Granny knot

Granny knot
Names	Granny knot, false knot, lubber's knot, calf knot, booby knot
Category	Binding
Origin	Ancient
Related	Reef knot, thief knot, grief knot
Releasing	Often jams
Caveat	Should not be used as a bend. Inferior to reef knot for binding purposes, it can release suddenly and unpredictably.
ABoK	#3, #80, #186, #464, #1206, #1405, #2553

The granny knot is a binding knot, used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is considered inferior to the reef knot (square knot), which it superficially resembles. Neither of these knots should be used as a bend knot for attaching two ropes together.

The granny knot is also called the false, lubber's, calf, and booby knot. Patterson's Nautical Encyclopedia calls it "old granny knot" and Sir Edwin Arnold calls it the "common or garden knot." The name granny is given in Vocabulary of Sea Phrases (Anonymous, 1799) and Roding pictures the knot in 1795.

The granny consists of two identical half knots, one tied on top of the other. It has but one practical purpose that I know of and that is to serve as a surgeon's knot. Formerly it was employed for tying up parcels in five-and-ten-cent stores, but the practice was given up and paper bags substituted as they were found to be simpler.

— The Ashley Book of Knots^[1]