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Speaker 1: My Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production

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Speaker 1: of My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow

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Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick,

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Speaker 1: and we're back continuing the spoon challenge. This is part

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Speaker 1: two of our talk about spoons. If you haven't listened

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Speaker 1: to part one from Tuesday of this week, you should

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Speaker 1: go back and do that one first. But yeah, we're

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Speaker 1: here to shove more spoons in your brain. Yeah we have,

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Speaker 1: we have. We've quite a lot of cool stuff in

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Speaker 1: this one as well. We've got more stuff on ancient

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Speaker 1: Chinese spoons. We have some Chinese poetry, we've got vampires,

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Speaker 1: we've got spoon magic, a little spoon pop culture. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: loads of fun. So let's dive right in. Sure. So

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Speaker 1: in the last episode, we talked about the spoon as

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Speaker 1: an invention, the way that we might not usually think

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Speaker 1: about such a simple household object, and we talked about

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Speaker 1: some of the archaeological research in the earliest spoons, like

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Speaker 1: how artifacts that could be interpreted as spoons show up

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Speaker 1: in rare and isolated instances back into the Paleolithic, but

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Speaker 1: that after the Neolithic Revolution, when a settled existence based

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Speaker 1: on farming becomes common spoons start to proliferate in the

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Speaker 1: archaeological record, and that there's some I think very clear

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Speaker 1: reasons for that. For one thing, we talked about a

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Speaker 1: paper from twenty nineteen by Stefanovitch at All arguing that

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Speaker 1: many of these Neolithic bone spoons were probably used for

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Speaker 1: feeding babies, and that as such they might well reflect

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Speaker 1: a broader historical change in the options available for the

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Speaker 1: care and feeding of young children, when you had things

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Speaker 1: like animal milk and cereal grains that had emerged as

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Speaker 1: as food stuffs from from again that Neolithic agricultural revolution,

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Speaker 1: so you'd have a sort of new regime of society

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Speaker 1: is based on gruel and spoon tech. And then of

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Speaker 1: course we talked about the spoons of ancient Egypt in China,

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Speaker 1: and I guess I wanted to pick up today with

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Speaker 1: the subject of ancient spoons in China, and so one

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Speaker 1: source I I looked to here was a book called

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Speaker 1: Fermentations and Food Science. This is by uh Shing Sung Huong,

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Speaker 1: published by Cambridge University Press in the year two thousand.

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Speaker 1: This is part of a series on science and Civilization

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Speaker 1: in China, edited by Joseph Needham. I think we've referred

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Speaker 1: to some of the books in the series before. Yes,

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Speaker 1: his his name rings a belfish. And so the first

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Speaker 1: passage about spoons in this book comes in the context

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Speaker 1: of a question about the known practice of ancient Chinese cooking.

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Speaker 1: That would be the parching of cooked grain. And this

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Speaker 1: is uh, this was a food tradition that wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: been limited to ancient China. Number of cultures would serve

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Speaker 1: parched grains of a certain kind. This would basically just

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Speaker 1: mean like cooking the water content out of a grain

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Speaker 1: that had already been cooked, perhaps by boiling or something.

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Speaker 1: And so in this context, Huoan writes that quote, since

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Speaker 1: the ancient Chinese did not have ovens, one way to

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Speaker 1: parch the grain would be to stir it in a

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Speaker 1: heated pot. This stirring was probably done with a spoon

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Speaker 1: or ladle called p The earliest reference to this instrument

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Speaker 1: is found in The she Ching, which states quote, messy

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Speaker 1: is the stew in the pot. Bent is the thornwood spoon.

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Speaker 1: Now a note on that source. The The she Ching

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Speaker 1: is also known as the Classic of Poetry or sometimes

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Speaker 1: the Book of Odes. It has a number of names

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Speaker 1: I don't know which one you're most familiar with, Rob,

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Speaker 1: but it's I'm sure you've come across this work before.

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Speaker 1: It's one of the earliest, perhaps the earliest surviving collection

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Speaker 1: of Chinese poetry. It's roughly hundred to three thousand years old.

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Speaker 1: I believe traditionally said to have been compiled by Confucius,

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Speaker 1: but I think modern scholars dispute that authorship claim. But anyway,

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Speaker 1: I I got really curious about this line because I

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Speaker 1: didn't understand what this meant. Messy is the stew in

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Speaker 1: the pot, bent is the thornwood spoon. I was like,

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Speaker 1: what does that mean? So I went looking for the

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Speaker 1: source to see the context, and this led me down, Uh,

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Speaker 1: an interesting rabbit trail. I hope you're you're willing to

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Speaker 1: go on a on a digression about ancient Chinese poetry

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Speaker 1: with me. So I found another translation. This is an

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Speaker 1: English translation by William Jennings that appears to have been

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Speaker 1: a very common early translation. And I'm sure some stuff

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Speaker 1: is getting lost because it has some amount of meter

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Speaker 1: and rhyme in English, which I which I would assume

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Speaker 1: means that that a good bit is getting sort of reshaped, meaningwise,

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Speaker 1: across the languages, but it will hopefully be at least

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Speaker 1: close enough to get the gist of the poem. And

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Speaker 1: so if I have identified the right poem here this

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Speaker 1: line is from a poem that in translation is called

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Speaker 1: the Neglected Eastern States. And the poem seems to be

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Speaker 1: spoken by a court official living in the East who

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Speaker 1: is apparently lamenting that once he had it great, and

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Speaker 1: he lived a life of luxury, but now he is

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Speaker 1: in the East. He's in the Eastern States, and he

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Speaker 1: has really hit the skids. Times are tough in the

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Speaker 1: Eastern States, like one of the quatrains. Here is here

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Speaker 1: in the East, the sons of nobles for service hard

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Speaker 1: remain unpaid. There in the West the sons of nobles

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Speaker 1: are in most gorgeous garb delayed. So the thing being

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Speaker 1: set up here is here in the East. Times are tough.

