We were in the middle of dinner when Tony asked “Can you pass me a spoon?”
“A teaspoon, or a tablespoon.” I reached into the drawer waiting for his reply.
“Uh…a tablespoon of course” he laughed.
This exchange started a heated debate at the dinner table. When someone says a spoon and there is no context, which one of the two would you assume that they mean?
Tony and our hostages stood firmly by tablespoon, while I was leaning towards teaspoon. I was in the minority and they were kind of laughing at me, but I insisted that I am not alone and there may be others out there.
None of us could explain why we think what we think.
The female hostage is a quick thinker and posted a poll on Twitter asking the question. Within 2 hours we had the results.
It was neck to neck, but tablespoons seemed to have an edge.
This is damn close! Why is there such a division in our perception of these two simple utensils?
Many languages have a distinct word for each one of the two. English has a word for this group of cutlery type: spoon, and then a different word for the members of the group. Yet, people say just spoon when they mean teaspoon, or tablespoon with an expectation that others will know what they mean.
I tried Wikipedia, but it just complicated things further because apparently there are way more spoons than I realized before I started this quest. You can read all about teaspoons here. Naturally, Wikipedia has an article about tablespoons as well, where you can find that the Australian tablespoon is much bigger than most.
I couldn’t find an explanation anywhere.
I then googled just the word “spoon” and this time Wikipedia had an informative article about spoons in general. It seems that the term spoonful definitely refers to a teaspoon:
A spoonful—the amount of material a spoon contains or can contain—is used as a standard unit of measure for volume in cooking, where it normally signifies a teaspoonful. It is abbreviated coch or cochl, from Latin cochleare. “Teaspoonful” is often used in a similar way to describe the dosage for over the counter medicines.
This does seem to somewhat clarify the issue. Despite the clear majority of tablespoon fans on Twitter, the hostages and Tony reluctantly conceded.
I am still curious about the continental spoon divide though.
Does anyone know? What do you envision when someone asks for a spoon? And seriously, why can’t we just say teaspoon when we want one?
By tablespoon do you mean dessertspoon?!
Ha! The plot thickens. This may be the answer to my question. A dessert spoon is the size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon and can be used for most purposes although it was specifically designed for desserts. Maybe that’s THE spoon!
🙂 I use two dessert spoons to measure out a tablespoon!
Teaspoon for me. I assume the person asking for a spoon simply wants a teaspoon to eat whatever they have chosen to eat. A tablespoon would be the choice if one was stirring cake batter or mixing something. Who knows why!
I’m with you although my quick survey reveals that there are those who would eat cereal along with other scoopable foods with a tablespoon.
Ha Ha – Have seen my husband eat cereal with a tablespoon.
Ha! So there may be a gender divide here as well!
Ha Ha Yes, a gender divide for sure. You never know what a man might do with a tablespoon.
LOL!
Oh! I thought Tony wanted to spoon with you. 😉
Either that or whack your knuckles with a wooden spoon.
Whatever you do don’t get started on Spoonerisms. That is a Fine Mield.
Perhaps you are just provoking division. Apparently people do that.
Hahaha! I believe that most people would concede when presented with evidence so I am not worried about it. Based on this short experiment, the division exists and may be deeper than I thought. It is my mission now to try and unite the spooners wherever they may be 🙂
In German tablespoons means „Löffel“ (spoon) and „tablespoon „Teelöffel“. So if you say just „ Löffel“ i.e. „spoon“ , you mean the tablespoon.
So it looks like you do the same in Germany only everyone knows what you actually mean?
Yes, they do, but German often is not as precise as English.
It sounds more precise to me because everyone knows what you mean!
Hmmm. Interesting thoughts from your blogger responses. I would say teaspoon. Maybe from a baking perspective. If you need more than a spoonful you specify tablespoon. Good luck. This subject could go deep!
I knew you would back me up 🙂 On the surface it seems that females lean towards teaspoons in general, but I don’t yet have the data to substantiate it.
Maybe I’m pedantic — well, I know I’m pedantic – – but I would ask “What kind” if there were multiple options in front of me. I have no preconceived type of spoon, because it’s a general term. Heck, even if you said “Hand me a tablespoon”, I’d probably require further clarification: “A real tablespoon as used for baking? Or one of those bigger pretend tablespoons that we use for soup?”
My wife tolerates this.
Same here. Spoon is the group of cutlery. But when I ask for a spoon I specify the kind that I want rather than be ambiguous about it. By a pretend table spoon do you mean an Australian one? Apparently they are much bigger!
Teaspoon of course. Tablespoons are huge and I only use them for measuring and serving. Then there is that spoon that falls between the two. I have no idea what it is called. Maybe it’s a soup spoon but our version is not round. So glad I don’t have to attend meals with the queen.
