Spoon
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Spoon (disambiguation).
Image:Silver spoon.jpeg 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 or splinter of wood or horn carved from a larger piece, cf. Dutch spaan, German Spa/in, in same sense, in turn deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *spe-, denoting 'a long piece of wood', probabaly in the sense of a wedge.1
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History
Image:Achaemenid spoon.jpg Spoons have been used by many cultures since antiquity, as the Achaemenid Persian spoon at right illustrates.
From the derivation of the word the earliest northern European spoon would seem to have been a chip or splinter of wood; the Greek KoxXi4piov (Latin cockleare) points to the early and natural use of shells, such as are still used by primitive peoples. Examples are preserved of the various forms of spoons used by the ancient Egyptians of ivory, flint, slate and wood, many of them carved with the symbols of their religion. The spoons of the Greeks and Romans were chiefly made of bronze and silver, and the handle usually takes the form of a spike or pointed stem. There arc many examples in the British Museum from which the form of the various types can be ascertained, the chief points of difference being found in the junction of the bowl with the handle.
Medieval spoons for domestic use were commonly made of horn or wood, but brass, pewter and latten spoons appear to have been common in about the 15th century. The full descriptions and entries relating to silver spoons in the inventories of the royal and other households point to their special value and rarity. The earliest English reference appears to be in a will of 1259. In the wardrobe accounts of Edward I for the year 1300 some gold and silver spoons marked with the fleur-de-lis, the Paris mark, are mentioned. One of the most interesting medieval spoons is the coronation spoon used in the anointing of the English sovereign.
The sets of Apostle Spoons, popular as christening presents in Tudor times, the handles of which terminate in heads or busts of the apostles, are a special form to which antiquarian interest attaches. The earlier English spoon-handles terminate in an acorn, plain knob or a diamond; at the end of the 16th century, the baluster and seal ending becomes common, the bowl being fig-shaped.
At the Restoration the handle becomes broad and fiat, the bowl is broad and oval and the termination is cut into the shape known as the pied de biche, or hinds foot.
In the first quarter of the 18th century the bowl becomes narrow and elliptical, with a tongue or rats tail down the back, and the handle is turned up at the end.
The modern form, with the tip of the bowl narrower than the base and the rounded end of the handle turned down, came into use about 1760.
Uses
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
- Soup spoon — different types:
- metal soup spoon similar in shape to a teaspoon
- Chinese soup spoon — usually ceramic and of a distinct Chinese soup spoon shape
- Tablespoon
- Teaspoon
- Iced tea spoon
- Dessert spoon — between tablespoon and teaspoon in size
- Demitasse spoon
- Bouillon spoon
- Grapefruit spoon — a spoon with serrated edges for cutting into and eating grapefruit halves
- Egg spoon — used for hens' eggs; smaller than a teaspoon
- Caviar spoon — usually made of mother of pearl, gold, animal horn or wood. Silver cannot be used because it affects the taste.
- Absinthe spoon
- Plastic spoon cheap and easily mass produced
Cooking and serving utensils
- Spoodle — a cross between a spoon and a ladle, often used in European cooking, particularly for soups and stews
- Ladle — spoon with a long handle attached vertically; for liquids
- Serving spoon
- Slotted spoon
- Wooden spoon
- Runcible spoon — invented by Edward Lear in The Owl and the Pussycat, but later given a real meaning
Other objects
- 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
- When a precious serving spoon is used for an anointment as part of a coronation, it can be given the status of regalia.
- Cocaine spoon — a very small spoon used to sniff cocaine
- Ear spoon — a small spoon used to remove earwax
- 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, or to display as a 'trophy' of having been there, thus also a classical memento from pilgrimage sites; they are often in more fancy materials and highly ornamentive, depicting sights, coat of arms, associated characters, etcetera.
Miscellany
- 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]
- 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. The term originates from Cambridge University, wherein professors used to dangle a wooden spoon humiliatingly before students who had failed their tripos.
- "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.
- 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.
Use as a musical instrument
Image:Spoons(c)FreeFoto.jpg 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 hypothesises 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 U.S. 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.
See also
- other cutlery:
Sources
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.
- 1Encyclopedia Britannica 15th edition vol IX
- C. J. Jackson, The Spoon and its History, in "Archaeologia" (1892), vol. liii
- Cripps, Old English Plate.
External links
- Using Spoons on BBC H2G2 - a very detailed article about using spoons.
- You, Too, Can Play the Spoons by A. Claude Ferguson: possibly the most detailed guide ever written to spoon playing
- The Spoon Project @ TheGATE.ca: Gallery of people with spoons on their nosesca:Cullera
da:Ske es:Cuchara fr:Cuillère id:Sendok io:Kuliero he:כף lv:Kaŗote nl:Lepel (bestek) ja:スプーン nn:skei pl:Łyżka pt:Colher ru:Ложка simple:Spoon tr:Kaşık