What is the knife rule as TikTok trend goes viral?

There are always new terms, phrases and trends being created on social media, and it can be hard to keep up with latest Gen Z terminology on TikTok.

For example the 304 code, the OBCD, and the Glass Child trend have been widely discussed in recent times.

Now, there is also a new knife rule going around on TikTok - but what does it mean?

Here is a breakdown of what the knife rule is:

The Knife Rule is a superstition where it considered bad luck to close a pocketknife that someone else has opened.

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Giving someone a pocket knife with the blade open isn't exactly the safest thing to do. So, the best way to do this and to avoid the superstition would be give someone a pocket knife closed in order for them to open it, use it and then they return it closed with the blade covered safely.

But if someone gives you an open pocketknife to use or borrow, according to the superstition, you should hand it back open too to avoid bad luck - but again, not very safe.

"Gave a girl an open knife and she gave it back closed. S*** hasn't been the same since," TikToker Blaise McMahon wrote in a video that received 3.3m views.

"I learned what I call the knife rule from my brother and I believe it spoiled me,” @lil.nichole wrote in her video on the topic. “Because now I will not open or close a knife when there’s a guy around."

“So like, question … why would u [hand] someone a pocketknife open? That seems like a hazard to me," someone commented under the video.

"I always close the knife because I'm not gonna be the responsible for someone getting cut accidentally," another person wrote under @cthuchutrain's video who explained how he had just come across this knife rule.

While the origins of the superstition are unknown, it has circulated online for over a decade now before the conversation began to be discussed on TikTok recently.

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