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Speaker 1: In the West, things are, or at least used to

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Speaker 1: be really nice. And so we were back in the

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Speaker 1: West he would have it nice, but instead he's here

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Speaker 1: living tough. Right, And so this line about the spoon

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Speaker 1: and the William Jennings translation here, I think it goes

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Speaker 1: like this, once sucked we from well laid in trenchers

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Speaker 1: and thornwood spoons bent to the loads. So if I'm

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Speaker 1: interpreting that right, I think the idea is once like

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Speaker 1: our stew was so rich and so awesome that it

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Speaker 1: literally been the spoons that we were trying to use

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Speaker 1: to stir and eat it. Oh wow, just so loaded

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Speaker 1: down with deliciousness, that the spoons are breaking off left

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Speaker 1: and right. Okay, I've never heard of comparison like that before,

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Speaker 1: but that's pretty good. I mean, it seems it seems

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Speaker 1: like the kind of thing that you would have seen

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Speaker 1: in um, like American advertisements for like chunky soups, you know,

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Speaker 1: because muse. Maybe we're getting a little out of it now,

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Speaker 1: but it seems like for a long time that was

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Speaker 1: like the staple like chunky style soups, uh and advertisements

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Speaker 1: for really just almost solid soups that it looks like

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Speaker 1: you would have you would lose some spoons in. This

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Speaker 1: was the real stu soup currency of the nineties. I remember,

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Speaker 1: like Campbell's would really emphasize in their ads back then,

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Speaker 1: this is no thin, watery broth anymore. This is soup

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Speaker 1: that is so thick you could like lay mortar with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, um.

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Speaker 1: It was actually, I guess a little a little bit

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Speaker 1: of like a cultural shock to me when I first

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Speaker 1: started having more broth based soups at some point in

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Speaker 1: my life, you know, and uh and and realized that, well,

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Speaker 1: you know that there's a rich tradition of soups and

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Speaker 1: they over the world, and they don't all have to

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Speaker 1: be this thick, you know, they don't have to be

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Speaker 1: like corn starch by weight. Yeah. I don't think I've

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Speaker 1: ever broke well, you know, I think I have broken

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Speaker 1: spoons often in uh, like take out fair before. You know,

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Speaker 1: I can't specifically remember it. You know, you get like

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Speaker 1: a cheap spoon and you have like kind of a

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Speaker 1: thick um like I don't know, potato salad or something

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Speaker 1: like that. You try and spoon it out. You may

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Speaker 1: lose a spoon in there. It's true. This raises a

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Speaker 1: question I've never considered before. But in the creation of

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Speaker 1: disposable utensils, I guess you have a choice, you you know,

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Speaker 1: so you're making a cheap plastic spoon, do you go

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Speaker 1: more towards it bends when it reaches it's it's stress limit,

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Speaker 1: or do you go more towards its snaps? And breaks

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Speaker 1: when it reaches its stress limit. I feel like I've

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Speaker 1: had some plastic spoons that managed to both. Like it

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Speaker 1: was both flimsy and brittle. In a way, it was

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Speaker 1: a miracle of material sciences, Like how did they? How

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Speaker 1: did it fail in all categories? It might as well

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Speaker 1: be spunge sugar or something. But okay, anyway, back to this,

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Speaker 1: this poem from the the she ching Uh. In the end,

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Speaker 1: there was one thing I thought that was pretty interesting

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Speaker 1: in this poem, which is that the speaker starts looking

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Speaker 1: to the constellations up in the sky, but picks up

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Speaker 1: again on the utensil imagery from the beginning of the poem,

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Speaker 1: but referring to to the constellations. So the last part

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Speaker 1: of the poem goes like this. There in the south

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Speaker 1: the sieve is shining, yet not for sifting was it made.

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Speaker 1: There in the north appears the ladle, Yet narrow liquor

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Speaker 1: will it laid? The southward there the sieve be shining.

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Speaker 1: Here points its tongue beyond the rest. Though northward there

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Speaker 1: appear the ladle. It hoists its handle in the west.

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Speaker 1: Now I really don't know exactly what to make of that,

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Speaker 1: but it struck me as as very curious. I wondered

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Speaker 1: if you had thoughts on that. Like, obviously, I guess

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Speaker 1: there are some constellations in the sky that are regularly

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Speaker 1: compared to household items, particularly kitchen items. I mean that

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Speaker 1: like the Big Dipper being ladle of sorts. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's that's where my mind goes. Not not knowing anything

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Speaker 1: about the origin of this or any interpretations of it,

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Speaker 1: just it seems like just a beautiful way of saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: there's a there's a big spoon in the sky, but

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Speaker 1: you can't eat with it for looking at well. Also

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Speaker 1: the idea that so even the ladle in the stars

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Speaker 1: hoist its handle in the West, it's almost like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that is only for people of the Western States to

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Speaker 1: reach down and ladle their skies to with. Though I

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Speaker 1: don't know, maybe maybe I'm reading that wrong. Even the

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Speaker 1: stars conspire against me and prevent me from having luxurious

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Speaker 1: soups and fine roads. This really is an epic complainer poem. Well,

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Speaker 1: you didn't have Yelp reviews back then. This was how

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Speaker 1: you had had to go about it. So anyway, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, maybe we'll have to come back and get

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Speaker 1: some context on this poem in the future, but for now,

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Speaker 1: back to the spoon, right, yeah, back to what Huang

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Speaker 1: had to say about the P. Here's and that's written

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Speaker 1: P I in English. But uh. Huang writes that the

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Speaker 1: P came in various sizes and shapes and were used

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Speaker 1: as both cooking and serving utensils. The lee Chi records

