hard-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/?p=8271","title":{"rendered":"Hard Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have lots of keys. Most of those that are not on the key-ring that I routinely carry with me are tagged, so that I know to what they go.  But, as I was going through the drawer in which those keys are kept, I found one that was labelled <q><span style=\"font-size: smaller ;\">HARD KEY<\/span><\/q>. I confess that this label was not and is not now very helpful.<\/p> <p>There is such a thing as is called a <q>soft key<\/q>; it's a passcode of some sort. What would one call a <q>hard key<\/q>? A key that is not a <span style=\"font-style: italic ;\">soft key<\/span>? That would make <em>every<\/em> key in that drawer a <span style=\"font-style: italic ;\">hard key<\/span>; there'd be no use in labelling a key of that sort simply as a key of that sort.<\/p> <p>My best guess is that this key were a key that were badly cut or worn, so that it were <em>hard<\/em> to use.  But to use <em>where?<\/em><\/p> <p>Well, I couldn't and cannot remember; but that's okay, because I found that it matches another key that I have on a ring labelled <q>Orphans<\/q>, and nothing goes on that ring unless I know that it's no longer possible or no longer permissible for me to use the key in its lock. (There is separate ring for keys that are merely <em>probable<\/em> orphans.) Some of the orphans also have further tags; some, as in the case of the brother of the <span style=\"font-size: smaller ;\">HARD KEY<\/span> do not; but when that brother was put on the ring, I knew to what it went, and knew that I couldn't or shouldn't access that lock.<\/p> <p>I didn't save the orphans thinking that I might someday match one with an unidentified key.  A few of them I saved for their sentimental values.  Most I saved simply to have keys with which to do other things; for example, they could be filed into <span style=\"font-style: italic ;\">bump keys<\/span> or given to children or used as props; the intention in identifying them as orphans was that most of these keys be distinguished as <em>expendible<\/em>.  Of course <em>now<\/em>, in the case of a key with no twin on that ring, I will be a bit more reluctant to alter or part with it, as it might someday be matched with another mysterious key.  I am enslaved by my keys.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have lots of keys. Most of those that are not on the key-ring that I routinely carry with me are tagged, so that I know to what they go. But, as I was going through the drawer in which those keys are kept, I found one that was labelled HARD KEY. I confess that [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,720,5,4],"tags":[334,202,796,1320],"class_list":["post-8271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-epistemology","category-personal","category-public","tag-everyday-absurdity","tag-everyday-frustrations","tag-everyday-practicalities","tag-keys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oeconomist.com\/blogs\/daniel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}