Sporks And Foons: What Are They And How To Buy Online

What Is A Spork Or Foon?

Spork = Spoon + Fork (portmanteau)
Foon = Fork + Spoon

A spork is a portmanteau of the words spoon and fork. Part spoon, and part fork. It is the illegitimate child of a spoon and a fork, probably as a result of someone unwittingly locking these two dining utensils alone in a drawer one hot summer night. Traditionally, it is a spoon with short tines at the end, so that it can used to spear food, like a fork. But these days, you can find an utensil with a spoon at one end, and a fork at the other, joined together like a Siamese twin being called a Spork.

Spork is also the name of a highly rated, 2010 musical comedy movie about an 11-year old hermaphrodite named Spork (Savannah Stehlin) who's trying to fit in at school. Due to its popularity and rising acceptance these days, it has come to be accepted as a catch all word for any dining implement that has a spoon and a fork part in it. So don't be surprised to see people referring genetically to spoons and forks hybrids with a knife part for cutting as a spork, when the correct word is sporf (spoon + fork + knife) or splade (spoon + fork + blade).

Sporks can be made of plastic, wood, bamboo, metal (stainless steel, silver, titanium). It can be used to eat baked beans, coleslaw, mash potato, peas, ice-cream, cake, dessert and whatever take-outs that doesn't require you to use both a spoon and fork - so it can save you from having to wash 2 dining utensils afterwards.

Because of its 2-in-1 multipurpose ability, it is popular with backpackers, campers, travellers, etc where storage space is at a premium. It is also great for parties, and where ever you have to eat standing up, and socialize.

A foon, is a less popular way of referring to the same thing. Asking someone to help get you a "foon" will make people think you are speaking with a mouthful of food, or that you are foreign, so it is probably safer to call it a spork.

For those who take their lunch in front of their computer: Control the mouse with your dominant hand, and hold the spork with the other. :D

For meals in a proper table, away from the computer:
A spork is not really a dining room utensil in the strictest sense. This is probably because society still have issues with it being the illegitimate child that it is, so it has really never been given a rightful place on the dining table. ;)
That and also probably because its spoon is too shallow to drink soup with, while its tines are to short to effectively dig into tough meat.

So it really doesn't matter how you hold it. Just hold it in your dominant hand, if you are using it alone, without a knife. With a knife - change hands - depending on whether you wish to use it as a spoon or fork.

Eating with a spork in one hand, will free your other hand to do what it likes; you can eat and chat, eat and text, eat and browse, eat and drive (Gasp!), etc.
Now you get the idea of the freedom and power it gives you. :)

(Other eating utensils which might also be called a spork but probably isn't)

Runcible Spoon

Runcible is a nonsensical word coined by Edward Lear in an 1871 poem called “Owl & Pussy-Cat”, in Nonsense Songs. "Runcible spoon" has an obscure meaning as there were only two lines
in that nonsense poem that has anything to do with these 2 words.
"They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;"
So, people were encouraged to let their imagination run wild, and describe any strange spoon as a runcible spoon.
Today, a runcible spoon has come to describe a 2- or 3- pronged fork, which is curved like a spoon and has a cutting edge. Which makes this a sporf.

Sporf
Sporf = Spoon + Fork + Knife = Spork + Knife
A sporf is a combination of spoon, fork, and knife. They are what sporks with a knife portion should be called - ie not as sporks, but sporfs. It was invented by William McArthur in the 1940s, in Australia, first sold under the brand Splayd.

Splade (/Splayd)
Splade = Spork + Blade
This is a "spork" with a "blade". Originally trademarked as "Splayd", from Australia, its country of origin, it evolved from a combination of spoon and blade, to a four tines fork, with a sharp edge for cutting food, and a shallow bowl for a spoon part. It is a word that is more popularly used in Australia, its country of origin.

Spife
Spice = Spoon + Knife
This is a tool with a knife part built into the handle of a spoon. It is often found in the guise of a plastic implement, originally used for cutting Kiwi fruit.

Knork
Knork = Knife + Fork
A knork is an eating implement which is basically a fork with at least one sharp outer tine to cut into soft food. It probably evolved from a pastry fork (or pie fork), which is a kind of fork designed for eating pastries or desserts while holding a plate with your left hand. A knork is also a brand name for a range of cutlery.

coming soon ... :)