On Jun 15, 11:45 am, John Doe wrote:
Very unlikely that is the name in Franklin's home country Norway. Even
if they don't go by the brand name "vice grips", they wouldn't use a
generic English term.

Perhaps we should ask Franklin, since I have never been to Norway and
I doubt you have either.

Highly likely that anyone in a non-English speaking country would
recognize "vice grips" before they recognized "locking pliers".

That's the issue.

In fact, more people in the world understand what you mean when you
say "vice grips" than they do when you say "locking pliers" or "lock
jaw pliers".

I doubt it....I asked a Korean, and he had no idea what vice grips
were. I'll try and Indian next while he is sitting next to me. And
I'll try someone from China while I'm at it.

From the worldwide USENET archives.

Results 1 - 100 of about 8,930 for " Vise grips "

Results 1 - 100 of 658 for " Locking pliers "

Results 1 - 37 of 37 for " lock jaw pliers "

Since the English written internet is still largely a North American
thing, especially in Usenet, you will get a lot of hits for vice grips
since it is an American colloquialism. Norwegian posts in English
probably don't even rate a mention in in your results and therefore
your data doesn't support your opinion.

The question was whether someone who claims a good understanding of
English terminology should know what "vice grips" are.

I would suggest it is a moot point.

CG