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Speaker 1: a P used in rituals and presumably also in entertaining

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Speaker 1: that was three to five ft long. That sounds too

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Speaker 1: long to be practical. It's like for show almost right, Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean you do find various serving uh performances and

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Speaker 1: cultures around the world, so it makes sense, you know,

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Speaker 1: get out of ridiculously long uh ladle here and have

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Speaker 1: somebody who has practiced it. It's use enough that they're

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Speaker 1: not going to make a huge mess. Yeah, exactly going

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Speaker 1: on with Wong. It also mentions a different but equally

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Speaker 1: long P, which is a two pronged fork. It was

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Speaker 1: so named because its shape is similar to that of

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Speaker 1: the constellation P now identified as Epsilon tari. So this

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Speaker 1: is interesting again because this comes back to comparing the

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Speaker 1: kitchen utensils to constellations in the poem. Yeah, yeah, this

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Speaker 1: is interesting. Now, I don't know if this repeated association

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Speaker 1: between constellations in cooking utensils is just a total coincidence

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Speaker 1: based on what I happen to be reading here, or

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Speaker 1: if there's something significant about that. But anyway, reading further

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Speaker 1: in Fermentations and food Science, um Huoan goes on to

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Speaker 1: say later that ancient Chinese text speak, of course of

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Speaker 1: this long spoon p which is which is an instrument

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Speaker 1: to stir food while it's being cooked in a pot.

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Speaker 1: But there's also apparently a small p which long Wrights

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Speaker 1: quote would be the equivalent of the modern spoon, which

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Speaker 1: is used universally for conveying soup from a container, a

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Speaker 1: caldron or bowl into one's mouth. But then you've also

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Speaker 1: got this other thing thing that's a type of ladle

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Speaker 1: called a show, and this is for distributing liquid like

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Speaker 1: broth or wine from a large pot into a smaller bowl.

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Speaker 1: Now Huan goes onto catalog different types of spoons that

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Speaker 1: appear in uh, you know, different periods in Chinese history,

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Speaker 1: made out of different materials, different average lengths and stuff

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Speaker 1: like that. One of the interesting ideas raised, and I

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Speaker 1: think this connects to sort of connects to some things

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Speaker 1: we've already talked about. Was that early bronze spoons in

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Speaker 1: ancient China appear to have had a sharp point, and

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Speaker 1: this may have been used to cut meat. So I

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Speaker 1: could imagine maybe if you have, like I don't know

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Speaker 1: exactly that this would be the use case. But if

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Speaker 1: you had, say, chunks of meat floating around in a

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Speaker 1: soup or a stew, you could use the spoon to

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Speaker 1: lift the soup or the stew into the mouth. But

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Speaker 1: also maybe like press a piece of meat against the

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Speaker 1: side of the bowl and cut it with the sharp point. M. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is interesting though it does raise the question like

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Speaker 1: why would it be necessary to sharpen and because as

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Speaker 1: we all know, using metal spoons in our lives, uh,

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Speaker 1: we can cut with the spoon even if it's not sharpened, um.

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Speaker 1: And it you can certainly apply some pressure and use it,

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Speaker 1: you know, certainly on things like stewed meat, stewed vegetables,

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Speaker 1: you know, things that are not too tough. Um. And

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Speaker 1: I don't know, I guess the the idea of of

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Speaker 1: the spoon being sharpened in some way makes me feel

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Speaker 1: a little nervous, a little anxious, you know, like I

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Speaker 1: can just imagine things going wrong. I don't I don't

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Speaker 1: want any sharpened spoons in my life. Well, your logic

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Speaker 1: there may have been the one that won out in

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Speaker 1: historical spoon design in ancient China, because Swong also says

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Speaker 1: that the spoons tend to start taking a rounder form

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Speaker 1: in the spring and autumn period, and then by the

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Speaker 1: time of the Warring States period, you've got these like

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Speaker 1: lacquered wooden spoons that start to become the dominant format. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: I mean I could see it being a trend for

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Speaker 1: a little bit and then people bagging away from it,

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Speaker 1: like like essentially it could been a campaign, Right are

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Speaker 1: you tie to this happening to you? And you know,

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Speaker 1: and imagine like the ad of somebody trying to cut

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Speaker 1: meat with their spoon and it's just not working and

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Speaker 1: cut their tongue off. Well, that that would be the

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Speaker 1: follow up, right, are you're you're tired of cutting your

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Speaker 1: tongue off with your sharpened spoon? But before that, it

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Speaker 1: would be like, are you tired of having chunks of

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Speaker 1: meat that just cannot be cut in half with your spoon?

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Speaker 1: Try the sharpened spoon blood's running down your chin will

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Speaker 1: be a better way. Um, well, well, we'll come back

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Speaker 1: to very briefly a spin on this in a bed.

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Speaker 1: I guess one thing that we're trying to drive home

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Speaker 1: in these examples is that something like the spoon and

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Speaker 1: invention like the spoon has as every day as it is,

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Speaker 1: you know it is. It is so close to our

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Speaker 1: lives that we often forget about it. But it's also

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Speaker 1: so close to our lives that it is susceptible to

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Speaker 1: cultural pressure and uh in in various design trends. So

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Speaker 1: even though the spoon, you might think, well, the spoon

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Speaker 1: never changes, but if the spoon does change and I

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Speaker 1: ran across a wonderful example of this. Uh One interesting

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Speaker 1: uh tidbit from the history of spoons, as related by B.

