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A spoon is a common eating utensil, or item of cutlery, somewhat like a small spade, that occurs in a number of sizes and forms. Its main purposes are for conveying food to the mouth and for stirring, though it has a number of other uses.
The English word spoon derives from Old English spōn, meaning a chip of wood or horn carved from a larger piece, in turn deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *spe-, denoting 'a long piece of wood'.1
History
Spoons have been used by many cultures for many centuries, as the Achaemenid Persian spoon at right illustrates.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, spoons served all the purposes in eating now served by forks or spoons; after the introduction of the fork, the spoon diminished in use. Spoons are nowadays used primarily for eating liquid or semi-liquid foods, such as soup, stew, or ice cream, and very small or powdery solid items which cannot be easily lifted with a fork, such as sugar and green peas. Spoons are still more used widely in cooking and serving, however.
Teaspoons are commonly employed by heroin addicts to "cook" the drug in by use of holding a flame underneath. The resulting liquidified heroin is then transferred to a syringe and injected.
As of the 1940s a combination utensil of spoon and fork, the spork has been in use. Likewise a woon is a small wooden spoon commonly used for eating ice cream, cakes and "malts". The runcible spoon, is a spork with a cutting edge like a knife.
Spoon types
Eating utensils
Cooking and serving utensils
Other
- Love spoon — a carved wooden spoon given as a token of betrothal
- Silver spoon — a small spoon given to a newborn child to ensure good fortune; used as a metaphor for someone born to riches
- Cocaine spoon
- Ear spoon
- Souvenir spoon — may be any of the above types of spoon, but an important additional function is to signify or hold a memory of a place or event
- Spooning involves two people cuddling together, possibly while engaging in sexual intercourse, with both people facing the same direction, one pressed up behind the other and with legs bent to some degree so that the bodies fit together like two spoons.
- In the culinary world, a "spoon" is a restaurant owned and opened by a notable chef who sets the restaurant's overall tone and menu but who largely leaves the day-to-day management to others while the chef operates one or more principal (haute cuisine) restaurants. Spoons are less expensive but offer many recipes from the high end restaurant.[1]
Miscellany
- Wooden spoon is a phrase used to describe the "achievement" of a team or individual in finishing last in a contest, a wooden spoon being a common and almost valueless object, in stark contrast to the contest winners who will often receive a trophy made of silver or similar precious metal.
- Spoon is an insulting epithet used to describe a person who lacks intelligence, or displays stupidity. It may be linked to the common insulting phrase "Not the sharpest knife in the drawer," which has an identical meaning.
- The British satirical magazine Private Eye features a spoof interview column called "Me and My Spoon" in which well known public figures are quizzed on various aspects of their relationships with, thoughts regarding, experiences of and memories of spoons.
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
A musical instrument
Spoons (not a single one) can be played as a makeshift percussion instrument, or more specifically, an idiophone related to the castanets. A pair of spoons is held like Chopsticks, with concave sides facing out. When the pair is struck, the spoons sharply hit each other and then spring back to their original position. The spoons are typically struck against the knee and the palm of the hand. The fingers and other body parts may also be used as striking surfaces to produce different sounds and for visual effect. Music expert Mike Kieth hypothesizes that "Spoons were probably used as instruments shortly after spoons were used for eating."
Spoons as an instrument are associated with American folk music, minstrelsy, and jug and spasm bands. These musical genres make use of other everyday objects as instruments, such as the washboard and the jug. In addition to common tableware, musical instrument suppliers make spoons that are joined at the handle. Bobby Hebb is a well-known spoons player.
The US rock band Soundgarden had a hit single "Spoonman" which featured spoons being played as percussion instruments in 1993.
Archery
The Prince Regent is credited with stabilising the colours of Archery Targets, and with the exception of certain Clubs and Societies, there was a general conformity with the precedence of Gold, Red, Inner White, Black and Outer White. Variations continued however in respect of the "Spoon", or "Petticoat" the part of the target outside of the scoring zones. See: Hugh D Soar in Some notes on the regulation of two seventeenth century archery societies. [www.scortonarrow.com/history/history.htm]
Other uses
- A spoonful is an indicative cubic measure for non-solid substances, in some sizes, such as a tea spoon, a soup spoon, not uncommon in culinary and medical recipes
- A wooden spoon is also not an uncommon choice as an implement for mild physical punishment, in the form of a spanking, especially used on young children (too small to endure heavier traditional implements except the bare hand), and as a so-called pervertible in sexual bondage.
Babies and some types of domestic birds, such as lovebirds and budgerigars can often be entertained for extended periods by being shown their reflection in the two different sides of a metal spoon.
Many people also derive amusement from the practice of hanging a spoon from one's nose which can be accomplished by breathing on the curved area and then carefully placing it on the tip of your nose. This would however be considered poor table manners.
Quotes
"There is no spoon."
The Matrix on spoons
"SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!"
The Tick on Spoons
"I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth."
The Who on Spoons
"Eating cheese with a spoon is fun, but only if you perchance to be a llama."
Flameviper12 on Spoons
See also
Sources
- 1Encyclopedia Britannica 15th edition vol IX
External links
