About Navajas

 I blogged last year about the navaja, this Spanish knife that can be used as a weapon. Maybe it is its main utility. I have been fascinated by it since, well, since a long time. A morbid, sinister fascination, I must confess. I always thought it could be one great weapon for a character in a crime fiction story. Well, I recently stumbled upon this short YouTube video about navajas. And well, boy is the navaja one nasty weapon! I mean, I knew it already, but seeing one like this, of this size especially, it just makes me think if I ever write a story featuring it, it has to be used by a villain. And a borderline psychotic one at that. Because that is one vicious looking knife.

Navaja

I thoughtI would write a post about a new word of the day, which for this occasion is navaja. The navaja is a Spanish knife that can be used both as a utility knife and a fighting knife. I first discovered it years ago through Carmen and I have been fascinated by it ever since. It's a nasty, sinister sort of tool, yet it has been romanticised in fiction (and in music, no less) and in one of the most famous operas in the world. It is not as widely popular as it used to be, from what I understand (thankfully, I may add), that said, I think it needs to reappear in more modern fiction. A month ago, I mentioned signature weapons for certain characters in crime fiction, I think the navaja should reappear as such. Not for a hero, but for a villain. Maybe it is the case, if you know of any character in a crime book using a navaja, let me know. Otherwise, I just might invent one.