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Speaker 1: Wilson in What Your Spoon Says about You from the Atlantic,

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Speaker 1: and it concerns one small corner of the world during

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Speaker 1: a particular stretch of time, England in the seventeenth century. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so this would have been the time during and after

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Speaker 1: the English Civil War, right, So yeah, at this point

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Speaker 1: set the setting here, the monarchy had been disposed of

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Speaker 1: and Oliver Cromwell had risen to power. Now, the results

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Speaker 1: in Commonwealth rule didn't last very long, Like Cromwell ruled

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Speaker 1: from sixteen fifty three until his death in sixteen fifty eight,

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Speaker 1: and at that point it pretty much collapsed under his

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Speaker 1: son's leadership the following year. So that's not really a

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Speaker 1: long time to to bust out a lot of spoons

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Speaker 1: under your rule. But there are some interesting changes that

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Speaker 1: took place. So before Cromwell rose to power, you saw

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Speaker 1: a lot of these silver, proper British spoons that had

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Speaker 1: fig shaped bowls and what Wilson describes as chunky hexagonal stems. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They also describe it as having a bowl like a

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Speaker 1: tear drop quote widening toward the end that you put

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Speaker 1: in your mouth. They tended to have decorative knops at

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Speaker 1: the top. Knops were artistic flourishes that often feature things

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Speaker 1: like humanoid forms, ladies, animals, that sort of thing. But

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Speaker 1: then again Cromwell comes to power, and under Cromwell's strict

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Speaker 1: Puritan regime, this sort of spoon was no longer favorite

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, So you see the rise of

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Speaker 1: Puritan spoons, which were quote simple, shallow egg shaped spoons

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Speaker 1: with flat stems and no decoration, no knops, and you

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Speaker 1: could generally see this as part of like the Puritan

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Speaker 1: impulse against representative art. Right right, yeah, now B. Wilson

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Speaker 1: has a wonderful passage. I want to read this. They write, quote,

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Speaker 1: none of these decorative spoons found favor during the Commonwealth

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Speaker 1: when when ex us if decoration of any kind, particularly religious,

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Speaker 1: was disapproved of, the roundheads lopped the heads off spoons,

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Speaker 1: just as they lopped off the king's head. It's a

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00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,719
Speaker 1: nice comparison there. Uh, that would be referring to Charles

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Speaker 1: the First who was to be headed at the after

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Speaker 1: losing the English Civil War. So anyway, these Puritan spoons suddenly,

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Speaker 1: uh they are the trend. But they were. They were.

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Speaker 1: They were not only plain, they were also hefty. They

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Speaker 1: were big hunks of silver. Uh. And it's thought that

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Speaker 1: this was a way for people to hoard their silver

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Speaker 1: that way when the local government came calling, which which

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Speaker 1: they apparently would do, and say, hey, we need all

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Speaker 1: your extra silver to pay for the town's defense. Well

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Speaker 1: you can say, the only silver I have are these

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Speaker 1: silver utensils, and I need those to eat. Uh, So sorry,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to hang onto these. So it was a

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Speaker 1: way of having essential use silver in your house. I

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Speaker 1: just making sure that all of your silver was a

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Speaker 1: part of your your eating utensils. Now this is very

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Speaker 1: interesting because it makes me wonder if this is antecedent too,

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Speaker 1: or like somehow connected to this tradition I never really understood,

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Speaker 1: but was still around in American families when I was

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Speaker 1: growing up, that like as a wedding present, people would

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Speaker 1: be would be given an expensive set of silver, like

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Speaker 1: the family silver, you know, special dining wear. But as

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Speaker 1: far as I understood it, this was never to be used.

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Speaker 1: It was just like it was like the most expensive

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Speaker 1: stuff that you have in your house, and you just

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Speaker 1: keep it in a drawer, You keep it stuck away,

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Speaker 1: and maybe me you get it out to uh polish

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Speaker 1: it and care for it, and occasionally maybe you eat

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Speaker 1: with it, but certainly not not all the time. Now again,

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Speaker 1: the commonwealth fell eventually, and then came the restoration. And

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Speaker 1: as Charles the Second returns from exile, he brings with

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Speaker 1: him a new spoon style, and as Wilson points out,

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Speaker 1: the shift here was sudden. The triffid spoon takes over

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Speaker 1: a deep oval bowl spoon with a flat handle and

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Speaker 1: a distinctive cleft shape at the end. Wilson writes quote,

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Speaker 1: no British person had ever eaten from such a spoon before.

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Speaker 1: In Britain. The first triffids are hallmarked sixteen sixty, Yet

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Speaker 1: by sixteen eighty they had spread through the entirety of

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Speaker 1: Charles's Kingdom and remained the dominant spoon type for forty years,

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Speaker 1: killing off both the Puritan spoon and the fig shaped

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Speaker 1: spoons that went before and their designs. Apparently, you know,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't just about how they hold soup and gruel

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Speaker 1: in this case, Uh, you know, it's also about how

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Speaker 1: you hold the spoon. I think we touched on this before.

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Speaker 1: Like the way a spoon is designed not only has

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Speaker 1: an influence on how you eat, it also influences how

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Speaker 1: you're gonna interact with the spoon with your hand, how

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Speaker 1: you're gonna hold it. So the triffid here could be

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Speaker 1: held regally, uh, in the in a polite, you know,

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Speaker 1: thoroughly English way. So that also appears to be part

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Speaker 1: of it. You know, it's like there's a new rule.

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Speaker 1: There are new uh you know, the restored rule. There

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00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,360
Speaker 1: there are new you know, new new ideas were going

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Speaker 1: kind of going against the Puritan concepts of how we

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00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:04,560
Speaker 1: should interact with our food. And so the triffid here

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00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:09,080
Speaker 1: is is in fashion. Uh, and it's going to uh

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Speaker 1: have an influence on the way we we consume our

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00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 1: soup or what have you. I didn't think to look

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Speaker 1: this up ahead of time, but I realized, now there's

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Speaker 1: got to be a John Dryden poem about triffid spoons.