That would be a dessert spoon, which is in between the other two. Now you are bringing in another aspect into this debate, round or elongated…by the way, since you brought in the queen, In the UK they use smaller soup spoons!
Interesting view. Teaspoon, tablespoon, dessert spoon, soup spoon, serving spoon. Clarity is required to know for sure, but my default when asked is Tablespoon. Cheers and have a great week. Allan
According to one website there are 61 different kinds of spoons out there…no wonder some of us just say spoon. We actually don’t know which one we want 🙂
Tablespoon–they don’t have to fill it all the way full if they don’t want to.
It’s almost like you are bi-spooner 🙂
or poly
If someone asked me for a ‘spoon’, I would definitely need more info on what it is they wanted precisely. So, I’m with you on that.
So when you are the one asking do you say teaspoon or tablespoon, not just spoon?
I love reading the comments here to see all the different points of view…I always thought of a “spoonful” of anything as a tablespoon…I mean, is there ever really enough of ANYTHING in a teaspoon?
Buckley’s 🙂
I think in most cases I would just ask simply for “a spoon”. However, I would also say that nine times out of ten the context would make what kind of spoon I’m asking for really obvious. If my girlfriend and I are serving dinner and I ask for a spoon, obviously it’s a tablespoon I need. Right? If we’re pouring sugar into coffee and she asks for a spoon, again it’s clear. For any scenario where you can’t see what the person is doing and what they need it for, yeah it should be specified. This is the most words I have ever written on the subject of spoons.
Right? Never in my wildest dreams did I envision an obsession with spoons. I blame covid.
Ha ha, I’m happy to blame COVID too.
I guess was your friend having a coffee – teaspoon, or soup – soup spoon, or serving dinner – serving spoon….on and on… 🙂
It was during dinner and it could have been any one of these since we had several things on the table such as condiments, salads, etc. The point was that he said spoon and meant tablespoon, and I heard spoon and interpreted as teaspoon. Why is there a different perception, and why don’t we use the actual term to describe what we are actually asking for 🙂
My ESL husband asks that all the time????????
Haha, there you go!
The engineer in me wants everyone to know that 1 TABLESPOON is 3 Teaspoons or 15 ML (milliliters). Precision counts!
It sure does! Just so you know, this is true only for Canada and the UK. In the US it’s 14 point something, and in Australia it’s 20ml. So, again, when you bake, make sure the recipe is not from Australia. This may explain some of my epic baking failures ????
For the pleasure of adding my contribution to this interesting matter, I use ‘spoon’ and guess the size according to the context, otherwise I would ask, without assuming anything. In French I would use ‘cuillère’ generically with the option to say ‘petite cuillère’ which would cover tea, coffee, dessert, cake … again depending on the context.
Ha! So it sounds like in French spoon is generally a tablespoon and if you need a teaspoon, you actually say teaspoon, right? This makes sense to me if everyone perceives it the same way.
I would say ‘petite cuillère’ most of the time but if it is obvious only ‘cuillère’ (80/20). ‘Cuillère’ rather than ‘cuillère à soupe’ (tablespoon) which will be used very little unless there is an ambiguity (90/10). So yes spoon means tablespoon.
Thanks for the detailed and scientific explanation 🙂
Hmm, I’m wondering if Jim Borden has secretly hijacked this blog. ???????????? What did you do on day___ (I’ve lost count) of the pandemic? I started World War III over my quest to find the perfect spoon. ????
Damn, you blew his cover! But I beg to differ…this is my quest to reunite the world, one teaspoon at a time 🙂
I would have given the person whatever spoon I grabbed first. But when I hear the word “spoon”, I think teaspoon…
That’s probably a good solution for a vague question and if there are any complains, well, they should specify what they want. Glad to hear you are in the teaspoon camp.
great minds think alike… 🙂
If you want a tablespoon, ask for a tablespoon. If you want a teaspoon, ask for a teaspoon. That’s why the different terms were invented in the first place! 🙂
Right? That’s exactly what I think (and do)!
Simplicity is the key! 🙂
If the person is having a tea or coffee, I will hand them a teaspoon. 🙂
Good. But what if you didn’t know what they will need it for?
I guess it all depends on context and what it’s intended to be used for. In our house we refer to it as a big spoon (for tablespoon) and little spoon (for teaspoon). Little spoon is always my default.
So you call it by name (sort of), but when in doubt, you assume a teaspoon 🙂
I’m “Team Tablespoon,” haha. 😉 But I will say that I use tablespoon when referencing “normal-sized” spoons for eating meals. But it’ll be teaspoon if referring to those tiny spoons for stirring tea and whatnot. Otherwise, a spoon’s a spoon, in my opinion!
Haha! So tablespoon is the default for you than. Good to know…I will tally the answers up and see if tablespoons are still ahead.
If Tony had asked for a Tablespoon in the first place, then, that is what he will get. Easy!
Good debate though..
No doubt!