My main experience with "lanyards," is the strap on the SAP I was issued as a young LEO. You did not put your whole hand thru the strap, if you did someone could grab the sap and swing you around until you puked. Instead, you put your strong hand thumb into the loop, then wrapped the strap around the back of your hand, with the sap (or knife in this case) ending up in your palm. Seems to make more sense to me, no matter what item is on the strap/lanyard...