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Speaker 1: Then that just seemed perfect. Yeah, I mean, especially if

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Speaker 1: it was you know, this big of a deal. That's

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Speaker 1: a sweeping change. Well, a quick Google search does not

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Speaker 1: reveal anything, alright. The next spoon I'd like to talk

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Speaker 1: about is, uh is something from meso American history. Uh.

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Speaker 1: So here's the thing. Spoons can, of course be decorative,

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Speaker 1: and we find an interesting decorative spoon in the ritual

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Speaker 1: spoon pendance of the Old Met people's This was the

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Speaker 1: earliest known major meso American civilization. And if you visit

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Speaker 1: the Met in New York City, uh, you may be

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Speaker 1: able to see one of these. I know they have

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00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:58,200
Speaker 1: them in their collection. Um may from some somewhere between

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00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,560
Speaker 1: the tenth and fourth century. Beasts E. I included a

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Speaker 1: picture here for you to look at, Joe, so you

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Speaker 1: can see what I'm talking about. You if you just

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00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 1: you know, look, if you look one up and you

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Speaker 1: didn't know what you're looking at, you might be forgiven

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Speaker 1: for not recognizing this as a spoon. No. So it's

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00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,960
Speaker 1: got a spoon like depression in it, but if you

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00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 1: were to flip it on its side, it almost looks

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00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,600
Speaker 1: kind of like a submarine. It's like a long cigar shape,

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00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,400
Speaker 1: and then it's got a big bulge, sort of cylindrical

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00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:26,440
Speaker 1: bulge in one section. Yeah, yeah, it um. I see

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Speaker 1: it often described as as a T shaped pendent, but

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00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,600
Speaker 1: it also looks to me like a like a P,

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00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 1: like a like like a big P with an extra

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00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,359
Speaker 1: stem on top um. And there is a there is

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00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,640
Speaker 1: a bowl area, but it's it's rather shallow. Uh So,

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00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,600
Speaker 1: in particular with it the all mac spoon pendance. These

394
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,919
Speaker 1: jade T shaped pendance are thought to have been used

395
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:52,040
Speaker 1: for semon ceremonial hallucinogenic consumption, and similar T shaped pendance

396
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,280
Speaker 1: from the later Maya culture apparently signified the sacred breath.

397
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Speaker 1: I was looking around for more information on these in

398
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Speaker 1: ran across a November paper from Andrew D. Turner published

399
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Speaker 1: in Ancient meso America, and the author here discusses uh

400
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Speaker 1: An interesting possibility and that is that these uh spoons

401
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,679
Speaker 1: with their what do our eyes look like? A strange shape,

402
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,360
Speaker 1: they might be based off the basic shape of the

403
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,879
Speaker 1: iridescent shells of wing oysters. And if you look up

404
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,120
Speaker 1: a wing oyster, they do have this kind of p shape.

405
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,399
Speaker 1: So again going back to what we talked about in

406
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Speaker 1: the in the first episode about the idea of shells

407
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 1: being something that ancient people's would have used as spoons

408
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,480
Speaker 1: before the creation of spoons, and then in the creation

409
00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,119
Speaker 1: of spoons, you know, fixing a shell to a stick,

410
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,120
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. Uh. Isn't it interesting that we

411
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: we potentially see an example here of then actual invented spoons,

412
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 1: actual artifacts mimicking directly than the natural shape of this

413
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,760
Speaker 1: shell that is no longer being used. Well, if there

414
00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,199
Speaker 1: was a long running tradition of using natural you know,

415
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 1: nature facts, objects found in nature, like the shells of

416
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:07,400
Speaker 1: oysters as spoons before you had a manufactory of artificial spoons,

417
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,240
Speaker 1: I can imagine that a spoon used in a specific

418
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: religious or ritual context might be the one that you

419
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,680
Speaker 1: would most want to keep, like the old school spoon,

420
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: you know, because we get into the religious or ritual mindset.

421
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 1: We're often trying to recreate scenes of the past, or

422
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 1: our imagination of scenes of the past. Yeah, yeah, I

423
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: think so. And then of course throw into that as

424
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 1: well the idea of the of the the instrument or

425
00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:37,400
Speaker 1: the invention becoming a symbol and just being becoming because

426
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,919
Speaker 1: that's also what we see going on here potentially with

427
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,400
Speaker 1: these pendants as is, even if they're no longer being

428
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:48,400
Speaker 1: used to consume a particular substance, they become symbolic of

429
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,560
Speaker 1: of that that magical ritual or some sort of idea

430
00:23:51,640 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: caught up in it. Out from here, this raises a

431
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,239
Speaker 1: question for me. I was thinking, well, okay, now we've

432
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,520
Speaker 1: talked about spoons in their interaction with sacred affairs and

433
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: political affairs, um, but how about mythology and folklore. Well,

434
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 1: given the place that the spoon holds in human lives

435
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 1: back through ancient times, it shouldn't be surprising that it

436
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:22,920
Speaker 1: does occasionally become imbued with mythic and magical properties. For starters,

437
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,399
Speaker 1: the figure of the witch or or any kind of

438
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: magical um female presence is often associated with household items

439
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: that take on magical properties. So the broom is a

440
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,879
Speaker 1: prime example of this. In various tales of witches. We

441
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,639
Speaker 1: have the Baba Yaga's mortar and pestel that she uses

442
00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,639
Speaker 1: to fly through the sky. Uh So, you better believe

443
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 1: there are some magical spoons out there as well, and

444
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 1: I have just a few examples of these. Oh boy.

445
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 1: So according to Spoon Woman and Soul, the folk Belief

446
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: in Japanese Spoon by Wang, published in the Journal of

447
00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 1: Dadlane University, the spoon may take on magical associated sans

448
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: in Japanese folk belief associated with quote, mountains, females, souls

449
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 1: with a supernatural, magical power of birth, praying for peace,

450
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,480
Speaker 1: being healthy, and exorcism, etcetera. I was also reading an

451
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 1: article by Gabby Thompson of Volgemuth about East German translations

452
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 1: of fairy tales, and this is this is fascinating. This

453
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 1: is kind of a tangent, but it's worth it. Um.

454
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,760
Speaker 1: The author points out that early East German versions of

455
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,200
Speaker 1: the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales, they've been very popular during

456
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 1: the Third Reich, so great care was taken in translating

457
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 1: them a new uh So that so as distress values

458
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,400
Speaker 1: considered important and remove those again for East German readers.

459
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 1: That they deemed h quote harmful to a socialist education

460
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:51,400
Speaker 1: and hints modified. So here's an example. In the original

461
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 1: Grimm's of tales, ending of Rumpel still skin, the bested

462
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,920
Speaker 1: imp becomes so I rate. They stomps his foot down

463
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 1: so hard that his entire leg becomes stuck in the ground.

464
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 1: And then he's even more enraged. He pushes down with

465
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,480
Speaker 1: both hands to to free himself from the earth, and

466
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: in doing so, uh rips his body in half. Okay,

467
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,359
Speaker 1: so just a really gory, just moral kombat type ending

468
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,919
Speaker 1: to Rumpel steel skin. But this would not do in

469
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,119
Speaker 1: the early East German translations. Um and and they signed

470
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: a couple of them. I think it's a polit check

471
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,960
Speaker 1: and um and uh co selec and the it ends

472
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:36,879
Speaker 1: up having this very I think kind of a Pucci

473
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,679
Speaker 1: ending to to reference the Simpsons instead of having Rumpel

474
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,640
Speaker 1: steel skins stomping and ripping his body in half. Instead

475
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: quote and he flew out of the window on a

476
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,520
Speaker 1: wooden spoon and then that's the end. Yeah, is that

477
00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 1: the first mention of the wooden spoon? Um? I know,

478
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 1: I'm not sure on that, but possibly yes. They just

479
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 1: throw it in there like oh yeah. By the way,

480
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 1: he had a wooden spoon and it's magic, and he

481
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 1: flew away and nobody was ripped in half by their

482
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 1: own anger. My home planet needs met can die on

483
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,720
Speaker 1: the way back to his home planet. Um. And by

484
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: the way, that's also the name of the paper. And

485
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,919
Speaker 1: he flew out of the window on a wooden spoon. Um.

486
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,359
Speaker 1: So if you want to look it up, look that up.

487
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,480
Speaker 1: It's it's worth worth it. It's a it's a fascinating topic. Um.

488
00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: And And there are other examples of sanitized endings, uh,

489
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: such such as, uh, there's the Tail of the two Brothers,

490
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,359
Speaker 1: which in the Grim's version ends with them burning a

491
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 1: witch alive and a fire. But one of the sanitized

492
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,160
Speaker 1: versions ends with quote, the poison grew in her heart

493
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 1: so much that she exploded. And in the other one

494
00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:39,640
Speaker 1: they hit her with a magic wand and just turned

495
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,880
Speaker 1: her to stone. Um. So it's interesting how these edits

496
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:45,640
Speaker 1: take place. I mean, these are very much like the

497
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 1: the sanitized Nintendo fatalities that we've discussed in the show before.

498
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,359
Speaker 1: All right, but back to spoons, Okay, more more magical spoons.

499
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,480
Speaker 1: Apparently in Albania there is a mushroom known as the

500
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,439
Speaker 1: witches spoon because it is said to grow where a

501
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 1: witch vomits. Good to know, I'm guessing I did not

502
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 1: really research this any further. Was actually the full paper

503
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: was behind a payball, so I wasn't able to get

504
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: at it. But I'm I'm guessing this is not a

505
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 1: good mushroom. This is not a mushroom you want to eat?

506
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: What makes you think that? I mean, if whiches are

507
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,280
Speaker 1: vomiting it up, I don't think we want to go

508
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 1: after it. But which is? They're bad? So maybe what

509
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 1: they vomited up is good. Okay, maybe, um, but don't

510
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 1: do it on our account. Uh. Let's see. There are

511
00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,240
Speaker 1: various folk magic practices that involve the use of spoons.

512
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 1: The spoon is basically some sort of a magical focus

513
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 1: or something. Um. I ran across a Macedonian practice in

514
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: which slips of paper with writing on them are burnt

515
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: over a person's body in the bowl of a spoon. Now,

516
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: you might remember, any of you who are listening to

517
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: our Weird House Cinema episodes. You might remember in our

518
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: Santo in the Treasure of of Dracula episode. You might

519
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: remember a book I brought up Paul Barber's Vampire is

520
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: Burial and Death, and uh, I was looking in that

521
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:05,520
Speaker 1: book again. I may have to get a physical copy

522
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: of this because uh, they cover a late nineteenth century

523
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 1: Prussian practice against vampires and then involved placing a bowl

524
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,400
Speaker 1: of cold water under the board on which a body,

525
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,880
Speaker 1: a dead body is lying, and placing a multitude of

526
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: tin spoons on top of the body in order to

527
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 1: prevent the dead from returning to unnatural life. And Barber

528
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 1: notes that the spoon tradition here is interesting because there

529
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: are some other traditions of from from that region, uh

530
00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: that call for sharp objects like knives or even thorns

531
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: to be placed on top of the body to keep

532
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: it from rising again. But in this case it's just

533
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 1: a bunch of tin spoons with elaborate arrangements like this

534
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 1: and the sort of general physical recipes for magic. I mean,

535
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: this is the kind of thing that always makes me

536
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,160
Speaker 1: wonder where does this come from? Is this derived from

537
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 1: a series of past observations or practices that have been

538
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,959
Speaker 1: estranged from their original context over time, or or just

539
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: accumulated more details over time, or did at some point

540
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: did somebody just like get a vision and make this up.

541
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I think the obvious case

542
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 1: here is that is, of course, as a body lays

543
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,239
Speaker 1: out there, it is potentially going to swell and in

544
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,719
Speaker 1: doing so, or or there's going to be some disturbance

545
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: within as a you know, as as a decomposition begins

546
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: to take hold, that could cause spoons place delicately on

547
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 1: the body, to fall from that body and clatter on

548
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 1: the floor, thus alerting you that's something's happening. But then

549
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,240
Speaker 1: who knows what other mystical attachments are involved there as well,

550
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 1: you know, concerning metal and you know, just all these

551
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 1: various um magical ideas that might be imbued in the

552
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: just the idea of a spoon or the idea of

553
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:55,440
Speaker 1: a knife. Now, Rob, you've also sent me a picture

554
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: of the surface of Mars for this episode. I wonder

555
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: what game are you at here? Yes, this is a

556
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen photo and uh, you're listening out there.

557
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 1: You can look it up as well. It was taken

558
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:12,240
Speaker 1: by NASA's Curiosity Rover and it shows a formation on

559
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,680
Speaker 1: the surface of Mars that does look like a spoon.

560
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,479
Speaker 1: You know, you you look at it and yeah, it

561
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 1: looks like a spoon. For some reason, someone has disposed

562
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 1: of a spoon on the surface of Mars, raising all

563
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:27,440
Speaker 1: sorts of questions. I mean, I think the obvious reason

564
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: would be there's nothing to eat on Mars. I mean,

565
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 1: what you what are you even gonna use that for?

566
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 1: I mean, unless you catch that rat the curiosity rover

567
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: also saw, and then you make a stew. But I

568
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 1: don't know how you make a stew because it'd be

569
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,239
Speaker 1: hard to gather enough water. I guess you really have to,

570
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: you know, get a lot of that frost out of

571
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 1: the sand. Yeah, well, I mean obviously the spoon would

572
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 1: be for the face on Mars, so that he can

573
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 1: eat soup. Uh. So, yeah, the face on Mars is

574
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: more popular and and certainly attracts more conspiracy thinking, but

575
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 1: the spoon is also impressive. But just like the ace,

576
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: this is just a trick of the shadows. Uh. And

577
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 1: in this case, it's a trick of the shadows on

578
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 1: a vent effect that's a rock shaped by wind. So

579
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,960
Speaker 1: basically you have just a a this this strange rock

580
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 1: formation that is photographs in just such a way that

581
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: the shadows make it look like a spoon. So look

582
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: it up. It's it's it's amusing. Okay, secondary use Wait

583
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 1: a minute, No, the spoon is to be placed on

584
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,240
Speaker 1: top of the face on Mars to make sure that

585
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 1: the face doesn't move. That's true. Maybe that is what

586
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 1: the That was the real purpose of this mission. Bring

587
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: a spoon to Mars, place at the top the face

588
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: so that we can keep tabs on it. All right, Um,

589
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: you know we're reaching the end here, but I did

590
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: want to touch touch base regarding some just some I

591
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: guess spoon pop culture uh notes here. Um, I don't

592
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 1: know if you've ever seen this joke, but there is

593
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 1: a there's a wonderful video, the horribly slow murder with

594
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: the extremely inefficient weapon. I have not seen it. I'm

595
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 1: opening it now. Well, um, it's it's it's it's long enough.

596
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 1: You probably want to watch it later. But basically, a um,

597
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 1: a person is pursued by someone with a spoon, and

598
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,960
Speaker 1: they are hitting them with the spoon, attempting to kill them,

599
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,520
Speaker 1: but it ends up taking a long time. It's an

600
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 1: extremely inefficient weapon, and so it takes the murderer the

601
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 1: entirety of both their lives to pull it off. Okay,

602
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: this looks very good. Chaotic rampage American Pictures Presents. Yeah,

603
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 1: so so, yeah, that's some fun, some fun viewing for

604
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 1: later on. Now, just talk of killing somebody with a spoon,

605
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,320
Speaker 1: or certainly cutting out their heart with a spoon. This

606
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 1: springs to mind Robin Hood's Prints of Thieves. He might

607
00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: remember the exchange between the guy that gets born and

608
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,560
Speaker 1: the Sheriff of Nottingham um in part because he had

609
00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 1: two tremendous actors there. You had Alan Rickman and Michael

610
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 1: Wincott in those roles, respectively. And the discussion is about

611
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,360
Speaker 1: why you would use a spoon to kill someone. Uh yeah,

612
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: Michael Wincott's character does not quite understand that. Yeah, he's

613
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 1: like a spoon, why not an axe? And of course uh,

614
00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: Alan Rickman's a sheriff of nodding m says, because it's dull,

615
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 1: you wit, it'll hurt more. Uh so fun fun rolls

616
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 1: in that film. Uh, the bad guys were a lot

617
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,359
Speaker 1: of fun in that Um. Let's see worth noting that

618
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,960
Speaker 1: the ticks battle cry was spoon. In the Dark Tower series,

619
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: the Crimson King, in his original mortal form, kills himself

620
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,839
Speaker 1: by swallowing a sharpened spoon, which seems to be part

621
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 1: of a magical transformation that allows him to become this

622
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: immortal being with godlike powers. Uh. And of course this

623
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,759
Speaker 1: raises the question, how about how about them spoon as

624
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 1: an actual murder weapon? Are there any accounts of this? Well,

625
00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:35,720
Speaker 1: there's a Bustle article about it by Sage Young published

626
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: and at least a couple of cases of spoons as

627
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,520
Speaker 1: weapons and even murder weapons have emerged. In two thousand

628
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:44,520
Speaker 1: four a man in the UK was acquitted of murder

629
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:46,319
Speaker 1: after he struck another man in the back of the

630
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:50,200
Speaker 1: head with a dessert spoon. And in two thousand fourteen,

631
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,359
Speaker 1: a Florida man was executed. Uh. He'd been on death

632
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:55,280
Speaker 1: row and one of his crimes was killing a prison

633
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 1: guard with a sharpened spoon. I don't think that completely

634
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 1: counts because the was not sharpened for culinary purposes, but

635
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 1: it was of course sharpened in order to make a

636
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,200
Speaker 1: makeshift murder weapon and makeshift knife. But still it goes

637
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 1: to show that, yes, you you can kill someone with

638
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:12,279
Speaker 1: a spoon. I don't know if you can cut their

639
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 1: heart out, but you can certainly in someone's life. Now.

640
00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: ROB A number of listeners over the years, I believe,

641
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,520
Speaker 1: have asked us to cover the sport especially. We we

642
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: got this request several times on invention and I don't

643
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 1: think we ever took anyone up on it. No, And uh,

644
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,359
Speaker 1: you know, honestly, I want to I want to keep

645
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:36,400
Speaker 1: it that way. I think that, um, we should do

646
00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:41,040
Speaker 1: our part to erase the sport from history. I think

647
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,080
Speaker 1: we should declare it forbidden technology that that serves no purpose.

648
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,920
Speaker 1: Um Like, have you ever used a sport and or

649
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 1: been forced to use a sport and said this is

650
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: this is great? Can I get some of these from

651
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 1: my house? Can I get Can I get metal sports

652
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,719
Speaker 1: that I can use like it? No? Nobody does that.

653
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,160
Speaker 1: I'm an I spork Have you ever? Did you ever

654
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 1: have a pocket knife that had a spork in it?

655
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 1: I don't think I did. I never had one of

656
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,480
Speaker 1: those really thick boy scout knives with all the with

657
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:11,879
Speaker 1: all the extra things in them. Um. Oh, so you've

658
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 1: never used a metal spork. I would say a metal

659
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: spork is more defensible than the plastic sport, which is

660
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: barely distinct, which is I mean, pretty much the same

661
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,919
Speaker 1: as a plastic spoon. Yeah, um, I know, I do.

662
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,360
Speaker 1: We do have a couple of plastic implements that we

663
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: sometimes refer to as spoon of forks, and it is

664
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 1: a It is a fork on one side and one

665
00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 1: of the edge blades, one of the edge prongs of

666
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:41,480
Speaker 1: the fork. Uh is is basically a butter knife, and

667
00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:43,960
Speaker 1: then on the other end you have a spoon so

668
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 1: that I like, like the spoon remains pure, and we

669
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 1: can combine the fork and the knife into one implement

670
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: and we just have to switch back and forth. I

671
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,440
Speaker 1: think that's called a sporf, a sport. I've seen the

672
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 1: word at least. Okay, well I would I'm I'm marginally

673
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 1: oro sporf, but I'm still anti spork. Well, maybe we

674
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 1: should let the listeners go and then we can further

675
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 1: discuss your the ethics of your holy war against the sport. Okay, yeah,

676
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:11,839
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe there's some compelling arguments out there

677
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:15,239
Speaker 1: for sports that I'm not aware of, um, but I

678
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 1: frankly doubt it. Somehow, I feel that a plastic sport

679
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: is the only uh utensil appropriate for the eating of

680
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,720
Speaker 1: the Texas specialty, the Freedo pie served in the Freedo's bag,

681
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:28,279
Speaker 1: despite the fact that there's nothing in a Freedo pie

682
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:33,399
Speaker 1: that requires the tides to pierce it. Um. Yeah, well

683
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:37,719
Speaker 1: that does sound plausible. UM. I remember having those in

684
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 1: UM as part of a school lunch at one point

685
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,200
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, UM where they would just

686
00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:45,040
Speaker 1: take the freedo bag and they would just like a

687
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,880
Speaker 1: lump of meat that they drop in there. Yeah. Nothing

688
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: feels better in your hand than just like holding a

689
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:58,319
Speaker 1: bag with something warm inside it. Uh. All right, well,

690
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,040
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's it's time for us to

691
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 1: wrap this one up. We're gonna go ahead and close

692
00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 1: the case on this fine assortment of spoons. We're going

693
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:08,960
Speaker 1: to take that case, so we're gonna we're gonna store

694
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,919
Speaker 1: it away and we're not gonna get it out again

695
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,800
Speaker 1: until there was a special occasion. But in the meantime,

696
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 1: if you have some thoughts on spoons, the invention of spoons,

697
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:19,839
Speaker 1: the use of spoons, we would we would really love

698
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 1: to hear from you, like especially if it's something you know, regional,

699
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,200
Speaker 1: something cultural, something that's important to do you or your

700
00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 1: family that's been passed down some some tidbit about the

701
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,080
Speaker 1: history of spoons that we missed here, your thoughts even

702
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: on sports, so we will we will entertain them. Um.

703
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 1: And also in the meantime, if you want to check

704
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 1: out other episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Core

705
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 1: episodes published in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast

706
00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: feed on Tuesdays and Thursdays um Usually we publish Artifact

707
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 1: on Wednesday's Listener Mail on Mondays and Friday's We Do

708
00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,880
Speaker 1: Weird How cinema episodes, and a Vault episode a rerun

709
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,920
Speaker 1: on the weekend's Huge Thanks as always to our excellent

710
00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,239
Speaker 1: audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to

711
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:00,600
Speaker 1: get in touch with us with feedback on this episode

712
00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:02,720
Speaker 1: or any other, to suggest a topic for the future,

713
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:05,640
Speaker 1: just to say hello, you can email us at contact

714
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:15,840
Speaker 1: at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to

715
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,360
Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio. For

716
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 1: more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i heart

717
00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listening to your

718
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:32,680
Speaker 1: favorite shows,